Cooper Standard’s Mexico facility named finalist for best plants award

Northville, MI – Cooper Standard’s Aguascalientes, Mexico Mixing facility has been named one of only five 2023 IndustryWeek Best Plants finalists for its world-class manufacturing practices.

According to IndustryWeek, this year’s Best Plants finalists, which represent four U.S. states and one Mexico state, do many things right and their performances reflect those efforts. The finalists employ teamwork, display leadership, collaborate with their supply chains, use technology wisely and unfailingly focus on performance improvement.

“It’s a great honor for our Aguascalientes, Mexico Mixing facility to be recognized by IndustryWeek as a Best Plants finalist,” said Patrick Clark, Senior Vice President and Managing Director – Global Automotive, Cooper Standard. “The facility’s strategy for success was rooted in standardization and reducing complexity, which resulted in leaner processes that benefit production capacity. The Aguascalientes team should be proud, as they have worked hard and deserve this noteworthy achievement.”

Since opening in 2019, the plant has made significant positive contributions to Cooper Standard, including driving increased sales, improving quality and inventory control. The plant’s continued outstanding performance has earned it Cooper Standard’s internal recognition as one of the Company’s Diamond Plants and as the Regional Plant of the Year for the past three years. With localized, state-of-art mixing, the Aguascalientes facility vertically integrates the supply of critical, highly specialized rubber compounds to Cooper Standard’s manufacturing facilities throughout Mexico and certain parts of the United States.

Established in 1990, the IndustryWeek Best Plants Awards program annually recognizes plants, located in North America, that are on the leading edge of efforts to increase competitiveness, enhance customer satisfaction, and create stimulating and rewarding work environments. Its further goal is to encourage other manufacturing managers and work teams to emulate the honorees by adopting world-class practices, technologies and improvement strategies.

All 2023 finalists will now receive a second questionnaire seeking documentation of achievements and presenting plant-specific follow-up questions. Winners will be announced later this summer and featured in the print and digital edition of IndustryWeek.