Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award
Encyclopedia
The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award recognizes U.S. organizations in the business, health care, education, and nonprofit sectors for performance excellence. The Baldrige Award is the only formal recognition of the performance excellence of both public and private U.S. organizations given by the President of the United States
. It is administered by the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program, which is based at and managed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology
, an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce. Up to 18 awards may be given annually across six eligibility categories—manufacturing, service, small business, education, health care, and nonprofit. As of 2010, 91 organizations had received the award.
The Baldrige National Quality Program and the associated award were established by the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Improvement Act of 1987 (Public Law 100–107). The program and award were named for Malcolm Baldrige, who served as United States Secretary of Commerce
during the Reagan administration, from 1981 until Baldrige’s 1987 death in a rodeo
accident. In 2010, the program's name was changed to the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program to reflect the evolution of the field of quality from a focus on product, service, and customer quality to a broader, strategic focus on overall organizational quality—called performance excellence.
The award promotes awareness of performance excellence as an increasingly important element in competitiveness. It also promotes the sharing of successful performance strategies and the benefits derived from using these strategies. To receive a Baldrige Award, an organization must have a role-model organizational management system that ensures continuous improvement in delivering products and/or services, demonstrates efficient and effective operations, and provides a way of engaging and responding to customers and other stakeholders. The award is not given for specific products or services.
The Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence provide organizations with an integrated approach to performance management that results in
The following three sector-specific versions of the Criteria, which are revised every two years, are available for free from the Baldrige Program:
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
. It is administered by the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program, which is based at and managed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology
National Institute of Standards and Technology
The National Institute of Standards and Technology , known between 1901 and 1988 as the National Bureau of Standards , is a measurement standards laboratory, otherwise known as a National Metrological Institute , which is a non-regulatory agency of the United States Department of Commerce...
, an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce. Up to 18 awards may be given annually across six eligibility categories—manufacturing, service, small business, education, health care, and nonprofit. As of 2010, 91 organizations had received the award.
The Baldrige National Quality Program and the associated award were established by the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Improvement Act of 1987 (Public Law 100–107). The program and award were named for Malcolm Baldrige, who served as United States Secretary of Commerce
United States Secretary of Commerce
The United States Secretary of Commerce is the head of the United States Department of Commerce concerned with business and industry; the Department states its mission to be "to foster, promote, and develop the foreign and domestic commerce"...
during the Reagan administration, from 1981 until Baldrige’s 1987 death in a rodeo
Rodeo
Rodeo is a competitive sport which arose out of the working practices of cattle herding in Spain, Mexico, and later the United States, Canada, South America and Australia. It was based on the skills required of the working vaqueros and later, cowboys, in what today is the western United States,...
accident. In 2010, the program's name was changed to the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program to reflect the evolution of the field of quality from a focus on product, service, and customer quality to a broader, strategic focus on overall organizational quality—called performance excellence.
The award promotes awareness of performance excellence as an increasingly important element in competitiveness. It also promotes the sharing of successful performance strategies and the benefits derived from using these strategies. To receive a Baldrige Award, an organization must have a role-model organizational management system that ensures continuous improvement in delivering products and/or services, demonstrates efficient and effective operations, and provides a way of engaging and responding to customers and other stakeholders. The award is not given for specific products or services.
Criteria for Performance Excellence
The Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence serve two main purposes: (1) to identify Baldrige Award recipients that will serve as role models for other organizations and (2) to help organizations assess their improvement efforts, diagnose their overall performance management system, and identify their strengths and opportunities for improvement. In addition, the Criteria help strengthen U.S. competitiveness by- improving organizational performance practices, capabilities, and results
- facilitating communication and sharing of information on best practices among U.S. organizations of all types
- serving as a tool for understanding and managing performance and for guiding planning and opportunities for learning
The Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence provide organizations with an integrated approach to performance management that results in
- delivery of ever-improving value to customers and stakeholders, contributing to organizational sustainability
- improved organizational effectiveness and capabilities
- organizational and personal learning
The following three sector-specific versions of the Criteria, which are revised every two years, are available for free from the Baldrige Program:
- Criteria for Performance Excellence
- Education Criteria for Performance Excellence
- Health Care Criteria for Performance Excellence
Early History of the Baldrige Program
- In the early and mid-1980s, many U.S. industry and government leaders saw that a renewed emphasis on quality was necessary for doing business in an ever-expanding and more competitive world market. But many U.S. businesses either did not believe quality mattered for them or did not know where to begin.
- The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Improvement Act of 1987, signed into law on August 20, 1987, was developed through the actions of the National Productivity Advisory Committee, chaired by Jack Grayson. The nonprofit research organization APQC, founded by Grayson, organized the first White House Conference on Productivity, spearheading the creation of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in 1987. The Baldrige Award was envisioned as a standard of excellence that would help U.S. organizations achieve world-class quality.
- In the late summer and fall of 1987, Dr. Curt Reimann, the first director of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Program, and his staff at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) developed an award implementation framework, including an evaluation scheme, and advanced proposals for what is now the Baldrige Award.
- In its first three years, the Baldrige Award was jointly administered by APQC and the American Society for Quality, which continues to assist in administering the award program under contract to NIST.
Program Impacts
- According to Building on Baldrige: American Quality for the 21st Century by the private Council on Competitiveness, “More than any other program, the Baldrige Quality Award is responsible for making quality a national priority and disseminating best practices across the United States.”
- The Baldrige Program's net private benefits to the economy as a whole were conservatively estimated at $24.65 billion. When compared to the program's social costs of $119 million, the program’s social benefit-to-cost ratio was 207-to-1.
- In 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010, Leadership Excellence magazine placed the Baldrige Program in the top 10 best government/military leadership programs in the United States based on seven criteria: vision/mission, involvement/participation, accountability/measurement, content/curriculum, presenters/presentations, take-home value/results for customers, and outreach of the programs and products.
- Since the program’s inception in 1987, more than 2 million copies of the business/nonprofit, education, and health care versions of the Criteria for Performance Excellence have been distributed to individuals and organizations in the United States and abroad. In 2010, more than 2.1 million copies of the Criteria were accessed or downloaded from the Baldrige Web site.
Public-Private Partnership
The Baldrige Award is supported by a distinctive public-private partnership. The following organizations and entities play a key role:- The Foundation for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award raises funds to permanently endow the award program.
- The National Institute of Standards and TechnologyNational Institute of Standards and TechnologyThe National Institute of Standards and Technology , known between 1901 and 1988 as the National Bureau of Standards , is a measurement standards laboratory, otherwise known as a National Metrological Institute , which is a non-regulatory agency of the United States Department of Commerce...
(NIST), an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce, manages the Baldrige Program.
- The American Society for QualityAmerican Society for QualityAmerican Society for Quality , formerly known as American Society for Quality Control , is a knowledge-based global community of quality control experts, with nearly 85,000 members dedicated to the promotion and advancement of quality tools, principles, and practices in their workplaces and in...
(ASQ) assists in administering the award program under contract to NIST.
- The Board of Overseers advises the Department of Commerce on the Baldrige Program.
- Members of the Board of Examiners—consisting of leading experts from U.S. businesses and education, health care, and nonprofit organizations—volunteer their time to evaluate award applications and prepare feedback reports for applicant organizations. Board members also share information about the program in their professional, trade, community, and state organizations. The Panel of Judges, part of the Board of Examiners, makes award recommendations to the director of NIST.
- The network of state, regional, and local Baldrige-based award programs known as the Alliance for Performance Excellence provides potential award applicants and examiners, promotes the use of the Criteria, and disseminates information on the award process and concepts.
- Award recipients share information on their successful performance and quality strategies with other U.S. organizations.
Baldrige Award Recipients
| Year | Award Recipient | Sector |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | MEDRAD, Warrendale, PA | manufacturing |
| Nestlé Purina PetCare Co., St. Louis, MO | manufacturing | |
| Freese and Nichols Inc., Fort Worth, TX | small business | |
| K&N Management, Austin, TX | small business | |
| Studer Group, Gulf Breeze, FL | small business | |
| Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital, Downers Grove, IL | health care | |
| Montgomery County Public Schools, Rockville, MD | education | |
| 2009 | Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies, Kansas City, MO | manufacturing |
| MidwayUSA, Columbia, MO | small business | |
| AtlantiCare, Egg Harbor Township, NJ | health care | |
| Heartland Health, St. Joseph, MO | health care | |
| VA Cooperative Studies Program Clinical Research Pharmacy Coordinating Center, Albuquerque, NM | nonprofit | |
| 2008 | Cargill Corn Milling North America, Wayzata, MN | manufacturing |
| Poudre Valley Health System, Fort Collins, CO | health care | |
| Iredell-Statesville Schools, Statesville, NC | education | |
| 2007 | PRO-TEC Coating Co., Leipsic, OH | small business |
| Mercy Health System, Janesville, WI | health care | |
| Sharp Healthcare, San Diego, CA | health care | |
| City of Coral Springs, Coral Springs, FL | nonprofit | |
| U.S. Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC), Picatinny Arsenal, NJ | nonprofit | |
| 2006 | MESA Products, Inc., Tulsa, OK | small business |
| Premier Inc., San Diego, CA | service | |
| North Mississippi Medical Center, Tupelo, MS | health care | |
| 2005 | Sunny Fresh Foods, Inc., Monticello, MN | manufacturing |
| DynMcDermott Petroleum Operations, New Orleans, LA | service | |
| Park Place Lexus, Plano, TX | small business | |
| Richland College, Dallas, TX | education | |
| Jenks Public Schools, Jenks, OK | education | |
| Bronson Methodist Hospital, Kalamazoo, MI | health care | |
| 2004 | The Bama Companies, Tulsa, OK | manufacturing |
| Texas Nameplate Company, Inc., Dallas, TX | small business | |
| Kenneth W. Monfort College of Business, Greeley, CO | education | |
| Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton, Hamilton, NJ | health care | |
| 2003 | Medrad, Inc., Indianola, PA | manufacturing |
| Boeing Aerospace Support, St. Louis, MO | service | |
| Caterpillar Financial Services Corp., Nashville, TN | service | |
| Stoner Inc., Quarryville, PA | small business | |
| Community Consolidated School District 15, Palatine, IL | education | |
| Baptist Hospital, Inc., Pensacola, FL | health care | |
| Saint Luke’s Hospital of Kansas City, Kansas City, MO | health care | |
| 2002 | Motorola Inc. Commercial, Government and Industrial Solutions Sector, Schaumburg, IL | manufacturing |
| Branch-Smith Printing Division, Fort Worth, TX | small business | |
| SSM Health Care, St. Louis, MO | health care | |
| 2001 | Clarke American Checks, Incorporated, San Antonio, TX | manufacturing |
| Pal’s Sudden Service, Kingsport, TN | small business | |
| Chugach School District, Anchorage, AK | education | |
| Pearl River School District, Pearl River, NY | education | |
| University of Wisconsin–Stout, Menomonie, WI | education | |
| 2000 | Dana Corp.-Spicer Driveshaft Division, Toledo, OH | manufacturing |
| KARLEE Company, Inc., Garland, TX | manufacturing | |
| Operations Management International, Inc., Greenwood Village, CO | service | |
| Los Alamos National Bank, Los Alamos, NM | small business | |
| 1999 | STMicroelectronics, Inc.-Region Americas, Carrollton, TX | manufacturing |
| BI Performance Services, Minneapolis, MN | service | |
| The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, L.L.C., Atlanta, GA | service | |
| Sunny Fresh Foods, Monticello, MN | small business | |
| 1998 | Boeing Airlift and Tanker Programs, Long Beach, CA | manufacturing |
| Solar Turbines Inc., San Diego, CA | manufacturing | |
| Texas Nameplate Company, Inc., Dallas, TX | small business | |
| 1997 | 3M Dental Products Division, St. Paul, MN | manufacturing |
| Solectron Corp., Milpitas, CA | manufacturing | |
| Merrill Lynch Credit Corp., Jacksonville, FL | service | |
| Xerox Business Services, Rochester, NY | service | |
| 1996 | ADAC Laboratories ADAC Laboratories ADAC Laboratories was a Silicon Valley medical device company that was acquired by Philips in 2000. ADAC specialized in nuclear medicine and nuclear imaging devices. It was founded in 1970 and In 1996, it was the recipient of a Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award It was acquired by Philips for... , Milpitas, CA |
manufacturing |
| Dana Commercial Credit Corp., Toledo, OH | service | |
| Custom Research Inc., Minneapolis, MN | small business | |
| Trident Precision Manufacturing Inc., Webster, NY | small business | |
| 1995 | Armstrong World Industries’ Building Products Operation, Lancaster, PA | manufacturing |
| Corning Telecommunications Products Division, Corning, NY | manufacturing | |
| 1994 | AT&T Consumer Communications Services, Basking Ridge, NJ | service |
| GTE Directories Corp., Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX | service | |
| Wainwright Industries Inc., St. Peters, MO | small business | |
| 1993 | Eastman Chemical Co., Kingsport, TN | manufacturing |
| Ames Rubber Corp., Hamburg, NJ | small business | |
| 1992 | AT&T Network Systems Group/Transmission Systems Business Unit, Morristown, NJ | manufacturing |
| Texas Instruments Inc. Defense Systems & Electronics Group, Dallas, TX | manufacturing | |
| AT&T Universal Card Services, Jacksonville, FL | service | |
| The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co., Atlanta, GA | service | |
| Granite Rock Co., Watsonville, CA | small business | |
| 1991 | Solectron Corp., Milpitas, CA | manufacturing |
| Zytec Corp., Eden Prairie, MN | manufacturing | |
| Marlow Industries, Dallas, TX | small business | |
| 1990 | Cadillac Motor Car Division, Detroit, MI | manufacturing |
| IBM Rochester IBM Rochester IBM Rochester is the facility of International Business Machines in Rochester, Minnesota, not to be confused with the IBM Global Services facility in Rochester, NY. The initial structure was designed by Eero Saarinen, who clad the structure in blue panels of varying hues after being inspired by... , Rochester, MN |
manufacturing | |
| Federal Express Corp., Memphis, TN | service | |
| Wallace Co. Inc., Houston, TX | small business | |
| 1989 | Milliken & Co., Spartanburg, SC | manufacturing |
| Xerox Corp. Business Products and Systems, Rochester, NY | manufacturing | |
| 1988 | Motorola Inc., Schaumburg, IL | manufacturing |
| Commercial Nuclear Fuel Division of Westinghouse Electric Corp., Pittsburgh, PA | manufacturing | |
| Globe Metallurgical Inc., Beverly, OH | small business |