Boeing Sweeps Quality Awards with C-17 and Aerospace Support Honors
The California Council for Excellence has named Boeing [NYSE: BA] the winner of two major quality awards for performance excellence.
The Council for Excellence has awarded the Boeing C-17 program the only gold level honor for the Council's 2002 U.S. Senate Productivity Award, for manufacturing. The Boeing Aerospace Support organization has won silver-level honors for the Council's 2002 Eureka Award for Performance Excellence, which measures excellence in the service sector.
The awards are conferred at the bronze, silver and gold levels. They are the highest offered by the California Awards for Performance Excellence, which adheres to the full criteria of the rigorous Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award process.
"Make no mistake, the win for C-17 shows the merit of teamwork," said Dave Bowman, Boeing vice president and C-17 program manager. "We've shown the examiners that we are a world-class, quality-focused organization with the right processes and the right tools to excel and continuously improve. I am extremely proud of this team."
The C-17 program was honored for employing sound, systematic approaches to criteria areas and focusing on customers, high-performance work teams and well-managed processes for product delivery.
Boeing Aerospace Support earned the Eureka Award for superior performance in seven key categories including leadership, process management and customer/market focus. Aerospace Support programs include maintenance and logistics support for the B-1B bomber, C-130 Avionics Modernization Program, Integrated Tactical Avionics Program and the C-17 Program.
"I am very proud of our organization and this award recognizes the level of commitment and professionalism exhibited by our entire team," said Gus Urzua, Boeing Aerospace Support site manager. "We have truly established ourselves as an integrated Aerospace Support site with 100 percent program participation."
Under Aerospace Support's Flexible Sustainment program, Boeing delivers C-17 maintenance and modification support to the warfighter at home or anywhere duty calls.
Howard Chambers, vice president and general manager, Boeing Airlift and Tanker Programs, explained that the recognition demonstrates continuing improvement. "These awards for both the C-17 program and Aerospace Support represent an important milestone in our quality journey and our business focus on process-based, performance excellence," Chambers said.
The C-17 is the world's premier airlifter and has literally changed the face of combat, flying strategic ranges and landing on tactical airfields, most recently in Afghanistan. Since 1995 when the new fleet became operational, C-17s have been the airlifter of choice for worldwide operations such as hurricane relief in the Caribbean, peacekeeping in Bosnia, and the ongoing fight against terrorism under the banner of Operation Enduring Freedom.
A unit of The Boeing Company, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems is one of the world's largest space and defense businesses. Headquartered in St. Louis, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems is a $23 billion business. It provides systems solutions to its global military, government and commercial customers. It is a leading provider of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; the world's largest military aircraft manufacturer; the world's largest satellite manufacturer and a leading provider of space-based communications; the primary systems integrator for U.S. missile defense; NASA's largest contractor; and a global leader in launch services.
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