AME announces scholarship winners

The Association for Manufacturing Excellence (AME), Rolling Meadows, Ill., has announced the winners of the 2014 Dr. Sherrie Ford Manufacturing as a Career Path Scholarship. The scholarship—an initiative supported by AME’s scholarship funding arm, AME Institute, and Kronos Inc.—is awarded to select students and manufacturing professionals who demonstrate keen insight into the world of manufacturing and the complexity of the pursuit of enterprise excellence.

Dr. Sherrie Ford led one of the largest women-owned businesses in the U.S. and was recognized as one of the premier consultants in the manufacturing world. After founding the Center for Continuous Improvement in 1991, she opened the consulting company Change Partners in 1996, followed by Power Partners in 2003. Ford was known for her unique approach to transforming workplace culture, working with the entire hourly workforce as well as upper management to embrace process improvement strategies and lean production principles. Ford died in 2011.

The fall term scholarship recipients are:

• Nicholas Dwyer, Elk Grove Village, Ill.
• Isaac Steele, Windom, Minn.
• Austin Otto, Maplewood, Minn.
• Caleb Sale, Oregon City, Ore.
• Isabella Grassetti, Monson, Mass.
• Ciara Winfield, Conyers, Ga.
• Kevin Lopez, Somerville, Mass.
• Emma Heckelsmiller, Palatine, Ill.