Boeing

Boeing Huntsville Receives Top Alabama Quality Award

Boeing [NYSE: BA] continues to be recognized as a leader in Alabama -- most recently by receiving the 2005 Alabama Quality Award (AQA), the state's top honor for quality and performance excellence.

The award was presented at a formal ceremony last night in Tuscaloosa at the conclusion of a day-long Alabama Quality Award conference attended by several hundred people representing industry and business across the state.

"This award is a tribute to our employees' commitment to ensuring excellence every day, every where," said Boeing Huntsville site executive Linda Hait. "We are honored to have our excellent operations recognized outside the company, and it's a wonderful opportunity to share our strengths as well as learn from others successes."

The AQA is modeled after the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality award. The AQA recognizes and honors organizations that use effective productivity and quality improvement strategies, techniques or practices, which can be shared with other organizations to help contribute to the overall economic well-being in the state of Alabama.

The award is based upon performance criteria that include the following: excellence in leadership; strategic planning; attention to customers and other stakeholders; market focus; process management; and analysis of organizational performance. Companies use the criteria as a self assessment tool to determine at which level of the AQA they should apply. Boeing Huntsville Missile Defense Systems operations won the Level 3 -- Alabama Excellence Award -- the highest level of recognition.

The Alabama Quality Award is administered by the Alabama productivity center, an Alabama technology network center and a nonprofit outreach component of the University of Alabama. The center's mission is to find ways to use university research and educational resources to enhance the competitiveness of Alabama business and industry.

The Boeing Company is the largest aerospace company in Alabama. The workforce of more than 3,300 employees, based in Huntsville and Decatur, work on the leading edge of key space and defense programs.

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 $30.5 billion business. It provides network-centric system solutions to its global military, government, and commercial customers. It is a leading provider of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems; 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 and Department of Homeland Security; NASA's largest contractor; and a global leader in sustainment solutions and launch services.
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For further information:
Linda James
Boeing Huntsville
office: 256- 461-3101
mobile: 256-426-4014
linda.s.james@boeing.com