Productivity award hailed

Ju-sung Lee, a senior consumer planning professional for Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance Co, which won a South Korean National Productivity Award (NPA) in 2012 in the President’s Award category, said the company applied for the award as a kind of self-assessment.

He said that though the company had been leader in many areas and won many awards and recognition, it still felt the need to differentiate itself. It did not want to stay satisfied with its current position but wanted to receive advice from professionals during the field evaluation process by the NPA judges. This process would enable the company to learn its strengths and weaknesses. The NPA process runs from companies’ application, reception, pre-evaluation, field evaluation, and final evaluation.

You Jong-seok, quality assurance team manager of South Korean smart-home solution provider Commax, said setting the goal of winning awards or certifications was one way to motivate the whole organisation to move forward in the same direction. Commax won the NPA in 2012 in the Prime Minister’s Award category.

The Korea Productivity Centre (KPC) has played a key role in increasing productivity of industries to promote the rapid growth of the national economy. 

The Thailand Productivity Institute offers similar recognition in two levels, the Thailand Quality Award (TQA) and Thailand Quality Class (TQC). Applicants with scores over 650 after the evaluation get the TQA, while those with scores lower than 650 but over 350 scores get TQC designation.