DSV Panalpina logistics facility in Brazil wins prestigious Shingo Award for operational excellence

On August 27, 2019, the DSV Panalpina Logistics and Manufacturing facility in Sorocaba, near Sao Paulo, Brazil was awarded the Shingo “Bronze Medallion” and thus joins a distinguished group of recipients that have demonstrated an outstanding commitment to achieving operational excellence.

Exemplary leadership, process orientation, systematic thinking, and value creation

The facility topped the scores of the Shingo examiners who focus on the degree to which the Shingo Model are evident in the behaviour of every employee. They also observe the degree to which leaders focus on principles and culture, and managers focus on aligning systems to drive ideal behaviors at all levels. The model is based on four dimensions:

• Cultural Enablers (e.g. leadership with humility and respect)

• Continuous Improvement (e.g. scientific thinking and focus on process)

• Enterprise Alignment (e.g. constancy of purpose and systematic thinking)

• Results (e.g. value creation for the customer)

Operational excellence: engrained in systems and embraced by employees

The achievement was a joint effort of the teams in Sorocaba and abroad and it built on the company’s long lasting experience with its operational excellence program LogEx. “We can be extremely proud of this success. We have created a culture where operational excellence is engrained in our systems and embraced by our employees,” says Mike Wilson, who heads DSV Panalpina’s solutions for Latin America as well as Logistics and Manufacturing Services (LMS). “Operational excellence is not what we say but what we do. We strive to add value for our customers and continuously challenge ourselves and our methods in order to find ever more efficient ways to run our operations.”

Pioneers of Logistics Manufacturing Services (LMS)

The Sorocaba facility has been part of the company’s Brazilian logistics set-up since 2011. In 2013, it began adding Logistics Manufacturing Services (LMS) to its operations for a large telecoms company. It was one of the first times that a telecoms company successfully outsourced manufacturing to a third-party logistics provider (3PL). In Sorocaba, DSV Panalpina manages the assembly of semi-knocked down units for base stations. The company not only executes the final assembly, but takes full ownership of the whole process – from planning to quality control. Currently the site employs about 160 people.

About the Shingo Prize

The Shingo Prize is awarded by the Shingo Institute. The high requirements of the Shingo application process limit the number of organizations that can challenge for a prize. The Shingo Prize is one of the most prestigious awards for operational excellence worldwide. It is based on a complete assessment of an organization’s culture and how well it drives world-class results. Its focus is unique in the world and is the most rigorous way to determine whether an organization is fundamentally improving for the long-term.

DSV Panalpina will be honored at an awards ceremony and gala as part of the 32^nd annual Shingo Conference in April 2020 in Orlando Florida, USA.