12 Organizations Named 2010 Alabama Quality Award Winners

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The Alabama Quality Award panel of judges designated 12 organizations as recipients of the 2010 Alabama Quality Awards, honoring them for quality and performance excellence.

Nine organizations were awarded the Level One:  Commitment to Excellence award. These recipients are: Army Integrated Air and Missile Defense Project Office, Redstone Arsenal; Close Combat Weapon Systems Project Office, Redstone Arsenal; Cruise Missile Defense Systems Project Office, Redstone Arsenal; PEO Missiles and Space Lower Tier Project Office, Redstone Arsenal; Joint Attack Munition Systems Project Management Office, Redstone Arsenal; Precision Fires Rocket and Missile Systems Project Office, Redstone Arsenal; Hartford Heath Care, Hartford; Shelby Baptist Medical Center, Alabaster; and L.B. Foster Co., Birmingham.

Three organizations were awarded the Level Two: Progress toward Excellence award. These recipients are: Troy University, Troy; Assistant Program Executive Office Information Management/Information Assurance, Redstone Arsenal; and DCH Health System, Tuscaloosa.

The awards will be presented to the recipients  Dec. 2 at the AQA Conference and ceremony, to be held in Orange Beach at the Perdido Beach Resort.

During the ceremony, representatives from the organizations will have opportunity to share their best practices with other award recipients and conference attendees.

“The award serves as a progress report by showcasing the fact that the organization is making excellent strides in becoming the best at what they do,” said Dr. David Miller, director of the Alabama Productivity Center at The University of Alabama, which administers the Alabama Quality Award.

The AQA is modeled after the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. The AQA recognizes and honors organizations that use effective productivity and quality improvement strategies, techniques or practices which can be shared with other organizations to help contribute to the overall economic well-being in the state of Alabama.

“Winning the quality award is an external recognition,” Miller said. “It tells customers, suppliers and other stakeholders that the company is performing while utilizing sustainable processes—processes that ingrain a long view of success upon which these organizations are on target to achieve.”

The award is based upon performance criteria that include the following: excellence in leadership, strategic planning, attention to customers and other stakeholders, market focus, process management and analysis of organizational performance.

“The quality award provides organizations with internal motivation,” Miller said. “It recognizes the effort employees put into doing the right things the right way, and the fact that it pays off.”

The Alabama Quality Award is administered by the Alabama Productivity Center, a nonprofit organization established in 1986 by The University of Alabama and Alabama Power Company and housed in the Culverhouse College of Commerce. The center’s purpose is to use University research and educational resources to stimulate economic development within the state.