Three institutions, two firms win Singapore Quality Award
By Rachel Kelly, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 04 November 2009 2348 hrs

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SINGAPORE: Three institutions and two companies have clinched the Singapore Quality Award (SQA).

They are the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority, Land Transport Authority, Anglo-Chinese School (Independent), Tru-Marine, and Qian Hu Corporation.

This is the highest number of winners since the award was launched in 1995. Experts said the increased number of winners is an indication of improving business quality and excellence in Singapore.

The award is part of an initiative under SPRING Singapore that provides organisations with a business excellence framework to develop and strengthen their management.

The Anglo-Chinese School (Independent), which is ranked among the top three International Baccalaureate schools worldwide, is the first educational institution to receive the SQA.

Ong Teck Chin, principal & CEO of Anglo Chinese School (Independent), said: "We have a strategic plan based on the information we have garnered... Because of our committed and dedicated staff, we are able to use the processes and system to meet the needs of our students, (whom) we nowadays refer to as clients or customers."

Other awards granted alongside the SQA are the People Excellence Award, the Innovation Excellence Award and the Service Excellence Award.

The latter award went to OCBC Bank's Consumer Financial Services Division, responsible for innovative and creative customer offerings such as mobile banking.

Andrew Lee Kok Keng, head, Global Consumer Financial Services, OCBC Bank, said: "For us at OCBC, service excellence is a journey and we start that journey by understanding what our customers need and from that, develop insights on what to do for the customers.

"Maintaining this standard is challenging because our customers' needs and expectations change over time. What we intend to do to meet this challenge is to keep close to our customers."

Other winners of the awards include the Central Provident Fund Board, Nanyang Polytechnic and the National Library Board.


- CNA/so