ICU Medical Costa Rica Receives Shingo Silver Medallion for Operational Excellence

Following the Shingo Model helped Costa Rica facility drive positive results for safety, quality and competitiveness

SAN CLEMENTE, Calif., USA, December 16, 2022: Global medical device leader ICU Medical Inc. announced that its Costa Rica manufacturing facility has received the Shingo Silver Medallion for operational excellence. Presented by the Shingo Institute, a program of the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University, the award recognized the facility for its commitment to improving manufacturing processes.

“Receipt of the Shingo Silver Medallion signifies not only an organization’s mastery of tools and techniques but also that it has developed mature systems for improving an organization’s operations,” said Ken Snyder, executive director at the Shingo Institute.

The ICU Medical Costa Rica facility is focused on infusion system therapies that cover the continuum of patient care. The site has two main products that work as an integral infusion system composed of smart infusion pumps and dedicated sets for those pumps.

Shingo recognition required the Costa Rica facility to “challenge” (or apply) for the honor, and then invite a group of accomplished professionals and trained examiners to thoroughly review its culture and operations. The examiners evaluated ICU Medical Costa Rica as a challenger, based on a rigorous set of standards. Assessment results from the challenge were used to select recipients of the prestigious Shingo recognition.

Gilberto Romero, the ICU Medical Costa Rica site operations director, said, “This recognition highlights a very positive direction in our operational excellence strategy. We went from managing programs that work independently to having a model that integrates culture, processes and strategy. Thanks to the Shingo Model, we have been able to build and develop a culture that is sustainable through time, achieving great results in safety, quality and competitiveness.”

“This is a company with a long history of continuous improvement,” said Adolfo Amador, operational excellence manager at ICU Medical Costa Rica. “The Shingo Model took us further down this path. The ability to identify the critical behaviors that guide our ideal results and, in terms of designing systems, model these behaviors, has been the key to our work in the last five years.”

ICU Medical Costa Rica will be recognized during the Awards Gala at the 35th Annual Shingo Conference on May 23, 2023, in Provo, Utah, USA. The conference is a five-day event featuring a selection of workshops, site tours, keynote speakers and breakout sessions designed to provide ongoing knowledge, insights and experience for organizations in their pursuit of operational excellence.

Media Contact:
ICU Medical Inc.
Tom McCall
(949) 366-4368
tom.mccall@icumed.com

About ICU Medical Inc.
www.icumed.com
ICU Medical offers clinically essential products and solutions that connect patients and caregivers through life-enhancing, innovative technology and services that provide meaningful clinical value. The organization’s robust portfolio features medical delivery systems and consumable products for infusion therapy, emergency medicine, general and regional anesthesia, home care, NICU/PICU, oncology, pain management and respiratory care.

About the Shingo Institute
www.shingo.org
The Shingo Institute is home of the Shingo Prize, an award that recognizes organizations that demonstrate an exceptional culture that fosters continuous improvement. A program in the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University, the Shingo Institute is named after Japanese industrial engineer and Toyota adviser Dr. Shigeo Shingo. Dr. Shingo distinguished himself as one of the world’s thought leaders in concepts, management systems and improvement techniques that have become known as the Toyota Production System.

Drawing from Dr. Shingo’s teachings and years of experience working with organizations worldwide, the Shingo Institute developed the Shingo Model, which is the basis for its several educational offerings, including workshops, webinars, podcasts, study tours and conferences.