President
George W. Bush, Commerce Secretary Don Evans and Transportation
Secretary
Norman Y. Mineta, a former commerce secretary, today
saluted four companies that won the 2000
Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in recognition
of their business performance excellence and quality achievements.
In this afternoon's ceremony, President Bush and Secretary
Mineta were joined by about 200 employees from the award-winning
businesses. Friday, Secretary Evans was traveling back from
trade meetings in Latin America.
The
companies are Dana
Corporation--Spicer Driveshaft, Toledo, Ohio (manufacturing);
KARLEE,
Garland, Texas (manufacturing); Operations
Management International, Inc., Greenwood Village, Colo.
(service); and Los
Alamos National Bank, Los Alamos, N.M. (small business).
The
Malcolm Baldrige National
Quality Award is a public/private partnership to promote
quality and performance excellence in the United States.
Awards are made to organizations that have substantially
benefited the economic or social well-being of the United
States through improvements in quality and performance excellence.
"The
Baldrige philosophy gives everyone in an organization a
voice and trusts everyone with responsibility. The Baldrige
way is good business. These extraordinary efforts do justice
to the memory of an extraordinary man, Malcolm Baldrige,"
said President
Bush in commending the winners of the award.
"The
Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award program is a true
American success story. It has been instrumental in improving
competitiveness and in building excellence among American
businesses, both large and small. I am proud of what the
Baldrige Award program has accomplished, and I look forward
to its increasing contributions to the nation's economy,
competitiveness and quality of life," said Evans.
For
the past seven years, the Commerce
Department's National
Institute of Standards and Technology has compared Baldrige
winners to the Standard & Poor's 500. Baldrige Award
winners consistently outperformed the S&P 500. In the
most recent study, announced
today, the Baldrige winners beat the S&P 500 4.4 to
1.
The
award is named after Malcolm Baldrige, Secretary of Commerce
from 1981 until his death in a rodeo accident in 1987. Baldrige
was a proponent of quality management as a key to this country's
prosperity and long-term growth. Since 1988, 41 businesses
have received Baldrige Awards in the categories of manufacturing,
service and small business.
To
apply for a Baldrige Award, organizations submit details
showing they have achieved "breakthrough"-continuous
and major-improvements in everything from leadership to
results. Applications are reviewed by an independent board
of examiners. Each applicant receives a "feedback"
report citing strengths and opportunities for improvement.
The
Baldrige
Criteria for Performance Excellence are used worldwide
by thousands of organizations to assess and improve their
overall performance. Since 1988, almost 2 million copies
of the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence
have been distributed.
As a
non-regulatory agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce's
Technology Administration, NIST strengthens the U.S. economy
and improves the quality of life by working with industry
to develop and apply technology, measurements and standards.
For
further information on the Baldrige Award winners for 2000
and on the Baldrige National Quality Program, please visit
the award's web site at www.quality.nist.gov.
G
2001-21
