Leica Biosystems GmbH in Nussloch has won the Manufacturing Excellence (MX) Award 2011 in the Customer Focus category. With a workforce of 336 employees, the German plant in Nussloch near Heidelberg makes products for different stages of specimen preparation in the histopathological laboratory. These include cryostats and microtomes for ultra-thin sections of tissue as well as automatic coverslippers and tissue processors to produce high-quality samples that can be kept for extremely long periods of time without loss of quality.

The jury decided that customer involvement in the development of the products, several customer satisfaction surveys and, not least, tailored product solutions designed to ease the customers' workload set Leica Biosystems well apart from the other com­petitors. Every product delivered by Leica Biosystems is accompa­nied by a questionnaire to gauge the customer's satisfaction. VOC seminars (VOC stands for "Voice of the Customer") give Leica Biosystems' customers a platform for more detailed feedback, providing product managers, sales reps, and service techni­cians with valuable tips for potential improvements and influencing each step of the product develop­ment process. Leica Biosystems also won the MX Award for its substantial improvements to product quality and delivery performance.

After two first prizes last year, the Axeda On-Demand Innovation Award and the Frost & Sullivan Award, the MX Award is another distinction honoring Leica Biosystems for its focus on the customer. "Our cus­tomers expect a great deal of products for their laboratory and research facilities. Leica Biosystems never forgets that every lab sample comes from a patient whose tissue is being examined. We feel obliged to accept the challenge of preparing each tissue sample in an optimal way so that the pathologist can make the best possible diagnosis while keeping the time the patient has to wait for the result to a minimum," emphasized Arnd Kaldowski, President Leica Biosystems, at last Friday's award presentation ceremony in the Axel-Springer-Haus in Berlin. Among the finalists in the Customer Focus, Product Innovation, Process Innovation, and Information Technology categories were also the two German Leica Microsystems plants in Wetzlar and Mannheim.

The aims of this benchmarking award, which is being conferred for the seventh time this year, are to promote cross-sector and international cooperation to strengthen industry, and to set up a communica­tion platform for expert academics and practitioners. Innovative and creative solutions are not only to boost the international competitiveness of the individual company, but, through holistic interaction, sus­tainably enhance the status of Germany as a business location.