Earlier this year, the Asia Pacific Quality Organization gave world-class IAPQA Awards to one large manufacturing company and two large service companies in Mumbai, India, and to a university in Selangor, Malaysia. It also gave Best in Class Awards to organizations in Vietnam, India, China, Sri Lanka, Singapore, and Mexico. You can read the list of winners here.

In addition to Vietnam, several Asia Pacific countries have established quality award programs based, completely or in part, on the Baldrige program. For example, the Singapore Quality Award was launched in 1994. You can see the influence of the Baldrige model on the Singapore criteria, which are available here (pdf). The Australian Business Excellence Award program is managed by SAI Global, an international consulting firm.

In China, Hisense Electric became the first company to with the China Quality Award twice. A well-known home appliance company in China, Hisense expanded into LCD, LED, and plasma televisions, first in China and then internationally, now selling through Best Buy and Wal-Mart. Commenting on the Award, Hisense’s president, Yu Shumin, said, “Transforming from ‘Made in China’ to ‘Created in China’ and building Chinese brands into famous, sought after brands has always been a dream for Chinese people. To accomplish it, good product quality and thoughtful after-sales service are needed.”

To read more about international award programs, click on these articles:

• Baldrige Beyond U.S. Borders
• New Zealand Business Excellence
• Baldrige and the Tata Companies
• International Award Programs

• Your organization must have won its national quality award in the last three years to apply.
• You don’t have to write a new application. If, for example, your organization won the Baldrige Award, you submit your award-winning application and Baldrige feedback report.
• As with the Baldrige Award, any type of organization is eligible.
• Trained Baldrige examiners evaluate the candidates using the Baldrige model.
• The deadline for submitting candidates, which must be recommended by their national quality award organizations, is February 28, 2010.
• The deadline for submitting applications is March 30, 2010.

The award is administered by the nonprofit Asia Pacific Quality Organization, which is chaired by Chuck Aubrey, former president of ASQ. Its governing body includes representatives from Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, United States, United Arab Emirates, and Vietnam.

In 2009, the World Class IAPQA was given to:

• Vietnam Electric Cable Corporation
• Orel Manufacturing Ltd. (Sri Lanka)
• Hindalco Industries Limited (India)
• Shanghai Investment Consulting Corporation
• Centro Escolar Colima A.C. (Mexico)

To learn more about the Asia Pacific Quality Organization and the IAPQA, click here.

To learn more about the Baldrige application process, click on the following articles:

• How the Baldrige Award Works
• 10 Steps to an Effective Baldrige Assessment
• First Steps on the Baldrige Journey
• 5 Added Values of the Baldrige Process
• The Universality of the Baldrige Model
• Applying for the 2010 Baldrige Award

When the Baldrige program started, the Criteria reflected the quality movement in manufacturing. While service organizations could apply for the Award, few had similar experience with quality management. They had trouble relating the Criteria to their businesses. It took three years for the first service company, FedEx, to win the Award.

The Criteria evolved. With the feedback of experienced examiners, NIST made the Criteria more “user-friendly” for service companies and then, in the mid-90s, for small businesses. In this decade, the Criteria have become relevant for healthcare and education and then for nonprofits and government agencies.

Today, every organization can integrate the Baldrige model. Scan the lists of state award winners if you need evidence of that (click here to find their Web sites). And it’s not just every organization in the United States: International programs based on the Baldrige model demonstrate its universality (click here to find out more).

Every organization likes to think it’s unique—at some level, it is—but on the key factors that affect organizational performance, it doesn’t matter what you do. A manufacturer can learn how to improve strategic planning from a medical center. A school district can learn how to manage processes from a small business. A nonprofit can learn how to engage employees from a service company. It’s not even that big a stretch.

What makes this possible is the Baldrige model, which asks the same questions, in the same language (most of the time), about the same types of processes.

Take a moment to click on a sector (hover over “Sector” at the top of this page) that is not your own. Check out an article about an issue or best practice in that sector and you will likely see connections to your industry.

Such is the universality of the Baldrige model.

• what Baldrige is, click here
• what to tell your boss about Baldrige, click here
• what the Baldrige Criteria are, click here
• the core values embedded in the Criteria, click here
• the structure of the Criteria, click here

• what questions the Criteria ask, click here
• 10 critical questions for:
  • your organization, click here
  • leadership, click here
  • strategic planning, click here
  • customers, click here
  • information management, click here
  • workforce, click here
  • process management, click here
  • results, click here
• how to answer those questions, click here
• how to conduct a Baldrige assessment, click here
• how the Baldrige Award works and who is eligible, click here
• how Baldrige scoring works, click here
• the results possible with Baldrige, click here, here, here, and here
• if Baldrige is right for your organization, click here
• who has received the Baldrige Award, click here
• how they won it, click on a winner’s profile or award application summary here
• what Baldrige-related state, regional, and local awards exist, click here
• what Baldrige-related international awards exist, click here

If you have any other questions, send them to us and we will do our best to answer them.

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