Quality Page

The Baldrige National Quality Program is an outreach and education program designed to raise awareness about the importance of quality and performance excellence as a competitive edge, and to encourage performance excellence in all organizations across the United States. The most visible face of the program is the presentation of the annual Malcom Baldrige National Quality Awards. The award is the highest level of national recognition for performance excellence that a U.S. organization can receive, and is awarded to companies that apply and are judged to be outstanding in seven areas: leadership, strategic planning, customer and market focus, information and analysis, human resource focus, process management, and business results. Established by Congress in 1987, the award program recognizes U.S. companies for their achievements in quality and business performance. Up to three awards may be given annually in each of five categories: manufacturing, service, small business, education, and health care.

To learn more about the program visit the following official National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) web pages:

The following (personal, non-NIST) page showcases the 2005 Baldrige Health Care Criteria

The premier organization for quality in the U.S. is the American Society for Quality
Excellent Six Sigma and overall quality resource, with great links...
The Failure Mode and Effect Analysis Information Center
The BPR Online Learning Center
You can download a FREE TurboBPR software program from this DoD link. This program is a Windows-based business process reengineering support tool developed by OSD C3I (IM) - see pictorial depiction of its modules below: