[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

[[Page 368]]

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

[[Page 369]]

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.