10. November 2016

In recent years the contest »Excellence in Production« established itself in the tool and die industry and will take place for the 14th time in 2017. After this year’s ceremony in the Aachen city hall’s coronation room on October the 26th, the competition mode will be modified. With the new contest mode and a reduced questionnaire the effort for the participating companies will be decreased.

In the coming year the contest will be divided into two phases for the first time. To evaluate the companies’ performance in the first phase, the participating tool shops are invited to answer several key questions in a questionnaire until the 1st of March. Following up the participants will receive an indicator analysis, which gives a first classification of the company’s situation in the market and a clear comparison to other competitors. In close connection to the first phase the companies are asked to answer the outstanding questions of the questionnaire in the second phase until the 1st of May.

Furthermore, the questionnaire will be reworked. Hereby the effort for participating will be lowered without any loss of explanatory power. This intends to allow even small tool manufacturers to participate in this contest.

Another renewal of this contest implements two more audits in addition to the usual audits at each category winner’s manufacture. A team of experts will conduct two Wild Card Audits which will be drawn by lot. As usual the visited companies receive a detailed profile of individual strengths and potentials, which will be drawn from the results of the questionnaire and the audits.