Joining the ranks of Alcoa, Allegheny Energy, Bayer, The Boeing Company and more, Fabrinet is pleased to announce that its quality team was one of 30 teams selected as a finalist in the 2009 Association for Quality’s Team Excellence Award.   The award – the only internationally accredited team award of its kind -- recognizes innovative solutions and organizational cost savings.”   Fabrinet’s team also received the highest score in the Team Goals Linked to Organizational Goals category.

More than 830 teams from around the world have competed based on this team recognition process since the award’s inception in 1984.  Recent winners have included the Boeing Company, Reliance Industries Limited, Baxter International and Fidelity Investment.

Citing that “Darwin would be proud” of such leadership and innovation – especially when it comes to saving money and creating efficiency -  ASQ stated that finalists showcased “proven results with long-term implications – saving millions of dollars” in continual improvement efforts.  Winners were announced at ASQ’s World Conference on Quality and Improvement, May 18 – 20, 2009, in Minneapolis, MN.

Fabrinet’s team project focused on increasing the capacity of an in-circuit test station.
Their goal was to increase capacity from 1,900 to 4,500 units a day and to reduce defects without adding operators and space. Using a Six Sigma approach and DMAIC, the team considerably surpassed its goal, increasing capacity to 43,000 units per day at a cost savings of $123,000.  In addition the project improved quality and on-time delivery, at a lower cost, and with an overall increase in total customer satisfaction.

“These are impressive numbers and it’s just one of the many initiatives that Fabrinet’s quality team engages in on a daily basis,” said Dr. Harpal Gill, Fabrinet COO.   “We’re serious about continuous improvement at Fabrinet and our quality team plays a large role in both identifying and providing creative solutions to improvement opportunities.”