International Best Factory Awards, Benchmarking Oscar
for H2O GmbH
Among those firms to receive an award for the year 2000 was H2O GmbH process water engineering of Maulburg, which won a prize in the "small innovative companies" category. At the award ceremony on 30 November at the Landesbank Baden Württemberg in Stuttgart, the company was awarded for its extraordinary innovative and organisational performance in its founding year 1999.
H2O is a specialist in the area of processing and recycling of industrial waste water and supplies machines and units for this, as well as the complete know-how. The core product is the VACUDEST® range of vacuum distillation units.
The three directors, Matthias Fickenscher, Frank Schegel and Wolfgang Schneider are proud of this award and stress that such innovation achievements are only possible through above average and qualified dedication of all the colleagues. "The award shows that we are on the right path and gives us renewed motivation for further improvements and innovations. H2O's aim is to gain and satisfy customers at home and abroad with the most modern products, qualified, specialised knowledge and the highest quality.
The Benchmarking Awards of the Baden Württemberg Export Academy are a good example of a successful co-operation between science and business. For H2O, Benchmarking is the concrete idea of life-long learning and constant improvement. Innovation not only changes management and production, but also the entire working world. The implementation of chances for improvement that are made visible through systematic benchmarking, demands the active participation of all workers and leads to a new company culture.
All companies based in Germany, Austria or Switzerland can take part in the IBFA. The International Best Factory Award is presented in Great Britain, Italy, France and Germany. The best companies in the electronic, mechanical engineering and vehicle sectors, process engineering, metal and plastic processing are awarded, with prizes for the best small company, as well as the best company of the year.
The first stage of assessment is the judgement and analysis of the answers to a questionnaire and the comparison of individual reports for each company. It highlights key processes and comparisons with other companies, with which each company can later independently undertake an improvement process and action plan. Then the best companies are selected and are invited to participate in second assessment stage. Companies are chosen by the auditor team of the Export Academy. The auditors carry out an investigation together with the management and the workers and decide on the competitive position.
The questionnaire, which provides data for the individual benchmarking report and establishes the award winner, is based on the Cranfield School of Management questionnaire. This questionnaire has been succesfully implemented in Great Britain for eight years. The company processes, shown by this system, are comparable and a benchmarking system is possible, that allows for a wide overview of international top standards.