Press Contacts: Chairperson Holly Thompson  Manager of Quality Assurance & Plant Services  Pepperidge Farm  2195 N. Reading Road  Denver, PA 17517  Phone: 717-336-8670  Fax: 717-336-8696  E-mail: holly_thompson@pepperidgefarm.com

News Release

For Immediate Release

American Society for Quality Reading, PA Section Earns Top Honors

Reading, PA, October 15, 2004

The Reading, PA Section 0510 of the American Society for Quality (ASQ) has earned the 2003-04 Section Management Process Total Quality Award, one of the highest honors a section can earn in the Society. Only 72 of 252 ASQ sections earned this award for the 2003-04 year!

The Reading, PA Section 0510 will be honored at ASQ’s 59^th annual conference; the World Conference on Quality and Improvement (formerly AQC), on May 14, 2005 in Seattle, Washington. Members of the ASQ Board of Directors will present the award to the section.

The Section Management Process (SMP) Total Quality Award is awarded to sections that have proven their commitment and ability to serving local ASQ members and the community. SMP is a management model and planning tool that assists sections in their planning and implementation of programs and services that will meet the needs of current and future ASQ members. The model is based on the plan-do-check-act cycle of continuous improvement and is proven to aid the sections in delivering superior value to their members.

In order to earn the Total Quality Award, sections must meet certain criteria. First, they must determine a section volunteer roster and set long-term targets. Second, the section must develop an annual business plan with objectives and goals. Finally, a section must meet 75% of the goals set forth in their business plan.

“Total Quality sections are typically the most successful of ASQ sections. They consistently show higher levels of member satisfaction and loyalty, which can be directly attributed to their efforts to assess and meet the needs of members through careful planning,” said Andrea Spiegelberg, ASQ’s Community Care Administrator for the SMP.

The American Society for Quality (www.asq.org) is the world's leading authority on quality. With 104,000 individual members and 800 organizational members, the professional association advances learning, quality improvement, and knowledge exchange to improve business results, and to create better workplaces and communities worldwide. As champion of the quality movement, ASQ offers technologies, concepts, tools, and training to quality professionals, quality practitioners and everyday consumers. Headquartered in Milwaukee, the 57-year-old organization also administers the U.S. Commerce Department's Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award and is a founding partner of the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), a prominent quarterly economic indicator.

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