LINCOLN, NEB. (February 17, 2005)--The name "Edgerton" is becoming synonymous with "excellence in performance" among Nebraska's manufacturing and service industries. Since the program's creation 11 years ago, The Edgerton Quality Awards have been bestowed on 42 businesses, but only eight have earned the highest Edgerton Award of Excellence.

Two leading Nebraska manufacturers--Lincoln Plating in Lincoln, Neb., and The Eaton Corporation, Torque Control Division in Hastings, Neb.--earned this honor in 2004.

"While winning the award is important, we feel it is the journey that got us to this point, which is most significant," said Marc LaBaron, CEO, Lincoln Plating.

The Edgerton process starts with a company submitting a detailed application form. Patterned after the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Awards program, the Edgerton program evaluates applicants in the areas of leadership, strategic planning, customer and market focus, measurement and analysis, human resources, process management, and business results. A team of Edgerton examiners rates each company's strengths and opportunities for improvement, and generates a final feedback report.

"I think that the greatest benefit of the program is the feedback report," said Jenne Rodriguez, Edgerton coordinator, "which gives company officials an unbiased, outside perspective on their performance, and recommends concrete ways in which they might improve."

"This process gave us an excellent external point of view on the effectiveness of the Eaton Business System, on which all Eaton plant operations are based," said John Berry, plant manager at Eaton Torque Control Division in Hastings.

The 2005 Edgerton Award application process is about to get underway with several March workshops. Business leaders interested in applying will want to attend, or send a company representative to one of the following workshops:

• March 11, 9 a.m.-5 p.m CST--Eaton Corporation, 300 E. 39th St., Hastings
• March 14, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. CST--Mahoney State Park, Exit 426, I-80, Ashland
• March 16, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. MT--Western Nebraska Community College, 250587 Airport Road, Scottsbluff

Registration information is available at: http://assist.neded.org/edgerton/registration_wkshop05.htm

Sponsors of The Edgerton Awards program are the Nebraska Department of Economic Development, the Nebraska Manufacturing Extension Partnership, The Nebraska Diplomats, and the Nebraska Section of the American Society for Quality.

FOR INFORMATION, CONTACT:

Jenne Rodriguez at 800-426-6505, 402-471-3745,
or email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it