Welcome Address by Dr Cham Tao Soon, Chairman, Singapore Quality Award Governing Council, at the 2003 SQA Presentation Ceremony on Tuesday, 22 July 2003 at the Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore
Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Senior Minister of State
(Trade & Industry and Education)
Mr Cedric Foo, Minister of State (Defence)
and Chairman, SPRING Singapore
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen
Introduction
- It gives me great pleasure to welcome all of you to the 2003 Singapore Quality Award (SQA) Presentation. I would also like to extend a warm welcome to the administrator of the Australian Business Excellence Awards who is here as our special guest to join us this evening. We have also invited Harry Hertz of the US Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award and other award administrators. Unfortunately, they could not make it this year.
SQA: The Pinnacle Award for Business Excellence
- It has been nine years since the launch of the Singapore Quality Award (SQA) for Business Excellence. Next year, we shall be celebrating the tenth anniversary with a big bang. This jubilation is well deserved because the SQA is the pinnacle award presented to organisations in Singapore that have achieved the highest standards of business excellence. These are world-class organisations whether from the private or the public sectors. To date, 13 organisations have won this prestigious and hard-to-win award.
Journey of Business Excellence
- Many organisations in Singapore are using the SQA business excellence framework to measure where they are on the journey to excellence, identify the gaps, and take actions for improvement. More than 600 organisations have participated in business excellence assessments administered by SPRING to assess their performance based on the SQA framework. Organisations that have attained a commendable level of performance are invited to join the Singapore Quality Class (SQC). The growing number of SQC organisations is encouraging. Tonight, another batch of 67 new SQC members will be receiving their plaques.
- The SQC members share a common passion for improvement and a vision of becoming world-class leaders. All the organisations, except for one, vying for the SQA this year are SQC members. The 2003 SQA winners, to be recognised tonight, are also SQC members. This trend confirms that the original intent of having the SQC to serve as an effective development path for organisations on the business excellence journey is being achieved.
- Business excellence is about embarking on a journey to attain world-class standards of performance. Like productivity, it is a journey without a finishing line. The theme for tonight's award presentation," Going Beyond the Best", reaffirms the need for organisations to commit themselves to the journey. This requires organisations to build a sound foundation, energise their people for innovation, sustain their leading edge, and transform themselves from good to great. Together, these key stages of the journey contribute to the vision of being the best of the best.
- The SQA Governing Council has resisted the temptation of having award categories for different organisations, as is done for some of the other international business excellence awards. All organisations, big or small, public or private, compete in the same category. This is because the SQA framework is applicable to all organisations, and all organisations have to compete in the same race for world-class excellence.
International Recognition of SQA
- In the international arena, our SQA framework is a highly regarded role model for countries in Asia seeking to adopt and develop their own. We have shared our experiences and know-how with Japan, Philippines, Fiji, Vietnam, and Thailand. In February this year, Thailand recognised its first-ever winner of the Thailand Quality Award, and 6 other organisations were conferred the Thailand Quality Class commendation. Our membership in the global network of excellence award organisations together with the US, Japan, Europe, and Australia ensures that the SQA is always aligned and on par with premier international business excellence awards. Even the assessment process is aligned such that assessors in one country can assess in another country.
- As part of our ongoing collaboration with Australia, two senior assessors from the Australian Business Excellence Awards participated in this year's SQA assessment process. Their participation has helped to ensure that the SQA standard is universal and is as demanding as that for the winners of other premier business excellence awards. This is the value and strength of the SQA, namely its international standing and universality.
Conclusion
- The SQA would not have been successful if not for the strong support of many organisations. We appreciate the dedication of our partners, including the SQA Governing Council members, Management Committee members, and the Assessors from both private and public sectors. A special note of thanks must be given to our Assessors, who have worked very hard to uphold the stringent Award selection process without being paid for their services.
- In conclusion, I would like to thank Senior Minister of State Tharman Shanmugaratnam for gracing tonight's ceremony. It is now my pleasure to invite Minister to deliver his address.
Thank you.
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