Sheikh Hamdan honours 12 organisations at tenth Dubai Quality Award ceremony

A total of 12 winning organisations were awarded in the 2005 cycle of the Dubai Quality Awards including the DQA, the DQA (Gold category) and the DQAP. The awards were presented to the winners at a ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of the Dubai Quality Award recently held at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel, Dubai

The Ritz-Carlton, Dubai from the tourism sector was the winner in the GOLD category of the Dubai Quality Award this year, having won the DQA in 2001. This category is only open to previous winners of the Dubai Quality Award.

Eight companies were given the Dubai Quality Award Appreciation Programme (DQAP) this year from various sectors spanning construction, service, trade, manufacturing and others. The DQAP is open to organisations that have shown commitment to excellence and have begun to implement quality initiatives in their organisations.

The DQAP winners this year included Gulf Business Machines E.C., 3i-InfoTech Limited and EROS Group from the IT services sector; Dubai Healthcare City from Medical Services, Tejari FZ from the services sector, Ruwais Fertilizer Industries (FERTIL) from the manufacturing sector, the Kanoo Group (Power & Industrial Projects Division) from the trade sector and Halcrow International Partnership from the construction sector.

"During its 10 years of existence, the Dubai Quality Award has initiated a culture of quality in the business community in Dubai. This has had a very positive impact on an increasing number of private companies and individuals who have participated in the DQA process,"

said Mr. Essa Kazim, Co-ordinator General of the DQA and Director General of the Dubai Financial Market. "The significance of the Dubai Quality Award is the framework that is used by a company to develop its business performance, thereby contributing to both its own growth and the growth of the economy. In this way, the Award enables quality to be a catalyst for continuous development in order to achieve sustainable growth," he added.

Each submission of the DQA is reviewed by a group of assessors according to the procedures laid down by the Dubai Quality Award Secretariat, which is modelled on the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) excellence model. After the entries have been reviewed, a panel of jury members interviews the team from the applicant companies to approve the list of potential winners. This year a total of 90 assessors and jury members were involved in the assessment process.