The 2005 Baldrige Award recipients are:
- Sunny Fresh Foods Inc. (Monticello, MN), manufacturing.
- DynMcDermott Petroleum Operation, (New Orleans), service.
- Park Place Lexus (Plano, TX), small business.
- Richland College (Dallas), education.
- Jenks Public Schools (Jenks, OK), education.
- Bronson Methodist Hospital (Kalamazoo, MI), health care.
This is the first time that a community college, an automotive dealership and an oil industry business have been named as Baldrige Award recipients. Sunny Fresh Foods is a two-time Baldrige Award recipient; it received the award in the small business category in 1999. Baldrige Award recipients can reapply after five years.
The 2005 Baldrige Award recipients were selected from among 64 applicants. All six recipients were evaluated rigorously by an independent board of examiners in seven areas: leadership; strategic planning; customer and market focus; measurement, analysis and knowledge management; human resource focus; process management; and results. The evaluation process included approximately 1,000 hours of review and an on-site visit by teams
of examiners.
The 2005 Baldrige Award recipients are expected to be presented with the award in Washington, D.C., in early 2006.
Named after the 26th Secretary of Commerce, the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award was established by Congress in 1987 to enhance the competitiveness and performance of U.S. businesses and expanded in 1998 to include education and health care. The award promotes excellence in organizational performance, recognizes the quality and performance achievements of U.S. organizations, and publicizes successful performance strategies. The award is not given for specific products or services. Since 1988, 68 Baldrige Awards have been presented to 64 organizations.
The Baldrige program is managed by NIST in conjunction with the private sector. For more information, see http://www.nist.gov/
