Press Releases

March 2003

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NEWLY UPDATED BALDRIGE AWARD WINNING QUALITY

ESSENTIAL TO UNDERSTANDING NATION'S LEADING BUSINESS PERFORMANCE AWARD CRITERIA

NEW YORK . . . Now considered America's highest honor for performance excellence, the Baldrige Award was established by Congress in 1987 to recognize U.S. organizations for their achievements in quality and performance and to raise awareness about the importance of quality and performance excellence as a competitive edge.

With Baldrige Award Winning Quality - 12th Edition -- How to Interpret the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence, by Mark Graham Brown, Productivity Press continues to offer the definitive reference for interpreting the Baldrige criteria. Updated annually, this new edition explains in detail changes from the 2002 Criteria.

The most widely used and recognized resource on the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, this book is a simple and comprehensive resource for understanding the exhaustive criteria of the nation's leading business performance award, and is the only book to detail every category, examination item and area to address within the seven areas of criteria:

>Leadership; Strategic Planning; Customer and Market Focus; Measurement, Analysis and Knowledge Management; Human Resource Focus; Process Management, and Business Results.

The Baldrige Award is presented annually by the President of the United States to businesses -- manufacturing and service, small and large -- and to education and healthcare organizations, that apply and are judged to be outstanding in the seven criteria areas. These criteria are designed to help organizations enhance

competitiveness by focusing on two goals: delivering ever improving value to customers and improving overall organizational performance.

About the Author

For more than 20 years, Mark Graham Brown has consulted with major corporations and government organizations to help them improve their performance. Current clients include: Discover Financial Services, Ericsson, Cargill, Chevron Chemical, Shea Homes, Lutheran Brotherhood, Department of Energy, U.S. Army, U.S. Navy and the University of California. He has consulted with a number of Baldrige winners, including Solar Turbines, Armstrong Building Products, IBM, AT&T Universal Card and Ritz Carlton, as well as numerous finalists. Brown served as a Baldrige Examiner for three years and as the Overseer of the California Quality Awards for two. He is the author of The Pocket Guide to the Baldrige Award Criteria, Keeping Score and Winning Score.

About Productivity Press

Founded to provide world-class guidance for every level of an organization, Productivity Press is unrivaled in publishing high-quality material on lean

manufacturing and business improvement. Our books, learning tools and

newsletter, Lean Manufacturing Advisor, are designed to help educate and

support organizations in their efforts to implement the advanced management

and manufacturing methodologies required to compete in today's global business environment.

List price is $39.95. Complimentary review copies are available to media contacts by calling (212) 216-7865 or by e-mailing: leon.carter@taylorandfrancis.com.

Also now available: The Pocket Guide to the Baldrige Award Criteria - 9th Edition, by Mark Graham Brown. This is a handy, quick reference to interpreting the information within the seven Baldrige criteria areas. List price is $5.25.

For more information on Baldrige Award Winning Quality - 12th Edition, The Pocket Guide to the Baldrige Award Criteria - 9th Edition, or any of Productivity Press' other titles, call (888) 319-5852 or email info@productivitypress.com.