Aurora Specialty Textiles Group Wins Award for Operational Excellence
(Yorkville, Illinois, USA, March 17, 202...) Aurora Specialty Textiles Group has won yet another award for outstanding business practices. This one is for Operational Excellence and is from the Valley Industrial Association (VIA), which represents the manufacturing industry in the Fox Valley region of Illinois, a large industrial area near Chicago and one of the larger manufacturing regions in the US Midwest.
The VIA’s Excellence in Operations Award recognizes leadership in operational strategic planning and implementation.
The announcement that Aurora won this award was made March 11 at the annual VIA Spark Award Benchmarking for Excellence dinner. Awards were given out for Culture, Innovation, Operational Excellence, Safety, Social Responsibility and Workforce Development.
Aurora was a finalist for two of the Spark Award categories – Social Responsibility and Operational Excellence. The awards process included a detailed submission and a lengthy interview that emphasized Aurora’s continuous operational improvements. This includes utilization of Kaizen Events and Green Belt projects, two of the key performance indicators used to measure operations effectiveness, as well as cross-training, on-board training for operators and benchmarking with other plants.
“It was an honor to be nominated as a finalist in two categories from the VIA Spark Award committee, which recognized us for Social Responsibility and Operational Excellence,” said Marcia Ayala, president of Aurora. “And to have won for Operational Excellence means so much.
“In 2015, we moved our operations from a 132 year-old plant in Aurora, Illinois, to our new facility in Yorkville and it was a challenge,” she added. “Many improvements and adjustments had to be made in all aspects of our operations and moving took extensive cooperation, patience and know-how from our employees and management to make it successful. I’m always proud to give a tour of our new plant in Yorkville and show the facility to customers and partners. I’m equally proud to have our team and organization recognized for Operational Excellence.”
In 2019 Aurora was recognized by the Sign Graphics Industry Association (SGIA) for excellence in implementing sustainability practices throughout their Yorkville plant and also in 2019, Aurora was recognized for its sustainability programs by the Yorkville Chamber of Commerce, which designated Aurora as a Green Connect business. In February of this year (2020), Aurora was the recipient of the Yorkville Chamber of Commerce annual Green Business of the Year award. The recent award from the VIA is the fourth for Aurora in less than a year.
Kathy Gilmore, president of the VIA, explained why Aurora was selected for the Spark Award for Operational Excellence.
“This year the interviewers were looking for companies that have a systems approach to the best practices in the categories of the Spark Awards,” said Gilmore. “The thinking is that having the right operation systems and disciplines in place is what helps take a company from good to great. And even though Aurora Specialty Textiles isn’t a large company with resources to easily implement these systems, they have made it a priority and invested the time and resources into this. They are an impressive group.”
Media Notes:
Aurora Specialty Textiles Group, Inc. is a global leader in coating, dyeing and finishing of both woven and non-woven fabrics. Based in Yorkville, Illinois, USA, the company has a 137-year tradition of innovation and in 2015 invested in a new state-of-the-art, wide-width coating and finishing line, and a new facility, that dramatically expanded their ability to serve customers. Products include digitally-printable textiles, specialty home products, tape-backing products and technical textiles for a wide variety of industries. Aurora Specialty Textiles Group, Inc., is a Meridian Industries, Inc. company and ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certified. Aurora is also an industry leader with regard to sustainable manufacturing practices and a recipient of SGIA’s Sustainable Business Recognition Award in 2019.
Press Contact:
Glenna Musante +1 919.604.7213
You can learn more about Aurora Specialty Textiles Group:
Online at www.auroratextile.com
Via Twitter at @Aurora_Textiles
On Instagram at aurora_textiles
On LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/aurora-specialty-textiles-group-inc-/
