November 21 , 2000

New Jersey Manufacturing Extension Program, Inc. Receives Governor’s Award for Excellence

The New Jersey Manufacturing Extension Program, Inc. (NJMEP) has received a Governor’s Award for Performance Excellence, the state’s highest honor for organizational excellence. The company was notified of the award last week by Quality New Jersey (QNJ), the organization that manages the award and assessment process along with its partner the New Jersey Commerce and Economic Growth Commission.

The criteria used to assess organizations that apply for the award in New Jersey is modeled after the well-known Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. The criteria is unique in that it addresses all the critical elements of an organization’s performance system; Leadership, Strategic Planning, Customer and Market Focus, Information and Analysis, Human Resource Focus, Process Management, and Business Results. A team of nine QNJ examiners reviewed NJMEP’s 50-page application and conducted a two-day site visit at the company before recommending NJMEP for an award. The Governor’s Award examiner team cited the energy and aggressive vision of the NJMEP leadership, their effectiveness in garnering state assistance to assist in the funding of its mission, the high level of data integration and distribution achieved through the use of technology, the highly tactical focus of the organization, and the processes which align individual goals with organizational objectives.

“A commitment to quality is imperative”, said Bob Loderstedt, president of NJMEP. “Neither private nor non-profit companies like ours can survive today without a firm dedication to continuous improvement. From the leadership that our Board of Trustees showed in encouraging us to walk the talk, to the care and attention to detail of our staff, we have demonstrated that commitment, and we are honored that QNJ recognizes our efforts.”

NJMEP is in good company. Recent past New Jersey winners of the Governor’s Award for Performance Excellence include Lucent Technologies, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, Inc., Overlook Hospital, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, Air Cruisers Company, and Transistor Devices, Inc.

NJMEP was created through the efforts of a team, lead by Dr. Saul Fenster, President of the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), which worked for close to a decade to gain the United States Department of Commerce's approval to establish a Manufacturing Extension Program in New Jersey. As a result of their efforts, the New Jersey Manufacturing Extension Program, Inc. (NJMEP) began its operations in January 1996 to help New Jersey’s small to medium-sized manufacturers to become more productive, profitable, and globally competitive. NJMEP has a team of 16 field agents trained to assess the competitive position of individual firms, craft solutions for improving that position, and bring resources together to implement the solutions.

NJMEP serves all 21 counties of the state from the headquarters in Newark and 16 field offices. NJMEP is hosted by NJIT in Newark, where it is close to a number of its key public sector strategic alliance partners and many of the state’s manufacturers. NJMEP is a non-profit organization that relies on fees generated from client projects and funding by the state, through the New Jersey Commission on Science and Technology and federal government, through the National Institute of Standards and Technology Manufacturing Extension Program (NIST/MEP). NJMEP is a recognized leader in the national MEP system, pioneering new ideas (Personal Business Advisor concept) and processes (responsible for the National CIS information knowledge network). The organization is also the first in the national MEP system to receive this type of award for excellence.

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