The Singhal award’s purpose is to promote and recognize innovations in manufacturing and service organizations. By bringing these innovations to light so that other organizations can learn about them, we can have a positive impact on the world. Without this competition, many of these innovations would remain unknown. Companywide innovations as well as those in specific units will be considered. All organizations, private and public, profit and non-profit, from all over the world are eligible to apply for this award.
Kalyan Singhal is the Doris and Robert McCurdy Professor of Management at the University of Baltimore. Dr. Singhal founded the Production and Operations Management Society (POMS) in 1989. He also founded the society’s journal Production and Operations Management in 1992 and has since served as its editor in chief. Dr. Singhal is the publisher and coeditor in chief of the Management and Business Review. He is a fellow of INFORMS and POMS.
Dr. Singhal exemplifies the goal of this award, having pursued successful innovations in companies, conducted research which has produced innovations in both private and public sector organizations, and founded institutions and publications which have made enormous contributions to academia, business, and society.
Organizations competing for this award will be judged on the following criteria:
- Creativity and novelty of the system.
- Impact on the organization in terms of cost and quality of goods and services.
- Impact on employees, customers, and suppliers.
- Impact on society at large as measured through environmental, social, and governance criteria, particularly lives improved or saved.
- Organizational and technical challenges that were overcome in completing the project.
- Technical innovation.
- Portability to other applications or industries.
Candidates should be prepared to share the details and results of their innovations and to submit to verification of their reports.
Prizes and Plaques: The winning team will receive a $20,000 cash prize, while up to five runners-up will receive $2,000 each. The winning organization and each of the finalists will also receive a plaque.
Application: Please submit a three-page summary (no more than 1,800 words) of what your company accomplished, including just enough detail that we can judge whether your work is appropriate for this competition. In addition, please submit a cover page with the title, authors’ names and affiliations, and a 100-word abstract of the achievement. Please submit this document electronically as a pdf file, using 12 point font, to: Professor Subodha Kumar at subodha@temple.edu. This application is due by September 25, 2022.
Reports: Entrants will be asked to report on a system which has been practically applied and to describe its significant, verifiable, and preferably quantifiable impact on the performance of the organization.
Presentation: Each finalist will have the opportunity to make a 40-minute presentation with Q&A at the April 2023 POMS annual conference. The presentation will be video recorded.
Publication of Articles: Each finalist will be expected to write a short article which will be published in Management and Business Review. In addition, any finalist team that writes a research paper, should submit it to the POMS journal Production and Operations Management for expedited review.