Quality New Mexico The Story of Malcolm Baldrige & QNM | Page 2

Medal of Freedom by President Reagan.
He was an inductee of the Professional
Cowboy Hall of Fame, where his
eulogy there makes the points that his
philosophy was simple, and that he
lived it in his business, political, and
rodeo careers: “Success is finding
something you really like to do and
caring about it to do it well. Sticking
your neck out if you’re sure you’re
right, and getting lucky.” 1
The Baldrige Program comes to New
Mexico
“. . . Our histories are intertwined, and it is
both gratifying and humbling to have
witnessed the transformation of this
tremendous organization – from the birth of
an idea, to the personal commitment of so
many who have demonstrated true
leadership in those early years, to
purposeful motion and decisive actions that
led to the formation of Quality New Mexico,
to an enduring commitment and promise of
making a true difference in the health and
welfare of business, education, government,
and healthcare in this great state. . . .”
From “Open Letter to Quality New
Mexico”, Albuquerque, New Mexico,
March 13, 2003
Chris Galvin, Chairman and Chief Executive
Officer, Motorola, Inc.

The Baldrige program’s circuitous
journey to New Mexico started with
Motorola, which after severe public
criticism of its products embarked on a
1

http://www.prorodeohalloffame.com/inductees/bycategory/notableslifetime-achievement/malcolm-macbaldrige/

huge quality program under Board
Chairman and CEO Robert (Bob)
Galvin. In the words of a company press
release, “Responding to the rapid rise of
Japanese firms in world markets for
electronics, Motorola’s management
began an almost evangelical crusade for
quality improvement.” 2
In 1981, Motorola launched an
ambitious, successful drive for a tenfold
improvement in the quality of its
products and services. One of its
achievements was development of Six
Sigma, a statistical quality system which
after adoption by General Electric
caused GE Chairman and CEO Jack
Welch to say that: “Six Sigma changed
the DNA of GE.” Six Sigma would
prove to be an important part of
Motorola’s successful bid for the 1988
Malcolm Baldrige National Quality
Award in Manufacturing.
To achieve the quality goal demanded by
Six Sigma, Motorola required that
suppliers start their own Baldrige-based
quality programs. One such supplier was
AT&T, which created an internal
Chairman’s Quality Award based strictly
on Baldrige Criteria, and required each
division to submit a Baldrige application
covering its internal quality program.
AT&T ran Sandia National Laboratories,
based in Albuquerque, New Mexico,
operated for the Department of Energy
under a soon-to-expire management and
operations contract. Before long
2

http://patapsco.nist.gov/Award_Recipients/PDF_files/1988_
Motorola_Inc.pdf

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