Bridge Publications has earned its seventh consecutive Manufacturing Leadership 100 Award, this year in the category “Supply Chain Leadership.”
Now more than ever, manufacturers must accelerate and expand innovation and the delivery of customer value while continuing to embrace core principles of quality and operational excellence.
(PRWEB) March 31, 2015
Frost and Sullivan’s Manufacturing Leadership Council has recognized Bridge Publications for “embracing breakthrough innovation,” with a 2015 Manufacturing Leadership 100 Award, to be presented at the Manufacturing Leadership Summit June 2-4 at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, California.
Previously called the Progressive Manufacturing 100 Awards, the Manufacturing Leadership 100 Awards (ML 100) honor companies that are “shaping the future of global manufacturing from all corners of the manufacturing industry.”
In announcing this year’s awards, Global Vice President and Editorial Director of the Manufacturing Leadership Council David R. Brousell said, “Now more than ever, manufacturers must accelerate and expand innovation and the delivery of customer value while continuing to embrace core principles of quality and operational excellence,” which is exactly what Bridge Publications has done.
Bridge takes home the honors this year in the category “Supply Chain Leadership,” awarded to companies that adopt innovative technology to speed manufacture and delivery of their product.
As the sole publisher of Scientology Scripture—books and recorded lectures of L. Ron Hubbard—for the Americas, Africa, Asia, Australia, New Zealand and Oceania, Bridge has efficiency down to a science.
In applying for the award, Bridge described the challenge of ensuring that each of the 12,000 individual items they stock are readily available for delivery to Scientology Churches and Missions and direct to individuals around the globe.
As described in the video “Bringing Scientology to the World” on the Scientology website and the YouTube Scientology channel, all raw materials are purchased directly from their source in bulk—minimum stocks of 20 tons of polycarbonate pellets to manufacture CDs and 3,500 miles of paper, because quantity equals purchasing power so material costs are rock bottom.
Bridge is 100 percent digital. Every component on the line is computerized, making it possible to select a digital file for any book, push a button, and the presses roll. Consequently, it costs exactly the same to print a copy of Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health in English as in Bengali, Farsi, Swahili or Urdu. So, whether it is producing 100 copies or 100,000, the per-book cost remains the same.
But quality is just as important to Bridge as efficiency, and the bookbinding line, for example, ensures the production of hardcover books that last a lifetime, with every dust jacket is overlaid with plastic laminate making them literally waterproofed for durability.
In the shipping department, the computer calculates the most economical method of shipping and prints the appropriate label, whether FedEx, UPS or any other carrier. Boxes are weighed at checkpoints along the line and if the weight doesn't match what the order should contain, the computer automatically routes it for handling.
Since the inception of this in-house printing facility in 2006, Bridge has produced more than 18 million items including hardcover, softcover and leatherbound books, lecture binder sets, and books on film.
Established in 1981 in Los Angeles, California, Bridge Publications publishes the religious works of bestselling author and Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard. Its sister organization, New Era Publications in Copenhagen, Denmark, prints and distributes these materials for Europe and the United Kingdom.
