If you missed the news story “Baldrige Program Chooses New Name to Reflect Its Mission” published earlier this week in Quality Digest Daily, allow me to reiterate. What was formerly known as the “Baldrige National Quality Program,” the program behind the Baldrige Award, will now be referred to as the “Baldrige Performance Excellence Program.” The award itself will remain “Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.”

So, apparently, the administrators of the Baldrige Award, the nation’s and quality industry’s highest honor, no longer believe that the term “Quality” reflects their mission. And so it goes for a venerable, honored department that’s increasingly going away.

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