Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award
Click here to watch MESA President Terry May discuss excellence through the Baldrige critera.
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 considered 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, and, starting in 1999, education and health care. 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, information and analysis, 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. Approximately 2 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."
^ To Top
Announcement
November 21, 2006
MESA Products, Inc. receives Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award
President George Bush today announced MESA Products, Inc. as one of the 2006 recipients of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. MESA received the award in the small business category.
MESA is the third Tulsa area organization to receive the nation's highest performance excellence award in the past three years, following Bama Corporation in 2004 and Jenks Public Schools in 2005. Last week, MESA was also announced as the recipient of the 2006 Oklahoma Quality Award.
This award recognizes the accomplishments of all MESA operations including regional offices in Tallahassee, Florida, Houston, Texas, and Huntington Beach, California.
Additional information regarding the President's announcement can be found at:
http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/releases/2006baldrigewinners.htm
^ To Top
Letter from the CEO
Since creation by public law in 1987, organizations have applied for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award as the highest level of national recognition for performance excellence that a U.S. organization can receive. There are five award categories: manufacturing, service, small business, education and health care.
MESA has the distinction of being added to the elite list of organizations who have earned the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. Our company has received this recognition in the small business category for 2006.
 There are no words that adequately describe the pride our MESA team feels for having achieved this national recognition for our cathodic protection company. While we are extremely gratified to have our company efforts recognized, we are also very excited about being able to bring some recognition to the $276 billion problem of corrosion in the United States.
The major focus of the Award is on results, including customer satisfaction. This award is not given for specific products or services. To be selected, MESA had to demonstrate we have performance systems that ensure continuous improvement in the delivery of value to our customers, employees, and other stakeholders.
The Award was established to promote the awareness of performance excellence as an increasingly important element in competitiveness. MESA was recognized as a world-class organization and now has a responsibility to help others increase their understanding of the requirements for performance excellence. We will do this by sharing information throughout the U.S. on our performance strategies and the benefits we have derived from implementation of these strategies.
As we enjoy this moment, we will not lose sight of the real gains obtained while on the quest to winning. The real gains are improved business processes that mean reliability for our customers because of higher quality, better service, and long-term stability.
Our entire MESA family thanks our customers, suppliers and industry friends who have made receiving the 2006 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality award a reality. We have had a long journey and yet we feel it is just beginning.
Thanks,
^ To Top
Criteria Articles
Terry May, President of MESA, wrote a series of articles on Performance and Excellence through the Baldridge criteria. These articles were published in Materials Performance, the monthly publication of NACE international.
^ To Top | 
