Factory Logic Wins Shingo Prize
Three-year-old firm scores big with its lean manufacturing software.
By Nancy Bartels, Managing Editor
June 01, 2001

A small software company you've probably never heard of has snagged the coveted Shingo Prize for Research and Applied Programs in Manufacturing. Factory Logic Software of Austin, Texas, is the first software company to ever win the prize, named after the late Dr. Shigeo Shingo, one of the original developers of lean manufacturing processes, including the Toyota Production System.

Barely three years old and with fewer than 50 employees, Factory Logic caught the attention of the prize committee for its Streamline application, which ties the manufacturing process directly to customer orders, providing the ability to manage capacity, time, and labor constraints in a factory environment.

Richard Lebovitz, Factory Logic's CEO, says that Streamline is based on predicting end customer demands and that it provides companies with the capability to move to the lean manufacturing, just-in-time, made-to-order model and to manage that on a real-time basis. "We have patented algorithms to execute on lean manufacturing methodologies. [Our software] enables factories to respond to customer demand," he says.

Factory Logic joins an exclusive club with such members as Ford Motor Co., Baxter, Lockheed Martin, Lucent Technologies, and Delphi Automotive Systems, as well as expert authors and researchers on the subject of lean manufacturing. All the prize-winners go through a rigorous process, which includes filling out a detailed achievement report, site visits, and reviews by the Shingo Prize Board of Examiners.

The Factory Logic prize is significant in one other respect. The Shingo committee created a new category in order to recognize the Streamline application. The prizes are awarded in two areas: Excellence in Manufacturing and Lean Research and Applied Programs in Manufacturing. The other prize-winners in the Research and Applied Programs category were three books and a journal article. Factory Logic was awarded the prize in the new Multimedia category.

"What the Shingo committee has realized is that now there are companies beginning to develop tools to implement lean manufacturing solutions," says Dave Smith, Factory Logic's vice president of marketing. "They felt that a pioneer deserves to be recognized."