SVZ Rijkevorsel gains JIPM TPM Excellence accreditation

Staff at our Belgium facility in Rijkevorsel are celebrating the news that the plant has now finally received the TPM Excellence award. A team from Rijkevorsel has been internally presented with the coveted award after a successful Japanese assessment following a four year program of continuous improvement. This exciting achievement is another important milestone in SVZ’s operational excellence strategy.

TPM Excellence certification is tough to achieve but has huge value for both the companies that attain it and their customers. While our business benefits from maximum operational efficiency and a safer working environment, the TPM standard means product quality is improved and even more consistent, plus our manufacturing (and therefore supply to customers) is constant and dependable.

Peter Heijnen, Plant manager at SVZ Rijkevorsel, says the award is well-deserved recognition for the efforts of the entire Rijkevorsel team. “When a company decides to aim for TPM, everyone has to be on board, especially shop floor colleagues, or it just won’t work. I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved, but the hard work doesn’t end here. SVZ is all about continuous improvement and we’ll go on looking for more ways of making our business, and our products, better and better.”

SVZ’s COO, Ronald Oomes, is also thrilled with the achievement. “The implementation of TPM has been instrumental in reaching the excellent standards at our plant in Rijkevorsel in Belgium. We are very proud as this is SVZ’s second award, after the plant in Tomaszow has achieved it back in 2017. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 travel restrictions did not allow for official ceremony in Japan.”