Process Excellence Award Winners 2012 Announced at Annual Summit

LONDON, January 24, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Fraud prevention at a bank, improved processes within a naval special warfare group, and innovative use of social media at a Canadian telecommunications giant were among the winning entries for PEX Network's Process Excellence 2012 Global Awards.

The awards were presented during the PEX Week summit - a multi-day event for process improvement professionals - in Orlando, Florida.

The awards celebrate process excellence initiatives that have delivered outstanding results in a variety of categories, including "Best BPM Project", "Best Process Improvement Under 90 Days" and "Deployment Leader of the Year".

There are seven categories in total plus a special recognition for community contribution awarded to an individual who has contributed to advancing process improvement skills and knowledge.

A total of 15 awards were handed out at the special recognition ceremony on Tuesday evening, during the PEX Week summit, PEX Network's flagship gathering of process improvement professionals, which takes place every January in Orlando, Florida.

"We've been running the Process Excellence Awards for over a decade now," said PEX Network Director, Vanessa Lovatt. "And they've gone from strength to strength to each year. I think what sets the awards apart is the fact that they're judged by people working day in and day out as process improvement practitioners."

Each category was judged by 2-3 professionals with extensive practical experience in process improvement. A shortlist was drawn up for each categories and finalists were invited to participate in face-to-face interviews with judges during the PEX Week event before the winners were selected.

"There were nearly 100 entries in 7 different categories," said Amanda Jenkins, Director of Operations at PEX Network. "So finalists did really well to even get to the judging stage."

Winners and honorable mentions for the 2012 awards in Orlando were as follows:

Best Project Contributing to Organizational Value, Sustainability & Innovation

This award recognizes important projects that are not primarily aligned to or selected for their direct financial impact. Entries were evaluated on business impact and innovation, but with a specific focus on value created outside of pure financial results.

Winner: Tata Global Consultancy Services

Honorary Mention: JEA

Best BPM Project

This award recognizes the success of individual BPM specific projects in supporting the enterprise-wide value chain. Entrants were assessed on their ability to demonstrate successful BPM results across people, processes and IT. 

Winner: Naval Special Warfare Group 4 (NSWG4)

Best Process Improvement Project Over 90 Days

This award recognizes improvements in manufacturing or service and transactional environments using Lean, Six Sigma or any other recognized Process Excellence tool. Entrants were judged on the ability to prove their operational and business results as well as clarity in execution throughout the process and sustainability.

Winner: CIBC

Honorary Mention: JEA

Best Process Improvement Project Under 90 Days

This award recognizes the business impact and scope of projects with short cycle times and quick wins for the business. Improvement projects must have been under 90 days in duration.

Winner: TELUS

Honorary Mention: Capital One

Best Start Up Business Excellence Program (Under 2 Years)

This award celebrates the achievements of new Business Process Excellence programs of up to 2 years in deployment - covering Lean, Six Sigma & Business Process Management (BPM).

Winner: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Honorary Mention: Roche Pharmaceuticals

Best Process Excellence Program (Over 2 Years)

This award recognizes a mature Business Process Excellence Program. Entrants were judged on their strategy, capacity for delivery and the extent to which they have created an environment for change.

Winner: PolyOne Corporation

Honorary Mention: Sutherland Global Services

Deployment Leader of the Year

This award recognizes an outstanding deployment leader who has lead a company-wide improvement strategy (Lean, Six Sigma or BPM) and can demonstrate vision, strategic leadership and influence at a company-wide level.

Winner: Eric Michrowski, TELUS

Honorary Mention: Yew Ker Ling, SingTel Group

Special Mention: Jennifer Ridgeway, Lawrence Berkely National Laboratory

Recognition for Community Contribution

This award recognizes an individual who has made an outstanding individual contribution to the advancement of process excellence through contribution of knowledge, effort and time.

Winner: John Murphy, VP Operational Excellence, CSX Transportation

Europe is the next stop in the PEX Network's Process Excellence Awards series. If you work in a European company and are interested in submitting your program or project for an award, entries for the awards are open until 17 February 2012. Winners will be announced during PEX Network's European summit, PEX Week Europe, which takes place 23-27 April in London, UK. To find out more about the event or to enter the awards, please visit the event website: http://www.processexcellencelondon.co.uk.

Additionally, PEX Network will be featuring webinars and interviews with some of the award winning entries in the coming weeks. The interviews will be available on PEXNetwork.com, a web portal that provides resources and information for process professionals.

For Press Inquiries please contact Veronica Araujo, PEX Network Marketing Manager:

Telephone: +44(0)20-7368-9748, E-mail: veronica.araujo@iqpc.co.uk