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President
George W. Bush and Commerce Secretary Don Evans today honored
Medrad, Inc.; Boeing Aerospace Support; Caterpillar Financial
Services Corp. U.S.; Stoner, Inc.; Community Consolidated
School District 15; Baptist Hospital, Inc.; and Saint Luke’s
Hospital of Kansas City with the 2003 Malcolm Baldrige
National Quality Award in recognition of their performance
excellence and quality achievements. This is the most Baldrige
Award recipients since the program started in 1988 and
the first time that recipients were named in all five (manufacturing,
service, small business, education and health care) Baldrige
Award categories.
“The
Baldrige Award honors the outstanding performances and
accomplishments of American businesses, schools, and health
care organizations. …These organizations embody the
values of excellence, principled leadership, and a commitment
to employees, partners and community,” said President
Bush in a message to the 2003 Baldrige Award recipients.
“The
2003 Baldrige Award winners make a substantial contribution
to our nation’s strength and prosperity,” said
Secretary Evans. “Their commitment to excellence
and to ethical, responsible behavior is key to strengthening
all our enterprises and is the foundation for America’s
overall security and success.”
Accomplishments
of the seven organizations include (winners’ location
and Baldrige Award category in parentheses):
- Since
1998, Medrad, Inc. (Indianola, Pa.,
manufacturing) has achieved an average annual revenue
growth rate of 15 percent.
- For
the past five years, Boeing Aerospace Support (St.
Louis, Mo., service) has provided products and services
within three days of a request, while competitors take
up to 40 days.
- At Stoner,
Inc. (Quarryville, Pa., small business/manufacturing),
manufacturing productivity has increased 150 percent
since 1991.
- In
the last school year, 84 percent of second-grade students
in Community Consolidated School District 15 (Palatine,
Ill., education) were reading at or above grade level,
nearly 35 percent above the national average.
- Senior
leaders at Baptist Hospital, Inc. (Pensacola,
Fla., health care) serve as role models and are held
accountable for organizational performance through a “No
Excuses” policy.
- Since
1997, patients have said Saint
Luke’s Hospital
of Kansas City (Kansas City, Mo., health care)
has the best quality health care and the best doctors
and nurses of the 21 facilities in the area.
The 2003
Baldrige Award recipients were selected from among 68 applicants.
An independent board of examiners evaluated them in seven
areas: leadership, strategic planning, customer and market
focus, information and analysis, human resource focus,
process management and results. The evaluation process
included about 1,000 hours of review and an on-site visit
by teams of examiners to clarify questions and verify information
in the applications.
The Malcolm
Baldrige National Quality Award, managed by the Commerce
Department’s National Institute of Standards and
Technology (NIST) in conjunction with the private sector,
promotes quality awareness, recognizes quality and performance
excellence achievements of U.S. organizations, and publicizes
these organizations’ successful performance strategies.
As a non-regulatory agency, NIST develops and promotes
measurement, standards, and technology to enhance productivity,
facilitate trade and improve the quality of life.
Further
information on the Baldrige Award winners for 2003 and
on the Baldrige National Quality Program is available at www.baldrige.nist.gov.
Malcolm
Baldrige National Quality Award Background
The Malcolm
Baldrige National Quality Award was established in 1987
to improve performance in U.S. organizations. Awards are
made to organizations that have substantially benefited
the economic or social well-being of the United States
through improvements resulting in performance excellence.
Awards can be given in five categories: manufacturing,
service, small business, education and health care.
The application
process is rigorous and thorough. Applicants for the award
submit up to 50 pages of details showing processes, improvements
and results in seven areas, including leadership, customers
and markets, human resources and strategic planning. Each
applicant receives more than 400 hours of review by an
independent board of business, education and health care
experts and a detailed report citing strengths and opportunities
for improvement. Since 1988, 56 organizations have received
the Baldrige Award.
The Baldrige
Criteria for Performance Excellence are used worldwide
by thousands of organizations to assess and improve their
overall performance. Since 1988, approximately 2 million
copies of the criteria have been distributed, and wide-scale
reproduction by companies and electronic access add to
that number significantly.
Each
Baldrige Award winner receives a Steuben crystal stela
encasing a gold medallion engraved with the Presidential
seal and the words, “The Quest for Excellence.” The
award is named after Malcolm Baldrige, Secretary of Commerce
from 1981 until his death in a rodeo accident in July 1987.
Baldrige was a proponent of quality as a key to this country’s
prosperity and long-term growth and helped draft the act
establishing the award program. The act was signed into
law by President Reagan in August 1987.
NIST
manages the Baldrige National Quality Program in conjunction
with the private sector.
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