First ever Heinz Dürr Innovation Awards presented

12/21/2001

• Internal Innovation Award for outstanding teamwork
• Customer orientation prime priority
• Corporate culture focuses on members of staff
• Presentations in five categories

The Dürr Technology Group has presented its first ever Heinz Dürr Innovation Awards for innovative achievements by internal company teams. Representatives of the six winning teams, whose members span five countries, received their awards, together with a prize of 200 company shares for each team, from Dr Heinz Dürr, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Dürr AG.

The prize, which in future will be awarded annually, acknowledges outstanding contributions made by Dürr members of staff in enhancing the company's competitive edge in a globalised economy. In addition to leading edge technologies, above all the qualities of creativity, dedication and the ability of employees to co-operate across national and international boundaries are essential to secure a lasting business future. The new award underlines and encourages these important aspects of the corporate culture.

In his address, award sponsor, Heinz Dürr, emphasised the significance of customer orientation, "Benefits to the customer and marketability must be given the highest priority in the search for new solutions, over and above the desire to turn a technological idea into reality. It is therefore vital that engineers work with sales and marketing experts right from the beginning when deciding how to proceed with new solutions. Indeed, consultation must be carried out on all sides - with suppliers, with customers and finally with both together. The best solutions are found when those involved take off their 'departmental blinkers' - especially when they do so from the moment that a project begins.

The Heinz Dürr Innovation Award 2001 was presented in a total of five catagories. A team of five development engineers at Schenck Pegasus, Püttlingen were the winners in the category entitled Leading Edge Technologies. Their contribution to innovation was made in the field of test systems: A new method of positioning vehicles on the chassis alignment test beds at the end of the production line.

The jury awarded a special prize - for Outstanding Technological Achievements - to a six-man team from Bietigheim in acknowledgement of the Dürr robotic painting equipment success story. Since 1996 the Ecopaint robot has allowed Dürr to play a definitive role in the transition from machines to robotic techniques in the automobile painting process. Last year, the Dürr robots, which are suitable for both exterior and interior painting, were the most successful models of their kind in the world.

In the Customer Satisfaction category the jury decided not to select one single project team but to grant the award to all members of staff at Dürr Industries, Plymouth / USA. The jury wished to honor the commitment to customer-oriented co-operation shown by the various departments involved in the extensive GM Oklahoma project, where in 2001 Dürr Industries installed one of the largest and most modern paint shops in the USA. A second award in this category went to the Premier project team (Services business unit) at Opel's Polish location, Gliwice. Here the Premier team, in its role as an 'Integrated Service Provider', not only attained the levels of service defined by the customer, but on most counts exceeded them.

The British companies, Schenck Ltd., Durr Ltd. and Premier, were presented with the Heinz Dürr Innovation Award in the Crossdivisional Collaboration category. These three companies found new ways of working together successfully as a team on a wax preservation line operator model project for IBC at Luton / GB.

The International Collaboration prize went to Paint Systems' PSA product line 'Product Harmonization' project team. The members of the team, who are based in Germany, France and the USA, worked together throughout 2001 on a project aimed at harmonizing the many differing product solutions offered by Dürr worldwide into one universal global product range that would fulfil most requirements made of this product line.

The Dürr Technology Group is one of the world's leading suppliers of manufacturing systems and manufacturing support services for the automotive industry and its suppliers. As part of its 'Life Cycle Strategy' it offers a full range of services for automobile manufacture: from planning of production processes and automobile manufacturing facilities through the completion of turnkey systems right up to the assumption of responsibility for full production operation. The business units, operating under the strategic management of Dürr AG, are directly represented in more than 25 countries by some 12,500 members of staff.The Dürr Technology Group has presented its first ever Heinz Dürr Innovation Awards for innovative achievements by internal company teams. Representatives of the six winning teams, whose members span five countries, received their awards, together with a prize of 200 company shares for each team, from Dr Heinz Dürr, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Dürr AG.

The prize, which in future will be awarded annually, acknowledges outstanding contributions made by Dürr members of staff in enhancing the company's competitive edge in a globalised economy. In addition to leading edge technologies, above all the qualities of creativity, dedication and the ability of employees to co-operate across national and international boundaries are essential to secure a lasting business future. The new award underlines and encourages these important aspects of the corporate culture.

In his address, award sponsor, Heinz Dürr, emphasised the significance of customer orientation, "Benefits to the customer and marketability must be given the highest priority in the search for new solutions, over and above the desire to turn a technological idea into reality. It is therefore vital that engineers work with sales and marketing experts right from the beginning when deciding how to proceed with new solutions. Indeed, consultation must be carried out on all sides - with suppliers, with customers and finally with both together. The best solutions are found when those involved take off their 'departmental blinkers' - especially when they do so from the moment that a project begins.

The Heinz Dürr Innovation Award 2001 was presented in a total of five catagories. A team of five development engineers at Schenck Pegasus, Püttlingen were the winners in the category entitled Leading Edge Technologies. Their contribution to innovation was made in the field of test systems: A new method of positioning vehicles on the chassis alignment test beds at the end of the production line.

The jury awarded a special prize - for Outstanding Technological Achievements - to a six-man team from Bietigheim in acknowledgement of the Dürr robotic painting equipment success story. Since 1996 the Ecopaint robot has allowed Dürr to play a definitive role in the transition from machines to robotic techniques in the automobile painting process. Last year, the Dürr robots, which are suitable for both exterior and interior painting, were the most successful models of their kind in the world.

In the Customer Satisfaction category the jury decided not to select one single project team but to grant the award to all members of staff at Dürr Industries, Plymouth / USA. The jury wished to honor the commitment to customer-oriented co-operation shown by the various departments involved in the extensive GM Oklahoma project, where in 2001 Dürr Industries installed one of the largest and most modern paint shops in the USA. A second award in this category went to the Premier project team (Services business unit) at Opel's Polish location, Gliwice. Here the Premier team, in its role as an 'Integrated Service Provider', not only attained the levels of service defined by the customer, but on most counts exceeded them.

The British companies, Schenck Ltd., Durr Ltd. and Premier, were presented with the Heinz Dürr Innovation Award in the Crossdivisional Collaboration category. These three companies found new ways of working together successfully as a team on a wax preservation line operator model project for IBC at Luton / GB.

The International Collaboration prize went to Paint Systems' PSA product line 'Product Harmonization' project team. The members of the team, who are based in Germany, France and the USA, worked together throughout 2001 on a project aimed at harmonizing the many differing product solutions offered by Dürr worldwide into one universal global product range that would fulfil most requirements made of this product line.

The Dürr Technology Group is one of the world's leading suppliers of manufacturing systems and manufacturing support services for the automotive industry and its suppliers. As part of its 'Life Cycle Strategy' it offers a full range of services for automobile manufacture: from planning of production processes and automobile manufacturing facilities through the completion of turnkey systems right up to the assumption of responsibility for full production operation. The business units, operating under the strategic management of Dürr AG, are directly represented in more than 25 countries by some 12,500 members of staff.