Benchmark matrix and guide: Part I. Headquarters Air Force Logistics Command, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, OH.

The President's Award for Quality and Productivity Improvement is the highest recognition of improvements in quality and productivity in the federal government and is equivalent to the Malcolm Baldrige Award. It is awarded to agencies, or major components of agencies, that have implemented total quality management (TQM) in an exemplary manner resulting in high quality products and services, and effective use of taxpayers' dollars. On May 23, 1991, Headquarters Air Force Logistics Command at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base was notified that it had won this prestigious award. This first article of a three-part series was authored by a special working group within Headquarters Air Force Logistics Command that was tasked with developing a benchmarking system to measure progress in implementing total quality management (TQM). The tasking was in support of the near-term vision initiative to develop a guideline pamphlet for measurement. This benchmark matrix should be used periodically to identify those categories that need additional emphasis, but it should be seen as a self-assessment tool only. The intent was to provide a method of measuring behaviorally oriented activity that can be documented or observed. Real process improvement can begin only when a process cna be understood and measured. Benchmarking is a viable means to do this and should be used in combination with other TQM methodology.