Sterling Manufacturing Business Excellence Award (SMBEA)

Organizational Profile

For nominated manufacturers, and for any manufacturer who wants the assessment.

Five tips before you startShort cuts through a long form.Show

Plan on about four hours. Split it into two or three sittings. With an account, answers save as you type.
Read the questions first. Take notes before you start. Answers go faster when the facts are already down.
Know your FTE count. It sets the application fee if you choose to apply. Contract staff are recorded separately and do not count.
Write the overview last. The 125-word summary is used publicly, so draft it once the rest of the form is done.
Add attachments at the end. Org chart, mission, values, vision, logo, and facility photos do not save with drafts.

Questions while you work? Email info@thesterlingcouncil.org.

Save your progress. Create an account and finish later. You don’t need one to submit.

1. Facility

The Facility

Company name*

Contact at the Facility

Contact first name*

Contact last name*

Contact job title*

Contact email*

Contact phone*

Facility Address

Facility street*

Facility city*

Facility state*

Facility zip*

About the Facility

Facility employee FTE count*

Facility employees (contract)*

Facility year established*

Facility parent company, if any, and number of employees

Chief Executive

Chief executive name*

Chief executive email*

2. Parent Organization

If there is a parent organization, on what corporate activities and resources do you depend to manage your business day-to-day?

If there is a parent organization, does the parent provide resources for technology, equipment, facilities, or other capital investments?

If there is a parent organization, how would you characterize the level of autonomy this facility has with respect to the parent?

3. Products, Customers, and Operations

1. What are your company’s main products and services?*

2. What are your key customer groups and markets? What are their key requirements and expectations for your products and services, and customer support services?*

For example: automotive OEMs, industrial distributors, medical device makers, or government agencies.

3. Are your customers end-users?*

YesNo

Optional comment

4. What are your potential additional customers or customer groups, if any?

5. How are your products and services sold and delivered to customers? Do you market directly to customers or through distribution networks?*

6. What are your key types of suppliers and vendors?*

7. What are your workforce/employee types or segments and numbers? Which, if any, are unionized and represented by bargaining units?*

For example: X number of engineers, X number of production and assembly, X number of support/front office/back office, etc.

8. What is the regulatory environment in which you operate? What regulatory agencies, industry standards, etc., govern your business operations?*

9. Approximate year-over-year revenue change over the last three years*

A range is enough. Revenue figures are optional, and you can choose not to say.

9a. What is your relative size in your industry or markets served?

10. How many and what types of competitors do you have?*

4. Strategy, People, and Improvement

11. What key changes, if any, taking place in your marketplace or industry sector, are affecting your competitive situation, either positively or negatively? Which are creating opportunities for innovation and new technologies?*

Category: Strategy

12. How do you think about and identify Company-wide objectives to accomplish in the near and long term?*

Category: Leadership

13. How do you set a vision, mission, and values for the Company and help the workforce understand them?*

Category: Leadership

14. How do you fulfill social responsibilities and support your educational and manufacturing communities, and the community at large?*

Category: Customers

15. How do you listen to and hear customers to understand their needs and expectations?*

Category: Customers

16. How do you engage your customers and build relationships with them?*

Category: Measurement, Analysis & Knowledge Management

17. How do you make decisions based on data and manage by fact?*

Category: Measurement, Analysis & Knowledge Management

18. How do you embed knowledge and learning into your Company?*

Category: Workforce

19. How do you engage your workforce to accomplish your Company’s work?*

32000 characters remaining

Category: Workforce

20. How do you ensure a skilled workforce to meet Company needs?*

32000 characters remaining

Category: Operations

21. How are products and processes designed and improved to meet requirements?*

32000 characters remaining

Category: Operations

22. How do you ensure your Company resilience to anticipate, prepare for, and recover from disasters, emergencies, and other disruptions?*

32000 characters remaining

5. Strategic Challenges & Advantages

Strategic Challenges & Threats*

Pressures that exert influence on the likelihood of future success.

Strategic Advantages & Opportunities*

Benefits that exert influence on the likelihood of future success.

6. Benchmarking Sources

From Within Your Industry

From Outside Your Industry

7. Supporting Materials

125-word company overview*

0 of 125 words

In 125 words or fewer, describe your company, its products, and its domestic and international markets. It will be used publicly and may be used to promote manufacturing high performance.

Your written answers and all uploaded files must total 4 MB or less.

Organizational Chart

Mission Statement

Corporate Values or Principles

Vision Statement

8. Additional Information

Company logo

A high-resolution .png, .jpeg, or .eps file. Not a PDF.

Facility photos

High-resolution .jpeg or .png photos, not PDFs. Include at least one or two of the facility exterior and at least three to five of your operations, team, and products.

9. Disclaimer, Expectations, and Other Important Information

Disclaimer

Your profile is reviewed in confidence. Only the elements below may be published.

What may be published. By submitting this Organizational Profile, your company gives The Sterling Council permission to use its name and logo, its 125-word overview, and photographs, video, and quotations from award activities to promote the award and manufacturing excellence. This covers The Sterling Council publications, newsletters, news articles, promotional materials, the website, and social media.

What stays private. Your answers are used to review your profile. They are not published and are not shared outside the review team.

Ownership. Your company keeps ownership of its name, logo, and everything it submits. Photographs and video produced by The Sterling Council about your company belong to The Sterling Council.

Limits. We will not publish any facility area your company identifies as off limits for safety, security, or export-control reasons, or any controlled technical data, export-controlled information, or confidential customer information. Your company may withdraw permission to use its name or logo by written notice. We will stop using them in new material; material already printed or posted may remain.

Your company releases The Sterling Council, and anyone it authorizes, from claims arising from use consistent with this permission.

Expectations

For everyone who submits a profile

A Sterling team member will review your profile and follow up.
If you told us you are interested in applying, we will contact you about next steps.

If you apply for the award

Your company receives a written and verbal evaluation with identified strengths, opportunities, and recommendations.
Award recipients are announced in May and invited to the recognition event at the Annual Sterling Conference.
Applicants may be invited to share practices with the manufacturing community through plant tours, expos, webinars, and other events.
Applicants will be invited to provide an examiner for the next awards process.
Recipients are invited to join The Sterling Council Board of Directors at the Honorary Designation Level at no cost for the first year.

Other Important Information

Eligibility. Manufacturers that have not won the Gold Level award in either of the two most recent award years. Membership in any association is not required.

Anyone may nominate a company: industry groups, suppliers, customers, workforce or economic development organizations, schools, government agencies, or the company itself.

One profile per company per award cycle. If a company has more than one facility and several submit, the first profile received is the one considered.

Questions? Email info@thesterlingcouncil.org.

10. Applying for the Award

Your profile stands on its own. Applying for the award is a separate, optional step, and finishing this profile does not start an application or commit your company to anything.

What the application fee covers

Evaluation process
Live and written feedback report
Sterling press releases and other promotional activity for evaluated companies
Sterling Executive Roundtable participation at no charge
Expo Hall table at the Annual Sterling Conference at no cost
Reduced conference registration rate
Table reservation at the Awards Ceremony

The fee if you choose to apply

The application fee is based on your facility employee FTE count. Contract employees are recorded separately and do not determine the fee.

Facility FTEs	Application fee
Fewer than 21	$975
21 to 50	$2,075
51 to 100	$3,175
101 to 150	$4,275
More than 150	$5,475

The evaluation process takes about six to eight hours over several weeks, from January to April.

I am interested in applying for the award. A Sterling team member will contact me about next steps. This is not an application, and checking this box does not obligate my company to pay the fee.