Simmons’ Jordan Munn Named As Examiner For 2017 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award
The Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has named Jordan Munn, Manager of Quality & Process Improvement at Simmons Machine Tool Corporation in Albany, New York, to the Board of Examiners for the 2017 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. The Baldrige Award is the nation’s highest honor for organizational innovation and performance excellence.
Appointed by the NIST Director, examiners are responsible for reviewing and evaluating applications submitted for the Baldrige Award, as well as other assessment-related tasks. The examiner board is composed of more than 340 leading experts competitively selected from industry, professional, trade, education, health care and nonprofit (including government) organizations from across the United States.
Those selected meet the highest standards of qualification and peer recognition, demonstrating competencies related to customer focus, communication, ethics, action orientation, team building and analytical skills. All members of the board must take part in a nationally ranked leadership development course based on the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence and the scoring/evaluation processes for the Baldrige Award.
Jordan Munn has over 25 years of quality and process improvement experience across multiple industries. In her current role as Manager of Quality and Process Improvement at Simmons Machine Tool Corporation, Munn works to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of Simmons’ processes, and has responsibility for product quality for internal and external customers. As a Manufacturing Engineer with Eaton Corporation, she undertook five weeks of training and worked on the Lean Implementation Team for her product line, and learned to use Six Sigma tools for process improvement. She applied those tools and experience at GEICO, setting up their Lean Six Sigma program and developing their Green and Black Belt curricula. She became a certified Master Black Belt in 2005. She recently worked at Momentive Performance Materials, improving their manufacturing, support, and quality processes, and after that, overseeing quality as a Quality Manager at Cambridge Machining. Munn holds a BS degree in Industrial Engineering from Case Western Reserve University and a master’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Cleveland State University. She is the Chair of the Hudson Mohawk section of the American Society for Quality, and is on the Board of Directors of Partners in Performance Excellence, a nonprofit that exists to help organizations become more effective, competitive, and sustainable using the proven Baldrige Excellence Framework.
Named after Malcolm Baldrige, the 26th Secretary of Commerce, the Baldrige Award was established by Congress in 1987. Awards may be given annually to organizations in each of six categories: manufacturing, service, small business, education, health care and nonprofit. The Award promotes innovation and excellence in organizational performance, recognizes the achievements and results of U.S. organizations, and publicizes successful performance strategies. Since the first group was recognized in 1988, 114 awards have been presented to 106 organizations (including seven repeat recipients). The 2016 winners are Don Chalmers Ford, Rio Rancho, N.M. (small business); Momentum Group, Irvine, Calif. (small business); Kindred Nursing and Rehabilitation–Mountain Valley, Kellogg, Idaho (health care); and Memorial Hermann Sugar Land Hospital, Sugar Land, Texas (health care).
NIST manages the Baldrige Award in close conjunction with the private sector.
The Baldrige Performance Excellence Program also offers the 2017–2018 Baldrige Excellence Framework: A Systems Approach to Improving Your Organization’s Performance, which includes the world-emulated Criteria for Performance Excellence; Baldrige Excellence Builder; Baldrige Cybersecurity Excellence Builder; nationally ranked leadership training; and the Baldrige Collaborative Assessment and other assessment tools. For information on the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program and the Baldrige Award application process, call (301) 975-2036, send an e-mail to baldrige@nist.gov, or visit http://www.nist.gov/baldrige.
Media with questions, needing background or wishing to arrange interviews with Baldrige Program officials should contact Michael E. Newman, NIST Public Affairs Office, at (301) 975-3025 or michael.newman@nist.gov.
