Who We Are

The Mid-South Quality Productivity Center (MSQPC) is a partnership of the Greater Memphis Chamber and Southwest Tennessee Community College with a mission to champion market excellence. We are also a Tennessee Board of Regents Center of Emphasis.

Learn More »

Our Mission

To champion market excellence for organizations in Memphis, the Mid-South region, and globally, by offering Baldrige-based assessments, consulting, quality/productivity enhancements, corporate development and employee development.

Learn More »

Upcoming Events

May 08
09

Root Cause Analysis with Duke Okes

A two-day course consisting of lectures, practices, and role plays that will provide attendees with an in-depth understanding of how to analyze a system in order to identify the root causes of problems. The course is a version of Six Sigma Lite, teaching an effective problem solving process without all the heavy statistics. Learn More and sign up »
May 14

Meeting Effectiveness

As a facilitator of meetings you must 1) FOCUS in the preparation phase; 2) develop FUSION in the meeting phase and 3) identify elements of the FUTURE for the follow-up to the meeting. Consensus seeking skills and other decision-making options will help a leader make the most of meetings. Learn More and sign up »
Jun 18
19

7 Habits for Managers

This two-day seminar combines the concepts of Managing Yourself before Leading Others with the 7 Habits.  Participants focus on being proactive vs. reactive, methods to tap hidden resources, goal setting, leading projects, recognizing your team and to make win-win performance agreements through your synergistic team. Learn More and sign up »

Recent News

President Obama, Secretary Pritzker Honor 2013 Baldrige Award Recipients

Apr 09, 2014

President Obama, Secretary Pritzker Honor 2013 Baldrige Award Recipients

April 8, 2014

 

In a letter honoring 2013 Baldrige Award recipients Pewaukee School District and Sutter Davis Hospital, President Barack Obama wrote,

When our organizations maximize efficiency, enhance services and customer satisfaction, and develop effective operations, they help our economy thrive and ensure America remains on the cutting edge of innovation. I commend all those committed to strengthening enterprises and pushing our country forward, and I wish everyone gathered all the best. . . . For more than two decades, the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award has recognized organizations throughout our country committed to performance excellence.

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker read from the President’s letter Sunday evening as part of her remarks at the Baldrige Award Ceremony ,formally recognizing the small K-12 school district and the nonprofit, 48-bed acute care hospital for their pursuit of excellence.

"The fact is, a healthy, educated nation is a competitive nation," remarked Secretary Pritzker. "By providing top-quality education for American youth, we ensure that our future workforce will have the tools and knowledge not only to help businesses grow, but also to help society thrive. And by providing top-quality medical care, we ensure that more Americans live longer, fuller lives-- maximizing their contributions to our country."

The Baldrige Performance Excellence Program is "having a broader impact beyond traditional industries and sectors," said Secretary Pritzker at the ceremony, recounting how the program was born from the legacy of Secretary of Commerce Mac Baldrige, a role-model American business leader of the 1980s.

"As global competition heated up, Mac stressed that our nation should respond by focusing on one thing--assuring the high quality of American products," Pritzker said.

In Mac’s honor after his death, private-sector executives and legislators worked together to create the Baldrige Program. From there came the development of specific guidance (the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence) to help businesses focus on continuous improvement and the bottom-line. Today, the Criteria are used by businesses and health care, education, and nonprofit organizations as a management framework to improve all aspects of their organizations.

Although the initial focus of the Baldrige Award was on for-profit manufacturing and services companies, Pritzker said, in 1999, education and health care organizations became eligible, "with the rationale that institutions from these sectors could also benefit from high standards set by the Baldrige Criteria."

Read More »

Baldrige Green ™ Award

Mar 31, 2014

MSQPC’s newest Baldrige-based Quality Cup Award, known as Baldrige Green, requires no written application.  The Award Application process requires the applicant to conduct a Baldrige-based Corporate Sustainability -Triple Bottom-Line- (Economic –Environmental-Social) Self-assessment of their organization.  The organization’s score will be validated by a panel of Judges who will make an on-site visit.  The site visit would last for approximately 3 hours.  The benefits of applying for the Greater Memphis Chamber Baldrige Green Quality Cup Award include:

 

  • Use of the Baldrige Criteria to identify your organization’s corporate sustainability/ social responsibility planning issues.
  • Conducting an in-house corporate sustainability self-assessment of your organization.
  • Identification of key economic, environmental, and social issues that impact an organization’s corporate sustainability and competitiveness.
  • Development of a Baldrige-based Corporate Sustainability Plan incorporating the organization’s Triple Bottom-Line Planning issues that are aligned with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Index.
Read More »