Friday, October 7th 1999

IRIZAR is among the 13 best companies in Europe.
On 6 October in Brussels, IRIZAR received a diploma for being a finalist in the top European Award for Business Excellence (European Quality Award) in the large company category. This award is given annually by the European Foundation for Quality Management (E.F.Q.M.).

This means that IRIZAR is the first company from the Basque Country and Spain (it was also the first to receive the Basque Prize for Business Excellence awarded by the Basque Government - the GOLD Q, and the Prince Philip of Asturias Prize for Business Excellence in Total Quality Management in Spain), not part of a multinational group, to gain this distinction at the highest European level in the practice of Business Excellence in the category of large companies.

E.F.Q.M. and the European Quality Award.

The E.F.Q.M. was set up with the aim of increasing the competitiveness of European companies and organisations whatever their size, sector or structure. Its mission is to boost the performance of organisations in Europe by systematically identifying and promoting the best business practice. The reason for the existence of the European Prize for Business Excellence awarded by the E.F.Q.M. is to recognise and promote organisations that demonstrate the maximum level of commitment to improving their business performance and increasing competitiveness. It is clearly the most coveted recognition of excellence in Europe (in the world of business management it is the equivalent of winning an OSCAR or the NOBEL prize). The level of the finalists in all categories is outstanding and they can be considered the best companies in Europe.

The 4 companies awarded prizes by the E.F.Q.M. in 1999 were: Yellow Pages and BT Northern Ireland (both British and part of the multinational British Telecommunications), ELAIS (Greek and part of the Unilever group),and Sollac (French and part of the Usinor group).