[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 40, Number 11 (Monday, March 15, 2004)]
[Pages 367-369]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]
<R04>
Remarks at the Presentation of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality
Awards in Arlington, Virginia
March 9, 2004
Congratulations. Good job. Thank you all. Go ahead and be seated.
Thank you all very much. Welcome. I'm really glad to be invited back to
this annual event to recognize excellence and to bestow an honor named
for a great American.
This year, the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award goes to seven
outstanding recipients. Each set ambitious goals. Each organization
worked hard to achieve them. You're setting such a good example as a
beacon of excellence. You represent the great strength and the
entrepreneurial spirit of the American economy. I congratulate you for a
job well done.
And I appreciate Secretaries Evans and Paige for joining me here. I
thank them for their service to our country. I thank Dr. John White, the
University of Arkansas chancellor. I appreciate the fact that he didn't
bring up the Arkansas-Texas football score. [Laughter] I thank Letitia
Baldrige for being here, Mac's favorite sister--only sister? Yes.
[Laughter] I want to thank those of you involved with the Baldrige
Awards. I want to thank you for keeping the spirit alive. I want to
thank you for focusing on quality; thank the judges and the foundation
members.
I appreciate the Members of Congress who are here today. I'm glad
you all have taken time to come to honor the recipients. I want to thank
the U.S. Army Band for providing quality music.
Malcolm Baldrige served as the Commerce Secretary in the eighties,
at a time when many questioned whether America
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could remain the world's strongest economy. He was an optimistic guy. He
dedicated himself to proving the skeptics wrong. That kind of confidence
in America's economic strength was justified in his day, and it is
justified in our day.
Think about what this economy has been through the last several
years. In 2000, the stock market began a steady decline. By early 2001,
the Nation was in a recession. Then we got attacked on September the
11th. We had to face the consequences of that attack. We saw scandals in
corporate boardrooms in which the trust of workers and investors was
violated. We took action to face all these challenges. Today, our
economy is strong, and it is getting stronger.
Think about the economic environment of 2003. Inflation is low.
Interest rates are low. Manufacturing is up. Homeownership is at an
alltime high. Stock prices are up. The stock market wealth has risen by
more than $3 trillion since the beginning of 2003. The unemployment rate
today is lower than the average rate in the 1970s, in the 1980s, and the
1990s. Thanks to our productive workers and the entrepreneurial spirit
of this country, the fastest growing major industrialized economy in the
world is the United States of America.
As our economy moves forward and new jobs are added, some are
questioning whether American companies and American workers are up to
the challenge of foreign competition. There are economic isolationists
in our country who believe we should separate ourselves from the rest of
the world by raising up barriers and closing off markets. They're wrong.
If we are to continue growing this economy and creating new jobs,
America must remain confident and strong about our ability to trade in
the world. Given a level playing field, America will outperform the
competition, and America will continue to be a world leader.
We've got great advantages here in this country. We've got the
world's hardest working people. We've got the most productive workforce
in the world. We have an attractive climate for our businesses to
expand. We have innovative, dynamic companies which are producing world-
class products and services. America's best companies are emphasizing
quality and service and developing world-class methods for production.
By selling good ideas and good products in markets not only here but
across the world, we're creating jobs, good, high-paying jobs for the
American citizens.
Each recipient of today's award earned it. When I say we need to be
confident about our future, I'm confident because I just heard the
stories of great success. They got their best ideas from all kinds of
places, whether it be from their workers or their customers. They
listened.
In the health care category, we have two winners: Baptist Hospitals
in Pensacola, Florida--I was wondering whether if we called it
Pentecostal Hospitals, we'd be--[laughter]--Saint Luke's Hospital in
Kansas City, Missouri. These hospitals have focused on serving patients
and their families better. That's what they focused on. They got their
employees fully involved in measuring performance. Because of their
excellence, both of these winners are saving lives. It must make you
feel good to work in an industry in which you save somebody's life.
In manufacturing, we have Medrad Incorporated, of Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania. A maker of medical imaging devices, Medrad's commitment to
excellence runs from the top, from the CEO, John Friel, who, by the way,
said we--I put my knee under one of his devices. [Laughter] I said, ``I
appreciate the diagnosis. You just hadn't figured out the cure for old
age.'' [Laughter]
I'll tell you what I like about John's style. He spends a day each
month on a frontline job. Here's a fellow who is the CEO who mops the
floors, who's taken phone calls, who's heard customer complaints, who
works on the assembly line. He's built a culture where everyone at the
company has a voice in the way things are done.
Caterpillar Financial Services of Nashville, Tennessee, as well as
Boeing Aerospace Support of St. Louis, provides maintenance and other
services. These are good companies. Both companies have set up teams of
employees to focus on quality. And as a result, both have a lot more
happy customers.
In the case of Boeing Aerospace Support, one of their happy
customers happens to be
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the Nation's Armed Forces. And if the Nation's Armed Forces are happy,
I'm happy. [Laughter]
I love the fact that we're honoring the smallest business ever to
win the Baldrige Award, Stoner, Incorporated. Today is vacation day.
[Laughter] The whole company is here. [Laughter] This company, which is
in Quarryville, Pennsylvania, makes specialized cleaners, lubricants,
and coatings. They have an interesting goal, an easy goal to
understand--I like clear speakers--[laughter]--never lose a customer.
And that focus has translated to company-wide quality.
And then we've got educational excellence. It's an amazing story you
just heard. The Community Consolidated School District 15, Palatine,
Illinois, faces challenges common to many of the school districts across
America, but it achieves uncommon results. These people don't make
excuses for failure, see? They do what I call ``challenging the soft
bigotry of low expectations.'' They expect the best. They believe every
child can learn.
It's easy to say, ``We can't achieve excellence because one-third of
our students come from low-income homes.'' It's easy to say, ``We can't
achieve excellence because English is not the primary language in the
homes of another third of our students.'' Yet, because of rigorous
testing and evaluation and a commitment to high standards, the belief
that every child can learn, 84 percent of the second graders read at or
above grade level. It's a fantastic accomplishment. The teachers are
great in that school. I'm told that from the classroom to the cafeteria,
every employee is committed to a single goal: No child should be left
behind.
I appreciate the example this school district has set. I appreciate
the example all the companies here have set as well. You're now what we
call quality experts, which means you're going to get calls from other
companies or organizations to find out how you won, what you did to
achieve such good success, and I hope you share your knowledge. The
country is better off when you're willing to share how you achieved
excellence with those who will want to accomplish the same goals.
Anyone looking for an easy answer, though, is going to be
disappointed. It may sound easy in the speeches. It's hard to win this
award. [Laughter] This isn't one of these deals where everybody gets a
blue ribbon. [Laughter] You have to work hard. You have to be totally
focused and committed to excellence. It has to be a part of your
culture, your very being.
A good product, of course, is essential. It's hard to be successful
if you don't make something somebody doesn't want to buy. You've got to
have a good business plan. But the most important ingredient is a great
workforce, people who live and work by the principles of excellence and
fairness and team work and personal responsibility.
That's really what we're honoring today, isn't it--great workforces,
people who are willing to strive for something greater than themselves.
The Baldrige Award winners are showing one of the greatest strengths of
this Nation and our economy. Whether the challenge comes from a
competitor across town or from a competitor across the ocean, American
workers are up to the job. Just listening to these speeches here
confirms what I know: This country can meet any challenge.
I want to congratulate the award winners, congratulate the
companies. May God bless you and your families. May God continue to
bless this great Nation. Thank you for coming.
Note: The President spoke at 11 a.m. at the Crystal Gateway Marriott
Hotel. In his remarks, he referred to former Secretary of Commerce
Malcolm Baldrige's sister, Letitia Baldrige.