Most Baldrige Awards in History--Winners in All
Categories
President George W. Bush and Commerce Secretary Donald
L. Evans have announced the winners of the 2003 Malcolm
Baldrige National Quality Award. For the first time in
its history, awards were earned in all categories. Additionally,
this year’s crop of honorees is the largest in Baldrige
history--a total of seven organizations are recipients.
“I’m pleased to join President Bush in congratulating
this year’s recipients of the prestigious award,” says
Evans. “They represent America’s best and are
setting a high standard for corporate and social responsibility.
Their dynamic, principled leadership has built our economy
into the world’s largest engine of progress and prosperity.”
The 2003 recipients are Medrad Inc. of Indianola, Pennsylvania
(manufacturing); Boeing Aerospace Support of St. Louis
(service); Caterpillar Financial Services Corp. of Nashville,
Tennessee (service); Stoner Inc. of Quarryville, Pennsylvania
(small business); Community Consolidated School District
15 of Palatine, Illinois (education); Baptist Hospital
Inc. of Pensacola, Florida (health care); and Saint Luke’s
Hospital of Kansas City, Missouri (health care).
“These recipients know the evaluation for the Baldrige
Award was objective and scrupulous in identifying performance
excellence,” says Harry Reedy, chair of the Baldrige
Award panel of judges. “Every step of the process
is structured to apply the knowledge and expertise of the
board of examiners in ensuring that only the most outstanding
applicants are recognized.”
Medrad Inc.
Medrad develops, manufactures, markets and services medical
devices. Used in diagnostic and therapeutic imaging, Medrad
products include vascular injection systems and magnetic
resonance accessories. Its quality and performance achievements
include:
 A consistent average annual revenue growth rate of 15
percent
On-time delivery of 98 to 100 percent for syringes,
disposables, injectors and magnetic resonance coils
A $535,000 budget for employee tuition and a $2,233
expenditure per employee for learning and development opportunities
Boeing Aerospace Support
As part of the Boeing Co., Boeing AS services include
aircraft maintenance, modification and repair, training
for air crews and maintenance staff, and new parts provision.
Its quality achievements include:
An average cumulative earnings growth rate of 17 percent
per year from 1999 to 2002
A 23 percent increase in “exceptional” and “very
good” customer response in the government sector
Contracting
cycle time improvement from 100 days in 1998 to 23 days
in 2003
Caterpillar Financial Services Corp.
CFSC is the financial services business unit of Caterpillar
Inc., a manufacturer of construction and mining equipment,
gas and diesel engines, and industrial turbines. Incorporated
in 1981 to finance the company’s forklift trucks,
CFSC now provides financing for the complete line of Caterpillar
products. Its performance highlights include:
An earnings increase from 5.6 percent in 1998 to 25.6
percent in 2003 within Caterpillar Inc.’s total revenues
An increase in customer satisfaction from 89 percent
to 93 percent during the last five years
After-tax savings exceeding $15 million in 2003, attributed
to CFSC’s Six Sigma efforts
Stoner Inc.
Stoner is a small, privately owned manufacturer of specialized
cleaners, lubricants and coatings, which include car care
and auto detailing products, mold release agents and specialty
cleaners for electronics and other critical components.
With 45 full-time and five part-time employees, Stoner
is the smallest business ever to receive a Baldrige Award.
The company’s achievements include:
A 400 percent sales growth since 1990
A 31 percent reduction in toxic chemicals since 2000
A 39 percent return on assets, exceeding the industry’s
average by 29 percent
Community Consolidated School District 15
This kindergarten through eighth-grade school system
serves 12,390 students in seven municipalities in northwest
Chicago. The system has 14 kindergarten through sixth-grade
schools, three junior high schools and one alternative
school. D15 operates its own transportation, maintenance,
technology and food services departments. The organization’s
quality highlights include:
Second-graders’ reading level 35 percent above
the national average, with 84 percent reading at or above
grade level
An 11.7 percent turnover rate for the 2002–03
school year, compared to a 20 percent national average
A 50 percent increase in contributions to the United
Way since the 1998–99 school year
Baptist Hospital Inc.
A subsidiary of Baptist Health Care, Baptist Hospital
Inc. includes two organizations--Baptist Hospital of Pensacola
and its referral hospital, Gulf Breeze Hospital, and Baptist
Medical Park, an ambulatory care complex with outpatient
and diagnostic services. Its quality achievements include:
Overall satisfaction for inpatients, outpatients, ambulatory
surgery patients and home health care services near the
99th percentile
A rise in staff morale from 47 percent in 1996 to 84
percent in 2001
Ranked the 15th best company to work for in Fortune
magazine’s 2003 annual survey
Saint Luke’s Hospital of Kansas City
This not-for-profit comprehensive teaching and referral
health care organization is the largest hospital in the
Kansas City metropolitan area. The hospital was founded
in 1882 and is affiliated with the Diocese of West Missouri
of the Episcopal Church. Saint Luke’s facilities
include the Mid America Heart Institute, the Mid America
Brain and Stroke Institute, an ambulatory surgery center,
an outpatient care center, and a nursing college. Its quality
performance achievements include:
Ranked 35th of 4,500 nationwide hospitals in the 2002
Consumer’s Checkbook report
95.3 percent of 58 critical quality measures in control
in 2002
Top 5 percent of teaching hospitals for four of eight
obstetrical and perinatal indicators
Named after the 26th Secretary of Commerce, the Malcolm
Baldrige National Quality Award was established in 1987
to enhance the competitiveness of U.S. businesses. The
award promotes excellence in organizational performance,
recognizes the quality and performance achievements of
U.S. organizations and publicizes successful performance
strategies. To learn more about the award and its recipients,
visit www.baldrige.nist.gov.
European Quality Awards Announced
Organizations representing Greece, Turkey and the United
Kingdom have received Europe’s top prize in organizational
excellence: the 2003 European Quality Award. Each year,
recognition is given to businesses that display exceptional
levels of excellence in eight criteria: results orientation;
customer focus; leadership and constancy of purpose; management
by processes and facts; people development and involvement;
continuous learning, innovation and improvement; partnership
development; and corporate social responsibility.
The award is sponsored by the European Foundation for
Quality Management. There are three levels of recognition
available to applicants: award winners, prize winners and
finalists. Recipients of the 2003 European Quality Award
are:
Bosch Sanayi ve Ticaret AS, Turkey (operational units
category); award winner and prize winner in leadership
and constancy of purpose
Runshaw College, United Kingdom (public sector category);
award winner and prize winner in leadership and constancy
of purpose
Maxi COMCOMAT, Greece (independent small/medium enterprise
category); award winner and prize winner in results orientation
Edinburgh International Conference Centre, United Kingdom
(subsidiary small/medium enterprise category); award winner
and prize winner in people development and involvement
Special prizes were presented to nine additional organizations
that excelled in one or more of the following criteria:
leadership and constancy of purpose, customer focus, corporate
social responsibility, people development and involvement,
and results orientation. These organizations represented
the Netherlands, Denmark, Spain, the United Kingdom, Turkey,
Switzerland, Italy and Germany.
2003 showed a record number of prize winners, plus an
additional six organizations that were recognized as finalists.
The total of four award winners has only occurred twice
in the award’s 12-year history, in 1999 and 2000.
In 2001, concerns were raised when no applicants earned
enough points to receive an award. However, the structure
of the EFQM’s excellence model and criteria were
enhanced to provide more in-depth feedback on key strengths
and areas for improvement.
For more information on each of the award winners, prize
winners and finalists, visit www.efqm.org.
Scientists Recognized for Creative Microscopic Photography
Nikon Instruments Inc. has announced the winners of the
2003 Small World Photomicrography Competition, which recognizes
excellence in photography through a microscope.
“This year’s best photomicrographers are
studying cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, heart failure,
reproductive disorders, marine and plant life, materials
science and more,” notes Lee Shuett, executive vice
president at Nikon. “Each of them sat at a microscope,
found something beautiful and sent it to us to share.”
The winning applicants were selected from more than 1,200
entries from around the world. There were 20 winners altogether,
including:
First
Prize--Torsten Wittmann of the Scripps Research Institute
in La Jolla, California
Second Prize--Greg W. Rouse of Marine Invertebrates
at South Australian Museum in Adelaide
Third Prize--Heiti Paves of the Laboratory of Molecular
Genetics in Tallinn, Estonia
As part of the company’s efforts to make science
imagery accessible to the public, Nikon has launched an
expanded Small World museum tour in 22 locations in the
United States and Canada. Locations include the Maryland
Science Center in Baltimore, Pacific Science Center in
Seattle, the San Jose Museum of Technology and Innovation
in California, Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh and
Adventure Science Center in Nashville, Tennessee.
“The works of art in the Nikon Small World exhibit
are a wonderful reminder of the unique beauty in everything
and a testimony to the natural and wonderful coexistence
of art and science,” comments Eric Flem, Nikon communications
manager.
For a look at all the 2004 winners and a listing of exhibit
dates and locations, visit www.nikonsmallworld.com.
2004 Baldrige Process Gets Underway
Since the 2003 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award
winners were announced, the Baldrige National Quality Program,
administered by the National Institute of Standards and
Technology, has been busy gearing up for the 2004 agenda.
The following announcements have been posted at the Baldrige
Web site, www.baldrige.nist.gov:
Examiners for the 2004 Baldrige Award are currently
being sought. Those who have been examiners in the past
can access their applications online and update their information.
Those new to the process can submit an application in five
award eligibility categories: manufacturing, service, small
business, health care and education. Category coverage
and balance are important factors in selecting board members.
All applications can be filled out electronically. A PDF
version of the application is also available, which includes
explanatory materials.
The 2004 Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence
are now available online. The Baldrige Criteria for Performance
Excellence provide a systems perspective for understanding
performance management. They reflect validated, leading-edge
management practices against which an organization can
measure itself. With their acceptance nationally and internationally
as the model for performance excellence, the criteria represent
a common language for communication among organizations
for sharing best practices. The criteria are also the basis
for the Baldrige Award process.
Registration is now open for the 16th Quest for Excellence
Conference, being held March 28 through 31 in Washington,
D.C. The conference is intended to help organizations learn
how to evaluate and focus their efforts on performance
results, leadership effectiveness, customer and employee
satisfaction, and process management. The 2003 Baldrige
Award recipients will be there to share their performance
practices, their journey to performance excellence and
their lessons learned.
Customer Satisfaction Plateaus
Although consumer spending rose in the third quarter of
2003, customer satisfaction did not. The American Customer
Satisfaction Index remained unchanged in the third quarter,
registering a score of 73.8 (on a 100-point scale).
The third quarter scores measure manufacturing nondurables,
including food processing, beverages, tobacco, apparel,
athletic shoes, personal care products and pet foods. Compared
with a year ago, the ACSI is up about one point.
Although there was no change in the aggregate level of
ACSI, only one of the eight nondurable manufacturing industries
showed a decline in customer satisfaction. Satisfaction
fell slightly overall for soft drinks but improved for
beer and personal care products, and remained stable for
food processing, tobacco, apparel, athletic shoes and pet
foods.
 Despite a decline in customer satisfaction, the soft
drinks industry still tied with personal care products
for the highest ACSI score (84) among the industries measured
this quarter. Cadbury Schweppes improved its score to 89
while Pepsi and Coca-Cola dropped to 83.
All of the personal care products companies showed an
increase in customer satisfaction, with Clorox (86), Dial
(85), Unilever (85) and Procter & Gamble (85) leading
the way.
Beer and pet foods both registered ACSI scores of 82.
Anheuser-Busch led the brewing companies with a score of
82, while Colgate-Palmolive topped the pet foods manufacturers
with a score of 85.
For the sixth time in the past seven years, the food
processing industry scored 81 in the ACSI. According to
Jack West, past president of the American Society for Quality,
a co-sponsor of the ACSI, food processing companies continue
to show exceptionally high and stable satisfaction scores
for a number of reasons.
“These companies have been in business a long time
and are well-versed in quality and process-improvement
methods,” says West.
For the 10th straight year, Heinz took the top spot in
this industry with an ACSI score of 90.
Other nondurable manufacturing industries measured in
the ACSI included apparel (with an ACSI score of 80), athletic
shoes (79) and tobacco (76).
The index is produced by a partnership of the University
of Michigan Business School, the American Society for Quality
and CFI Group, and supported in part by Market Strategies
Inc., a major corporate contributor, and Foresee Results,
e-commerce corporate sponsor.
Company scores and other informa-tion about the ACSI
can be found at www.theacsi.org.
New Benchmarking Case Studies Available
Many businesses save as much as 10 percent of their annual
revenues each year through quality initiatives, according
to a new study by research and consulting firm Best Practices
LLC. Based on a survey of 84 companies and 15 case studies,
the findings act as a primer to assist companies on how
to choose the best productivity approach based on the improvement
goal sought.
“Lean, Six Sigma & TQM Project Success: Recent
Case Studies and Benchmarks” offers an outline of
companies’ recent improvement projects, complete
with actual results and descriptions of lessons learned.
The benchmark metrics reveal which project approach is
best suited for the improvement sought and what type of
results are expected. Additionally, the report includes:
Defect- and cost-reduction techniques
Typical scope and average duration of the improvement
project
Average annual dollar value contribution expected for
the productivity approach
Average targeted annual savings and revenue goal for
productivity efforts
“This research provides an invaluable perspective
on the current landscape of quality efforts,” says
Chris James, vice president of Best Practices. “Leading
global companies reveal their accrued experiences, metrics
and lessons learned.”
To download a summary and excerpt of the document, visit
www3.best-in-class.com/rr268.htm.
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