Four U.S. Companies Named Today As Winners Of The 1997 Malcolm Baldrige Quality Award

President Clinton and Commerce Secretary William Daley today announced the winners of the 1997 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in recognition of their achievements in quality and business performance. The winners are: 3M Dental Products Division, St. Paul, Minn. (manufacturing); Solectron Corp., Milpitas, Calif. (manufacturing); Merrill Lynch Credit Corp., Jacksonville, Fla. (service); and Xerox Business Services, Rochester, N.Y. (service). Solectron Corp. also won the award in 1991.

The president and I are proud to name these four American companies as the winners of the 1997 Malcolm Baldrige Awards," said Secretary Daley. "As the 10th group of Baldrige Award winners, they join a distinguished and diverse family of 28 other companies. By striving for excellence in all phases of their business, the 1997 Baldrige Award winners are improving their competitive advantage, productivity, customer satisfaction and employee focus--yielding stronger financial performance and business results. They are models for America's business future."

In addition to being Baldrige Award winners, 3M Dental Products Division, Solectron, and Merrill Lynch Credit Corp. have won state quality awards, and Solectron Penang has won quality awards in Malaysia.

The Baldrige quality program was established by Congress in 1987; the first awards were presented in 1988. The program's goals are to enhance U.S. competitiveness by promoting quality awareness, recognizing quality and business achievements of U.S. companies and publicizing these companies' successful performance strategies. In conjunction with the business community, the Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology manages the award program. The award is not given for specific products or services. Currently, two awards may be given annually in each of three categories: manufacturing, service, and small business. Since 1988, 32 companies have won the award.

Following are brief descriptions of the 1997 Baldrige Award winners.

3M Dental Products Division

Launched in 1964, 3M Dental Products Division manufactures and markets more than 1,300 products used by dentists around the world. These products include restorative and crown and bridge materials as well as dental adhesive and infection control products. A business unit of 3M Corp., 3M DPD has about 700 employees. More than 400 of 3M DPD's employees are based at its St. Paul, Minn., headquarters and at the division's manufacturing and distribution facility in Irvine, Calif. Others are located throughout the United States and abroad.

Contact: Karyn Pierce, Marketing Communications Supervisor, (612) 733-2138.

Solectron Corp.

Headquartered in Milpitas, Calif., Solectron Corp. provides a wide variety of electronics design and manufacturing services to original equipment manufacturers. Solectron offers a broad range of design, manufacturing and support solutions including product design and development, materials management, printed circuit board assembly, systems build, repair, and product updates.

Founded in 1977, Solectron is a publicly held company with revenues of $3.7 billion in fiscal year 1997. Solectron has 17 locations and more than 18,000 employees worldwide. In addition to Milpitas, other U.S. sites include Charlotte, N.C.; Everett, Wash.; Austin, Texas; and Westborough, Mass. Overseas sites include Dunfermline, Scotland; Bordeaux, France; Herrenberg, Germany; Guadalajara, Mexico; Sao Paulo, Brazil; Penang and Johor, Malaysia; Suzhou, China; and Tokyo, Japan.

Contact: Michael E. Donner, Director, Corporate Communications, (408) 956-6688.

Merrill Lynch Credit Corp.

Merrill Lynch Credit Corp. provides a wide variety of liability management services, including home financing, personal credit, and investment and business financing. Established in 1981, MLCC is a subsidiary of Merrill Lynch & Co.

MLCC's 830 employees, known as partners, market and sell all MLCC products through a nationwide network of over 14,000 Financial Consultants at Merrill Lynch Private Client sales offices. MLCC's headquarters are in Jacksonville, Fla., with 29 district offices located throughout the United States.

Contact: Wendell Collins, Vice President and Publicity Manager, (609) 282-3121.

Xerox Business Services

Xerox Business Services provides document outsourcing services and consulting, including on-site management of mailrooms and print shops as well as creation, production and management of documents. With headquarters in Rochester, N.Y., XBS is a 14,000-person, $2 billion division of Xerox Corp. XBS has five regional offices located in Des Plaines, Ill.; Rochester and New York, N.Y.; Irving, Texas; and Denver, Colo. The company also has 14 Document Technology Centers, 38 field operations offices, more than 2,300 customer locations in the United States and more than 2,000 customer accounts in 35 countries.

Contact: David Galante, Manager, Worldwide Marketing Communications, (716) 383-9985.

Further information on these companies' quality and business performance achievements is available on the World Wide Web at http://www.nist.gov by clicking on "News" or by calling NIST Public and Business Affairs at (301) 975-2762.

To apply for the award, companies must submit details showing how they have implemented an effective performance management system. An independent board of business and quality experts evaluates the applications and looks for achievements and improvements in seven areas: leadership, strategic planning, customer and market focus, information and analysis, human resource development and management, process management, and business results.

Teams of examiners visit applicants that pass an initial screening to verify information in the application and to clarify any issues or questions that came up during the review. All applications are reviewed by at least eight examiners. Each applicant receives a "feedback" report citing strengths and areas that need improvement in its performance management system.

President Clinton and Secretary Daley are expected to present the awards to the 1997 winners at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., later this year.

The four companies will present details of their quality improvement and performance excellence strategies and results at the annual Quest for Excellence conference to be held Feb. 9-11, 1998, at the Washington Hilton & Towers, Washington, D.C.

A non-regulatory agency of the Commerce Department's Technology Administration, NIST promotes U.S. economic growth by working with industry to develop and apply technology, measurements and standards.

NIST was selected by Congress to design and manage the award program because of its role in helping U.S. companies compete, its world-renowned expertise in quality control and assurance, and its reputation as an impartial third party.

News and general information on the Baldrige Quality Award program is available at http://www.quality.nist.gov.