Award Winners Use Minitab

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – Minitab Inc., announced today that customers of Minitab Statistical Software, the company’s flagship product used to analyze data in virtually every major Six Sigma quality improvement initiative worldwide, dominated the list of winners of two recent quality awards.

Minitab Statistical Software customers dominated the list of winners of two recent quality improvement awards. Virtually all the companies who received Global Six Sigma Summit & Industry Awards use Minitab Statistical Software. Minitab congratulates these organisations, and is proud to provide the data analysis package they use to achieve success. Learn more about the winners.

Three such companies received the prestigious 2007 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. Established in 1987 and presented annually by the President of the United States, the Baldrige Award is the top honor a U.S. company can receive for quality achievement and organizational performance excellence.

Virtually all the companies honored at the Global Six Sigma Summit & Industry Awards held in Las Vegas in October use Minitab Statistical Software to increase profits and raise the standard of goods and services they offer.

As the leading provider of software and services for quality improvement, Minitab proudly congratulates the following companies and is honored to provide the data analysis package they use to achieve success.

Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Winners

PRO-TEC Coating Co., an industry leader in advanced high-strength steel coating, received the Baldrige Award for small business. In an industry that has been undergoing widespread bankruptcies and consolidations, PRO-TEC’s quality improvement programs have helped its profits double over the past five years.

Sharp HealthCare, a not-for-profit integrated regional health care delivery system based in San Diego, received the Baldrige Award for health care. The economic value of community benefits Sharp provides has increased during the period 2001-2006 from approximately $100 million to approximately $180 million.

The U.S. Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center, the research and development center for armaments used by the U.S. Army and other organizations, received the Baldrige Award for nonprofit organizations. ARDEC, the first Department of Defense organization to receive the award, implemented a comprehensive performance culture over the past 15 years, resulting in reduced defects and enhanced customer satisfaction.

Global Six Sigma Summit and Industry Award Winners

Texas-based Valley Baptist Health System garnered three Global Six Sigma Summit and Industry Awards —the highest number ever collected. In addition to receiving both the Best Achievement of Six Sigma in Healthcare and the Platinum Award for the overall most outstanding achievement through Six Sigma, Valley Baptist’s Dr. Tomas A. Gonzalez received the Six Sigma Vice President of the Year honor for leading the system’s Six Sigma initiative. His initiatives helped Valley Baptist reduce patient death from heart failure by 50 percent, complications from surgery by 77 percent and readmission rates by12 percent.

ATMI received the Best Achievement of Design for Six Sigma and Innovation for using the methodology to produce world-class semiconductors and achieve major cost savings.

Lonmin Plc, the world’s third largest producer of platinum, received the Best Achievement of Six Sigma in Manufacturing for completing 125 projects, saving $78 million in two years.

BMO Financial Group received both the Best Achievement of Integrating Lean and Six Sigma and the Best Achievement of Six Sigma in Financial Services awards for a deployment aimed at improving customer service, which has delivered $7.9 million in annual savings.

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation received the Best Achievement of Six Sigma in Service & Transactional Environments for developing an integrated approach to administering new clients, speeding up workflow status, and improving customer experience.

WNS Global Services Ltd received the Best Achievement of Six Sigma in Outsourcing for an effort that has so far involved 292 Six Sigma projects and 71 Lean projects, generating $10 million in savings.

Unisys received the Best Achievement of Six Sigma in Sales and Marketing for using the methodology to significantly expand the company’s high quality sales pipeline.