WEINHEIM. The figures say it all: 2015 was a good year for continuous improvement at Freudenberg Sealing Technologies (FST). Lean and Six Sigma activities have been strengthened, and the successes are measurable and impressive. Operational Excellence WEINHEIM. The figures say it all: 2015 was a good year for continuous improvement at Freudenberg Sealing Technologies (FST). Lean and Six Sigma activities have been strengthened, and the successes are measurable and impressive. First of all, the lean network was tied more tightly together. In 2015, 70 employees were trained to become lean executives, lean admin experts, Six Sigma black belts and lean black belts. That is 27 more employees than in the previous two years combined. An even greater increase is expected for 2016. In addition, at the Best Practice Exchange Day – which is devoted to learning from the best – the number of participants soared across all hierarchical levels, rising to the current figure of more than 400 persons. That is a nearly fourfold increase over a two-year period. The number of events has more than tripled in the same timeframe. And qualitatively? Here the statistics again bring impressive facts to light. The yardsticks are the Rapid Plant Assessments, a kind of lean audit that FST carries out at all its facilities each year to assess their capabilities. In each case, the auditors are experts who are independent of the facility. They closely scrutinize the plants while inspecting and evaluating the level of continuous improvement that was achieved based on a standardized process. If the average result from these assessments over the course of the year is considered, FST was able to show an 85 percent improvement compared to 2013 across all its facilities. For the first time, two facilities – both in North America – were given the “Operational Excellence” rating, meaning a grade of “A”: the Mixing and Stamping Facility in Bristol, closely followed by the Lead Center Gaskets in Manchester. Eight facilities were rated as “good” this time, five more than for the previous year; in 2013, no facility had yet reached this level. In return, the number of facilities that still evidently need improvement declined 85 percent.