EANS-News: PWO wins the Automotive Lean Production Award for the second time

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Company Information/Lean Production Award

Oberkirch (euro adhoc) - First supplier to win the award for the
second time - The Oberkirch location ranks among Europe´s top
automotive suppliers

Oberkirch, September 15, 2010 - The Oberkirch location of
Progress-Werk Oberkirch AG has been distinguished once again by the
renowned Automotive Lean Production Award in the "Mittelstand
national" category. The award is bestowed by the Agamus Consult
management consulting firm and the leading trade journal
AUTOMOBIL-PRODUKTION. The Lean Production Award represents the
authoritative benchmark indicating the extent to which the European
automotive industry has implemented efficient structures and
processes and is continuously advancing improvement processes.

PWO introduced the Lean Management System to the Oberkirch location
in the year 2004. Since then, the system has been expanded throughout
the entire corporation and additional elements of a master plan have
been put in place on a continuous basis. The recent award documents
the successful implementation of lean management principles at PWO in
all relevant areas. The factor of flexibility in particular was rated
as excellent. The evaluation team made special mention of the very
lean processes, which permit extremely short response times to
altered customer requirements. Moreover, the Agamus Consult auditor
acknowledged that PWO pursues the continuous improvement process
(CIP) with genuine passion - and stated that a vibrant CIP culture is
lived and "breathed" at the Oberkirch plant.

Karl M. Schmidhuber, PWO´s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is proud of
the award: "We are a high-tech company and position ourselves in the
top bracket of our markets. At PWO, constant, ongoing process
improvements are a matter of course. I am very pleased that the
success of our untiring efforts has been confirmed with this second
award now bestowed. The Oberkirch location is our technology and
competence center. The principles we live here are adopted by the
other sites according to their local requirements and enable them to
stake out leading positions in their markets."

Dr. Winfried Blümel, Chief Operating Officer (COO), perceives the key
improvements of the past years especially in the consistent extension
of lean management principle beyond the actual manufacturing area:
"In the meantime, all of the areas of the location have been
streamlined - tool-making, development and sales, logistics and
administration. In this way, we have achieved a quantum leap in
overall operational efficiency. The evaluation by Agamus Consult also
documents that within the Oberkirch location the tool-making
division, which used to work on traditional principles, has developed
into a highly modern and efficient industrial in-house supplier that
performs tool maintenance and returns the tools to manufacturing
operations just-in-time. This is the only way to ensure cost
efficiency in small batch sizes that entail frequent tooling and
set-up routines. We would like to thank our employees for this
outstanding performance and their whole hearted commitment to lean
production principles that are absolutely essential in achieving this
success."

Progress-Werk Oberkirch AG
The Management Board

PWO Group profile PWO is one of the world's leading suppliers of
high-precision metal components for automobile safety and comfort.
The company has developed unique expertise in the forming and joining
of metals during its over 90-year history since it was founded in
1919. The German plant in Oberkirch today employs around 1,200 staff
members. The Group is represented globally with further sites in
China, Canada, Mexico and the Czech Republic, and employs more than
2,000 staff around the world.

PW0 is a partner to the global automobile industry for the
development and production of innovative products in the areas of
"Mechanical components for electrical and electronic applications",
"Safety components for airbags, seats and steering" and "Components
and systems for vehicle bodies and chassis".

Orders for new series production on hand will result in significant
growth at all sites over the next years, irrespective of full market
recovery.

end of announcement euro adhoc
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ots Originaltext: Progress-Werk Oberkirch AG
Im Internet recherchierbar: http://www.presseportal.de

Further inquiry note:

Bernd Bartmann (CFO)

Phone: +49 7802 / 84-347

Fax: +49 7802 / 84-789

e-mail: bernd.bartmann@progress-werk.de

Branche: Automotive Equipment
ISIN: DE0006968001
WKN: 696800
Börsen: Frankfurt / regulated dealing/prime standard
Berlin / free trade
Hamburg / free trade
Stuttgart / free trade
Düsseldorf / free trade
München / free trade