The Best Baldrige Scores

The Baldrige program released more data on the 1,100 or so applicants for the Baldrige Award from 1990 through 2006. The best score over that 17-year period was 811 out of a possible 1,000 points by a company in 1990. The data do not identify the applicants. By my count, there have been just ten organizations that have received more than 700 points, and only one since 1993.

From what I can tell, the best scores for the Items in process categories 1 to 6 from 2003 to 2006, when the point values of each Item did not change, were:

1.1: 55 of 70   |   1.2: 38 of 50

2.1: 32 of 40   |   2.2: 33 of 45

3.1: 32 of 40   |   3.2: 36 of 45

4.1: 36 of 45   |   4.2: 35 of 45

5.1: 26 of 35   |   5.2: 18 of 25   |   5.3: 19 of 25

6.1: 38 of 50   |   6.2: 31 of 35

The data indicate that the best score an organization can achieve on a process Item is around 75-80% of the possible points, and the same is true for categories. The best scores by process category from 2003 to 2006 were:

1: 91 of 120  |  2: 64 of 85  |  3: 63 of 85

4: 70 of 90  |  5: 63 of 85  |  6: 66 of 85

The best scores for results Items in 2005 and 2006, when the point values for each item were the same, were:

7.1: 75 of 100   |   7.2: 51 of 70   |   7.3: 55 of 70

7.4: 49…

Weapons and Performance Excellence

In the last three years, five healthcare organizations have won the Baldrige Award. Over the same span, three organizations that design, manufacture, and/or distribute weapons have also won the Award. Since there have only been 13 winners, that’s a significant number.

• The U.S. Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center develops 90% of the Army’s armaments and ammunition.

• Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies manages a plant that supplies 85% of the non-nuclear parts that go into a typical nuclear weapon.

• MidwayUSA offers shooting, reloading, gunsmithing, and hunting products from more than 700 vendors.

I can think of a lot of industries I would rather see leading the Baldrige charge. Airlines, insurance companies, banks, and schools come to mind. The performance of the weapons industry certainly reflects the priorities of American culture and politics, but that doesn’t make it any less disturbing. I don’t think the fact that we are becoming more efficient at killing things is any cause for celebration.

What do you think?

2008 Baldrige Awards Presented Today

Three organizations will receive their Baldrige Awards from Vice President Joe Biden today in a ceremony in Washington, D.C. I attended such a ceremony about ten years ago as a guest of Custom Research, at which President Clinton handed out the Awards, and they are exciting events for the winning organizations.

The 2008 Baldrige Award recipients are:

• Poudre Valley Health System, a not-for-profit health care organization with a service area of 50,000 square miles in northern Colorado, Nebraska, and Wyoming. PVHS has some of the highest clinical outcomes in the country for mortality rates, complication, and infection rates, and patient satisfaction and financial performance well within the top 10% of all organizations nationally.

• Iredell-Statesville Schools, a K-12 public school system serving nearly 21,000 students in southwestern North Carolina. Its per-pupil operations expenditures are among the lowest in the state at the same time that it is ranked academically in the state’s top 10 school systems.

• Cargill Corn Milling North America, a business unit of Cargill Inc. that manufactures corn- and sugar-based food in nine manufacturing facilities throughout the U.S. CCM’s earnings after tax nearly tripled from 2003 to 2007. From 2006 to 2008, CCM saved more than $15 million from ideas generated by employees.

You can learn more about these Baldrige Award recipients and the winners in previous years at the Baldrige program’s Web site here.

To find out more about the 2008 winners, read:

• Baldrige Saves Lives
• Baldrige and Magnet Recognition
• First Steps on the Baldrige Journey
• What Employees Want
• Reinventing Education with Baldrige
• The Value of Baldrige Expertise
• 83 Points
• Baldrige and…

New Zealand Business Excellence

Three organizations are in the running for the 2009 Gold level New Zealand Business Excellence Award. The award, which is aligned with the Baldrige Criteria, has only been given twice in the last 13 years.

It’s interesting to consider the three candidates because none is actually a business: the New Zealand Fire Service, Western Bay of Plenty District Council, and Royal New Zealand Navy.

According to a press release (click here to read the release), the Fire Service started using the Business Excellence process in 2001. It received a Bronze Award in 2005. The Royal New Zealand Navy, which started its business excellence journey in 1999, has earned two Bronze awards and one Silver award. As for the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, CEO Glenn Snelgrove said, “The business excellence journey has been about ensuring every system, process, and activity of our business directly aligns with meeting the needs of our customers.”

The New Zealand Business Excellence Foundation has more than 160 members who benefit from services such as facilitated assessment tools, customized training, networking, best practice information, and business-related articles and presentations. You can find out more about the Foundation here. Presentations and award-winning applications are available to members only.