Shingo Prize

In 1988, Utah State University conferred an honorary doctorate degree to Shigeo Shingo, a Japanese industrial engineer and author credited for his contribution of many of the principles, elements, theories, and tools associated with the Toyota Production System. That year, Utah State University established the North American Shingo Prize for Excellence in Manufacturing in Shingo's honor.

The Shingo Prize for Excellence in Manufacturing was only awarded to organizations in the United States. In 1994, however, Ford Electronics in Markham, Ontario, became the first Canadian organization to receive the award. In 1997, the award was given to the first Mexican organization, Industrias CYDSA Bayer.

In 2000, BusinessWeek referred to the Shingo Prize as the “Nobel Prize for manufacturing.”

The Shingo Prize trophy

From 2004 to 2008, a Finalist category was added to recognize challengers that scored well in the evaluation criteria but didn't meet the Shingo Prize level. This category was replaced in 2008 by the Silver and Bronze Medallion awards.

In 2008, Utah State University changed the name of the award to the Shingo Prize for Operational Excellence in order to reflect altered criteria that made the award available to organizations from all industries, not exclusively manufacturing. The focus of the award was also shifted from recognizing only the use of lean manufacturing tools to recognizing the overall organizational performance.

The administrators of the Shingo Prize noticed that some of the recipients of the Shingo Prize prior to 2008 struggled to maintain performance improvements. The prize administrators began to study the differences between those who continued to improve and those who did not. Based on their research, the Shingo administrators published a new Shingo Model that introduced 10 Guiding Principles to drive organizational improvement. Shingo examiners began assessing organizational performance based on the new model rather than on the organization's use of lean manufacturing techniques and tools.

With the change in scoring criteria in 2008, the average number of organizations that received the Shingo Prize each year decreased from 11 to 2.

However, Utah State University also established the Shingo Silver Medallion and the Shingo Bronze Medallion award levels for challengers that scored well but did not meet the Shingo Prize standard.

In 2009, Ultraframe in Clitheroe, Lancashire, UK, became the first European organization to receive a Shingo award, the Shingo Bronze Medallion. International interest has increased since that time. Nine of the 11 Shingo awards bestowed form 2014 through 2018 went to organizations outside of the United States.

In 2011, Denver Health, Community Health Services received the Shingo Bronze Medallion, becoming the first healthcare organization to receive a Shingo award. In 2012, State Farm Insurance Operations Center in Bloomington, Illinois, received the Shingo Bronze Medallion, becoming the first financial organization to receive an award.

In 2013, the division of Utah State University that administrated the Shingo Prize changed its name to the Shingo Institute. This was to reflect the fact that the organization had become as much about teaching and research as about assessing companies for the Shingo Prize.

Ross Robson – 1988-2007

Robert Miller – 2007-2014

Mark Baker – 2014-2015

Ken Snyder – 2015-current

According to the Shingo Institute, the Shingo Prize “is the world’s highest standard for organizational excellence” and “a worldwide recognized symbol of an organization’s successful establishment of a culture anchored on principles of continuous improvement.” These principles are part of the Shingo Model.

The Shingo Silver Medallion is awarded to “those [organizations that are] maturing on the journey [to excellence] with primarily a tool and system focus."

The Shingo Bronze Medallion is awarded to “those [organizations] in the earlier stages of cultural transformation with primarily a tools focus."

The Research Award and Publication Award are awarded to authors and researchers that advance “new knowledge and understanding of lean and operational excellence. Awards are given for: (1) books (monographs), (2) published articles, (3) case studies and (4) applied publications/multimedia programs.”

The following are the recipients of Shingo awards from the time the criteria changed in 2008 to reflect a higher standard of excellence. It includes any industry.

The following are the recipients of Shingo awards from the establishment of the Shingo Prize for Excellence in Manufacturing until the criteria and name changed to the Shingo Prize for Operational Excellence in 2008.

The following are recipients of the Shingo Research and Professional Publication Award.