Eight Blogs on How the Baldrige Framework Supports the U.S. Military

In consideration of Memorial Day, when Americans mourn those who gave their lives in military service to our country, this blog provides a reading list (with hyperlinks) for learning how the Baldrige Excellence Framework has been used to strengthen the performance of organizations involved in the support of veterans and in the nation's defense.

Baldrige Award Facts

First, a few facts about the Baldrige Award-the nation's highest honor for U.S. organizations that achieve excellence-in relation to U.S. veterans, military organizations, and defense-sector manufacturers:

1. The first federal government organization to earn a Baldrige Award-in 2007, a year after Congress passed legislation that extended award eligibility to U.S. nonprofit organizations-is a unit of the U.S. Army: the U.S. Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering (ARDEC).
2. Just two years after nonprofits became eligible to apply for a Baldrige Award, a second organization associated with the U.S. military earned the high honor: the VA Cooperative Studies Program Clinical Research Pharmacy Coordinating Center (the Center). The Center, a unit of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, became a Baldrige Award recipient in 2009.
3. Baldrige Award-winning manufacturers that have supported U.S. military organizations as suppliers include

• Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control
• Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies
• Boeing Airlift & Tanker Programs (now Boeing Mobility)

Baldrige Highlights High-Performing Military Organizations

The following Blogrige posts describe further how some of these high-performing organizations have benefited from using the Baldrige Excellence Framework® (which includes the Criteria for Performance Excellence®).

1. Learn How One Role-Model Organization Inspires Its Team to "Ride for the Brand" while Serving America's Veterans (November 2021)
2. How a Veterans' Agency Realized Excellence for the "Sake of Customers, Employees, Stakeholders, and the Country" (January 2018)
3. Baldrige Principles Bring Organizational Change, Learning to National Guard (August 2017)
4. Using Baldrige to Support Our Military, Veterans (March 2017)
5. A Baldrige Award Recipient Shares Leadership Practices That Support Operational Excellence (September 2015)
6. For Manufacturers, Baldrige Could be the "Cure" for Focusing on the Future (Part II, June 2015)
7. A Role-Model Government Center That Keeps Getting Better (September 2014)
8. Boiling the Ocean: How a Manufacturer Leveraged the Criteria to Improve its Supply Chain (February 6, 2014)

See Blogrige for more stories of organizations using Baldrige resources to support their customers and meet their missions.