Third King Abdul Aziz Award for Quality launched

The Gov. for the Saudi Organization for Standards, Metrology and Quality Nabil bin Amin Mulla yesterday announced the launch of the third King Abdulaziz Award for Quality.
In a press conference held yesterday at the Marriott Hotel in Riyadh, Mulla explained that the award, of which he is secretary-general, is working to contribute to raise the quality of national products and services and facilitate positive competition between enterprises in different sectors and their products and services in domestic and global markets and achieve consumer satisfaction.
He talked about the first time the awards were held in 2007 at a quality conference in the Eastern Province, which featured 22 nominees. Four companies won, including Al-Jubail Petrochemical Company.
Mulla discussed the awards’ vision, which is to establish itself as leader at national, regional and global levels and to improve the standard of quality of products and services in the Kingdom.
He noted the awards’ benefits in raising awareness of quality and importance of the application and adoption of strategic planning to achieve its goals and encourage various sectors to adopt principles of total quality to be implemented at national level, as well as working to raise the level of quality in Saudi firms to enable them to become globally competitive.
Mulla said the products and services of the private sector and education sector will also be considered in the award. There will be two prizes in each category, one for large firms and another for small and medium sized firms.
He said including the education sector as part of the award was a positive step that would contribute to the improvement and continuous development of educational outcomes in the Kingdom.
“The award has ethical dimensions reflected in the use of King Abdul Aziz’s name in the award as well as the patronage of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah. Therefore winners reap the many benefits at all levels, locally, regionally and globally.”
He said companies that do not win the award would benefit from a full assessment that can help in identifying the strengths and opportunities for improvement.
He stressed the vision of King Abdullah to ensure the future of quality in the Kingdom.
"The Kingdom with its products and services will reach a global standard for quality and perfection according to a road map,” he added, stressing the need to develop annual plans to ensure goals are met.
He explained the award assesses criteria such as quality of leadership, strategic planning, human resources management, management of suppliers and partners, and operations management.