In an era of Globalization, the Philippine product and process quality is being challenged strongly by foreign competition, and our Nation's productivity growth has improved less than our competitors'. Philippine business and industry are beginning to understand that poor quality costs companies as much as 20 percent of sales revenues nationally and that improved quality of goods and services goes hand in hand with improved productivity, lower costs, and increased profitability. Strategic planning for quality and quality improvement programs, through a commitment to excellence in manufacturing and services, are becoming more and more essential to the well-being of our Nation's economy and our ability to compete effectively in the global marketplace.

Improved management understanding of the factory floor, worker involvement in quality, and greater emphasis on statistical process control can lead to dramatic improvements in the cost and quality of manufactured products. The concept of quality improvement is directly applicable to small companies as well as large, to service industries as well as manufacturing, and to the public sector as well as private enterprise. In order to be successful, quality improvement programs must be management led and customer-oriented, and this may require fundamental changes in the way companies and agencies do business.

Several major industrial nations have successfully coupled rigorous private-sector quality audits with national awards giving special recognition to those enterprises the audits identify as the very best. A national quality award program of this kind in the Philippines would help improve quality and productivity by:

• Helping to stimulate local companies to improve quality and productivity for the pride of recognition while obtaining a competitive edge through increased profits;
• Recognizing the achievements of those companies that improve the quality of their goods and services and providing an example to others;
• Establishing guidelines and criteria that can be used by business, industrial, governmental, and other organizations in evaluating their own quality improvement efforts; and
• Providing specific guidance for other local organizations that wish to learn how to manage for high quality by making available detailed information on how winning organizations were able to change their cultures and achieve eminence.

Thus, the Philippine Quality Award was established.

Companies or organizations from both the private and public sectors, located and operating in the Philippines for at least three (3) years at the time of application are eligible to apply for the Award. The eligibility categories are as follows:

Small and Medium Scale Enterprises

Enterprises defined under the Magna Carta for Small and Medium Scale Enterprises as businesses engaged in manufacturing, services, agriculture and other industries, with not more than 200 full time employees and not more than P100 million capitalization.

Large Enterprises

Manufacturing Companies or their Subsidiaries
Service Companies
Agriculture
Fisheries
Other Industries

Public Sector

Departments, bureaus and attached agencies
Government-owned and/or controlled-corporations and subsidiaries
State universities and colleges
Local government units
Other government agencies

The Criteria for Performance Excellence provide organizations with an integrated, results-oriented framework in implementing and assessing processes in managing operations. These are the bases for the feedback given to award applicants after examination by PQA assessors. The Criteria consist of seven (7) Categories:

• Leadership
• Strategic Planning
• Customer Focus
• Measurement Analysis and Knowledge Management
• Workforce Focus
• Operations Focus
• Results

The PQA Criteria are adapted from the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program Criteria of the United States. The National Quality Awards Program of other countries such as the Australian Quality Awards, Japan National Quality Award, Singapore Quality Award, Prime Minister's Award in Malaysia, and even the European Quality Awards, have all adopted the Baldrige framework for international comparability.

The gains from applying are many. Consider -

You get a rigorous evaluation equivalent to about 550 to 600 total man-hours of review by an expert PQA panel of assessors. The review is based on internationally recognized performance standards widely used in North America, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific.

You receive a feedback report, which can guide your quality and productivity improvement efforts to prepare for the challenges of the global economy and win the battle for domestic and overseas markets.

You increase employee involvement and your team's capability and flexibility to cope with rapid change while keeping them focused on customer satisfaction and retention.

You sharpen your tools for achieving business results and position your organization for future growth and profitability.

Whether your company is large or small, involved in manufacturing, service or any other field, including public sector organizations, you benefit from sharing the knowledge and experience of successful PQA awardees whose management practices you can adapt to your own organization.

And if you win the Award or Recognition, your own exceptional management practices become benchmarks and serve as models for other organizations who are on a similar journey to performance excellence.

A panel of assessors review and evaluate each application on the basis of seven (7) criteria, namely - (1) leadership, (2) strategic planning, (3) customer focus, (4) measurement analysis and knowledge management, (5) workforce focus, (6) operations focus and (7) business/organizational results. Each element in the criteria is assessed according to three dimensions - approach, deployment and results.

The panel of assessors submits a consensus report to the Award Administrator and to the Judges who determine the applicant's eligibility for the next step - which is the site visit.

The Board of Judges, reviews, determines and recommends the organization/s deserving to win the Award or the appropriate Recognition to the Award Manager.

To win the top award, the organization must demonstrate the highest level of management excellence, deserving to be a national and global role model. However, those who do not make this grade but somehow achieve a degree of superior performance can also merit Recognition for:

Mastery in Quality Management. For demonstrating superior results linked to clearly robust management systems and thus serve as a role model that other organizations could emulate.

Proficiency in Quality Management. For achieving significant progress in building sound processes.

Commitment to Quality Management. For serious commitment to Total Quality Management.

Recipients/Awardees are given a Ramon Orlina sculptured glass trophy bearing the Seal of the President of the Philippines and the PQA logo. The President of the Philippines traditionally approves, announces, and personally confers the Award or Recognition during an appropriate ceremony.

Award recipients have the responsibility to share non-proprietary information on their successful performance and quality strategies with other organizations in the Philippines. An annual conference, dubbed as the PQA Forum, featuring the PQA awardees/recipients, serves as the venue for sharing of best practice. 

Award recipients may publicize and advertise receipt of Award. They are allowed to use the PQA Logo on the organization’s stationery, in advertisements and materials used for advertising and promotion, provided that these follow certain guidelines among which are: 

1. The PQA Logo shall be used only by the organization and shall always be used together with the Award or Recognition Level, the year the application is submitted and the name of the organization. 

2. The PQA Logo shall not be directly applied to the organization’s products, programs or services, and its packaging, in such a way as to imply that the product, program or service itself is certified by the Award Manager. 

If your company/organization has been in existence for at least three (3) years, you can start the ball rolling now.

To apply for eligibility, conduct an internal assessment of your company based on the PQA criteria and present the results of the assessment to the Awards Administrator.

Attend the Application Development Seminar conducted by the Development Academy of the Philippines (DAP), the Philippine Society for Quality, Inc. (PSQ), or any training institution accredited by the PQA Committee.

Submit two copies of the completed Eligibility Determination Form to the DAP or PSQ anytime during the year. The Administrator will give feedback on eligibility of the applicant. They can then apply in the appropriate cycle.

Once declared an Eligible Applicant, submit 15 copies of the accomplished application report, together with other application requirements, not later than the scheduled deadline, to the Award Administrators. The PQA Criteria and Application Handbook may be sourced from the Award Administrators for guidance.

Show proof of compliance with relevant statutory and regulatory requirements from BIR, Bureau of Customs, GSIS/SSS, DENR, DOLE and SEC.

Pay the application fee:

• P50,000 for medium to large organizations, class A LGUs/cities, Departments, Bureaus, GOCCs and GFIs
• P30,000 for small businesses, class B/C LGUs, and regional branches of Departments and Bureaus

AWARD IMPLEMENTING AGENCY

Department of Trade and Industry - Center for Industrial Competitiveness
6/F, Trade and Industry Building
361 Sen. Gil Puyat Avenue, Makati City
Telephone Numbers: (632) 890-4889 / (632) 751-3404
Fax Number: (632) 890-4861 / (632) 751-3404
E-mail Address: admin@pqa.org.ph / pqafoundation@yahoo.com
Web Site: www.dti.gov.ph

AWARD ADMINISTRATOR FOR PUBLIC SECTOR

Development Academy of the Philippines
5/F, DAP Building, San Miguel Avenue, Pasig City
Telephone Number: (632) 631-2137 / (632) 631-0921 to 30 loc. 171
Fax Number: (632) 631-2137 / (632) 631-2123
Web Site: www.dap.edu.ph/cqc

AWARD ADMINISTRATOR FOR PRIVATE SECTOR

Philippine Society for Quality, Inc.
Suite 3-2, Sunshine Condominium
9633 Kamagong Street, Makati City
Telefax Number: (632) 896-4464 / (632) 899-5925
Web Site: www.psq.org.ph