3M Unit Is First O.C. Plant to Win a Baldrige Award

For the first time since the honor was instituted in 1987, an Orange County manufacturer has received a prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award for excellence in business.

The award, announced Wednesday in Washington by President Clinton, was won in the manufacturing excellence category by the dental products division of 3M Corp.

“We’ve been going berserk here all day,” said Ajay Myer, manager of the dental division’s 270-employee manufacturing plant in Irvine. “It’s been a tremendous day for all of us.”

The dental products division’s headquarters and research facility are in St. Paul, Minn., but the award was based largely on performance at the manufacturing plant, which has been in Irvine since 1974.

The dental unit makes more than 1,300 products, from adhesives to materials used in making dental crowns.

Myer said this was the fourth year the division applied for the Baldrige award, which is bestowed by the U.S. Commerce Department.

Judges cited the unit’s history of customer retention, manufacturing quality, workplace quality and financial growth.

The award is given annually to no more than six companies--two each in manufacturing, service and small business. There were no small business winners this year.

Solectron Corp. of Milpitas was the other winner in the manufacturing category, while service awards went to Merrill Lynch Credit Corp. of Jacksonville, Fla., and Xerox Business Services of Rochester, N.Y.

Solectron, a high-tech electronics products designer and manufacturer, also won a Baldrige award for manufacturing excellence in 1991.