Mate Precision Tooling receives Minnesota Quality Award

The Minnesota Council For Quality announced today that it has presented Anoka, Minn.-based Mate Precision Tooling, a manufacturer of punch press tooling, with the 2005 Minnesota Quality Award.

Brian Lassiter, president, Minnesota Council For Quality, made the announcement and stated, "Mate was ranked in the top 20 percent of all companies that apply for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, which is an impressive achievement." The Minnesota Quality Award (MQA) is a major step for Mate in seeking the Malcolm Baldrige Award.

Founded in 1991, the primary objective of the Minnesota Quality Award is to help organizations improve their performance results. The Award also serves to recognize performance excellence throughout Minnesota. The Minnesota Quality Award is given at four levels — Excellence (the top award), Achievement, Advancement, and Commitment — and is the culmination of a rigorous assessment process that utilizes the Baldrige National Quality Program's "Criteria For Performance Excellence."

Since 1991, just 70 organizations have received Minnesota Quality Award recognition at various levels, Mate being the most recent. Mate received the Achievement level. Just 18 percent of the organizations that have applied since the MQA adopted the tiered award structure have scored this well.