Government and Award Sites

National Science Foundation
Mission: To promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; and to secure the national defense.

Best Manufacturing Practices Center of Excellence (BMPCE)
Begun in 1985 to help businesses by identifying, researching and promoting exceptional manufacturing practices, methods and procedures in design, test, production, facilities, logistics, and management, the BMPCE's main goal is to increase the quality, reliability, and maintainability of goods produced by American firms with a commitment to strengthening the U.S. industrial base.

Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award
First presented in 1988, the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award has become the nation's premier award for business performance excellence and quality achievement. The Baldrige Award program was established by Congress in 1987 not only to recognize individual companies for their achievement, but also to promote quality awareness and to provide information on successful performance and competitiveness strategies.

Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory
Housed at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, MEL serves as a central research laboratory for manufacturing infrastructure technology, measurements, and standards. MEL provides industry-needed manufacturing engineering tools, interface standards, manufacturing systems architectures, and traceability.

Manufacturing Technology Division
Housed at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, the Manufacturing Technology Division (ManTech) is responsible for the management and execution Air Force Industrial Preparedness Programs in Manufacturing Technology and Industrial Base Analysis. ManTech integrates Air Force and industry requirements into an execution program providing advanced manufacturing processes, techniques and systems for timely, reliable, high quality, economical production and sustainment of Air Force systems.

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
The NIST was established by Congress "to assist industry in the development of technology...needed to improve product quality, to modernize manufacturing processes, to ensure product reliability...and to facilitate rapid commercialization...of products based on new scientific discoveries."

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
NIOSH is the federal agency responsible for conducting research and making recommendations for the prevention of work-related injury and illness. NIOSH is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the Department of Health and Human Services.