Batesville Casket Company recognized for manufacturing excellence in Great Lakes and Southeast regions

July 27, 2007 – The Association of Manufacturing Excellence (AME) has selected Batesville Casket Company’s Batesville, Indiana plant as the winner of the 2007 Manufacturing Excellence Award for the Great Lakes Region.  This award comes just one year after the Batesville facility was recognized as one of Industry Week’s Top Ten Plants in North America. 

In addition, AME has also selected Batesville’s Manchester, Tennessee plant as the winner of the 2007 Manufacturing Excellence Award for the Southeast Region.  The Manchester recognition comes on the heels of being honored as a Managing Automation Progressive 50 Manufacturing Award winner, as well as being recognized as the #1 plant in North America as the 2006 National AME Award Winner. 

The AME Excellence Awards recognize and honor organizations that are using effective strategies to improve competitiveness and profitability through manufacturing innovation. Batesville will receive the awards in October at the 2007 AME Annual Conference in Chicago, Illinois.

Batesville’s success in winning the two awards recognizes the many hard-working associates who apply a level of care to each product as if it were being made for a member of their own families.  Each talented individual aspires to make a difference not only in the funeral service industry, but also in the lives of the families who seek to create meaningful tributes for their loved ones.  Winning the awards is a testament to their caring approach to their work.

About Batesville Casket Company

Batesville Casket Company is a subsidiary of Hillenbrand Industries (NYSE: HB) located in Batesville, Indiana.  It is recognized as North America’s premier funeral service supplier of burial caskets, Options® cremation products and related support services.  For more than one hundred years, Batesville has been committed to assisting funeral directors in helping families honor the lives of those they love.