Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award

In 1987, jumpstarting a small, slowly growing U.S. quality movement, Congress established the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award to promote quality awareness, to recognize quality and business achievements of U.S. organizations, and to publicize these organizations’ successful performance strategies. Now America’s highest honor for performance excellence, the Baldrige Award is presented annually to U.S. organizations by the President of the United States. Awards are given in manufacturing, service, small business, education, and health care. In October 2004, President Bush signed into law legislation that authorizes NIST to expand the Baldrige award program to include non-profit organizations. In 2007, non-profit organizations will be eligible to apply for the award. In conjunction with the private sector, the National Institute of Standards and Technology designed and manages the award and the Baldrige National Quality Program.

Application process
To apply for the award, organizations must submit details showing their achievements and improvements in seven key areas: leadership; strategic planning; customer and market focus; measurement, analysis, and knowledge management; human resource focus; process management; and results. Applicants receive 300 to 1,000 hours of review and a detailed report on the organization’s strengths and opportunities for improvement by an independent board of examiners. “The application and review process for the award is the best, most cost-effective, and comprehensive business health audit you can get,” said Arnold Weimerskirch, former Baldrige Award judge and vice president of quality, Honeywell, Inc.

Program impact
Since the first awards were presented in 1988, the Baldrige National Quality Program has grown in stature and impact. Today, the Baldrige program, the award’s criteria for performance excellence, and the Baldrige award recipients are imitated and admired worldwide.

In particular, the Baldrige criteria for performance excellence have played a valuable role in helping U.S. organizations improve. The criteria are designed to help organizations improve their performance by focusing on two goals: delivering ever improving value to customers and improving the organization’s overall performance. Several million copies of the criteria have been distributed since 1988, and wide-scale reproduction by organizations and electronic access add to that number significantly. Gordon Black, chairman and chief executive officer of Harris/Black International Ltd., said the publication containing the Baldrige criteria for performance excellence is “probably the single most influential document in the modern history of American business.”

Following are some of the program’s highlights:

• State and local quality programs, most modeled after the Baldrige program, have grown from fewer than 10 in 1991 to 44 programs in 41 states.
• Internationally, nearly 80 quality programs are operating. Most are modeled after the Baldrige program, including one established in Japan in 1996.
• Since 1988, 1,149 applications have been submitted for the Baldrige Award from a wide variety of types and sizes of organizations.

Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Winners

2007
PRO-TEC Coating Co.
Leipsic, Ohio (small business)

Mercy Health Systems
Janesville, Wisc. (health care)

Sharp HealthCare
San Diego, Calif. (health care)

City of Coral Springs
Coral Springs, Fla. (nonprofit)

U.S. Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC)
Picatinny Arsenal, N.J. (nonprofit)

2006
MESA Products, Inc.
Tulsa, Okla. (small business)

Premier Inc.
San Diego, Calif. (service)

North Mississippi Medical Center
Tupelo, Miss. (health care)

2005
Sunny Fresh Foods, Inc.
Monticello, Minn. (manufacturing)

DynMcDermott Petroleum Operations
New Orleans, La. (service)

Park Place Lexus
Plano, Texas (small business)

Richland College
Dallas, Texas (education)

Jenks Public Schools
Jenks, Okla. (education)

Bronson Methodist Hospital
Kalamazoo, Mich. (health care)

2004
The Bama Companies
Tulsa, Okla. (manufacturing)

Texas Nameplate Company, Inc.
Dallas, Texas (small business)

Kenneth W. Monfort College of Business
Greeley, Colo. (education)

Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton
Hamilton, N.J. (health care)

2003
Medrad, Inc.
Indianola, Pa. (manufacturing)

Boeing Aerospace Support
St. Louis, Mo. (service)

Caterpillar Financial Services Corp.
Nashville, Tenn. (service)

Stoner Inc.
Quarryville, Pa. (small business)

Community Consolidated School District 15
Palatine, Ill. (education)

Baptist Hospital, Inc.
Pensacola, Fla. (health care)

Saint Luke’s Hospital of Kansas City
Kansas City, Mo. (health care)

2002
Motorola Inc. Commercial, Government and Industrial Solutions Sector
Schaumburg, Ill. (manufacturing)

Branch-Smith Printing Division
Fort Worth, Texas (small business)

SSM Health Care
St. Louis, Mo. (health care)

2001
Clarke American Checks, Incorporated
San Antonio, Texas (manufacturing)

Pal’s Sudden Service
Kingsport, Tenn. (small business)

Chugach School District
Anchorage, Alaska (education)

Pearl River School District
Pearl River, N.Y. (education)

University of Wisconsin-Stout
Menomonie, Wis. (education)

2000
Dana Corp.-Spicer Driveshaft Division
Toledo, Ohio (manufacturing)

KARLEE Company, Inc.
Garland, Texas (manufacturing)

Operations Management International, Inc.
Greenwood Village, Colo. (service)

Los Alamos National Bank
Los Alamos, N.M. (small business)

1999
STMicroelectronics, Inc.-Region Americas
Carrollton, Texas (manufacturing)

BI Performance Services
Minneapolis, Minn. (service)

The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, L.L.C.
Atlanta, Ga. (service)

Sunny Fresh Foods
Monticello, Minn. (small business)

1998
Boeing Airlift and Tanker Programs
Long Beach, Calif. (manufacturing)

Solar Turbines Inc.
San Diego, Calif. (manufacturing)

Texas Nameplate Company Inc.
Dallas, Texas (small business)

1997
3M Dental Products Division
St. Paul, Minn. (manufacturing)

Solectron Corp.
Milpitas, Calif. (manufacturing)

Merrill Lynch Credit Corp.
Jacksonville, Fla. (service)

Xerox Business Services
Rochester, N.Y. (service)

1996
ADAC Laboratories
Milpitas, Calif. (manufacturing)

Dana Commercial Credit Corp.
Toledo, Ohio (service)

Custom Research Inc.
Minneapolis, Minn. (small business)

Trident Precision Manufacturing Inc.
Webster, N.Y. (small business)

1995
Armstrong World Industries’ Building Products Operation
Lancaster, Pa. (manufacturing)

Corning Telecommunications Products Division
Corning, N.Y. (manufacturing)

1994
AT&T Consumer Communications Services
Basking Ridge, N.J. (service)

GTE Directories Corp.
Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas (service)

Wainwright Industries Inc.
St. Peters, Mo. (small business)

1993
Eastman Chemical Co.
Kingsport, Tenn. (manufacturing)

Ames Rubber Corp.
Hamburg, N.J. (small business)

1992
AT&T Network Systems Group/Transmission
Systems Business Unit
Morristown, N.J. (manufacturing)

Texas Instruments Inc.
Defense Systems & Electronics Group
Dallas, Texas (manufacturing)

AT&T Universal Card Services
Jacksonville, Fla. (service)

The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co.
Atlanta, Ga. (service)

Granite Rock Co.
Watsonville, Calif. (small business)

1991
Solectron Corp.
Milpitas, Calif. (manufacturing)

Zytec Corp.
Eden Prairie, Minn. (manufacturing)

Marlow Industries
Dallas, Texas (small business)

1990
Cadillac Motor Car Division
Detroit, Mich. (manufacturing)

IBM Rochester
Rochester, Minn. (manufacturing)

Federal Express Corp.
Memphis, Tenn. (service)

Wallace Co. Inc.
Houston, Texas (small business)

1989
Milliken & Co.
Spartanburg, S.C. (manufacturing)

Xerox Corp.
Business Products and Systems
Rochester, NY (manufacturing)

1988
Motorola Inc.
Schaumburg, Ill. (Manufacturing)

Commercial Nuclear Fuel Division of
Westinghouse Electric Corp.
Pittsburgh, Pa. (manufacturing)

Globe Metallurgical Inc.
Beverly, Ohio (small business)

Further information:
Baldrige National Quality Program
NIST
100 Bureau Drive, Stop 1020
Gaithersburg, Md. 20899-1020
(301) 975-2036
email: nqp@nist.gov
www.baldrige.nist.gov

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Date created: 3/01/01
Last updated: 11/20/07
Contact: inquiries@nist.gov