Judging Criteria

Judges will evaluate and score candidates in each category using the following criteria:

Project Categories

  • Process Impact: Did the project transform a key process or processes that resulted in greater efficiency, speed, cost effectiveness, or an entirely new dimension of value for the company?
  • Business Impact: Did the project aid in the company’s growth financially, in market share, in reputation, or in customer satisfaction?
  • Strategic Impact: Did the project help enable and advance the company’s long-term business goals, further its digital transformation, and/or expand its future growth opportunities?
  • Use of Technology: To what extent was the use of advanced technology key to enabling the project?
  • Scale of project: Did the project encompass or hold the potential to encompass a significant percentage of the company’s operational footprint?

Digital Transformation Leadership Category (Individual)

  • Company Impact: Did the individual’s achievement significantly advance his or her company’s operational digital transformation?
  • Industry Impact: Did or should the individual’s achievement serve as a model for other manufacturing leaders?
  • Manufacturing Impact: Did or should the individual’s achievement serve as a model for how to conduct manufacturing operations at other companies?

Next-Generation Leadership Category (Individual)

  • Disruptive Innovation Impact: Did the individual successfully promote ideas and lead projects that embodied new ways of thinking?
  • Collaborative Innovation Impact: Did the individual inspire others and play a significant role in creating new or unique organizational models, including cross-functional teams, that took a collaborative approach to solving problems or creating new ways of doing things?
  • Social Impact: Did the individual enhance the perception of manufacturing’s value for other potential next-generation leaders?

Women in Manufacturing 4.0 Category (Individual)

  • Digital Transformation and Business Impact: Did this individual’s experience and achievements impact digital transformation initiatives both inside and outside of their organization, in addition to impacting the company’s strategy, business model, or other important overarching business goals?
  • Mentorship/Sponsorship Impact: Has this individual served as a mentor or sponsor to other women who are pursuing a career in manufacturing operations?
  • Continuous Learning Impact: Did this individual demonstrate a digital mindset and spirit of continuous professional learning to acquire new skills and knowledge?