Story update 4/24/2014: We bumped up the cost of accreditation based on comments that the original article was on the low side. We also added references to ILAC as well as additional accreditation bodies that operate in the United States (ACLASS, NVLAP, L.A.B.)

On April 6, 2014, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker presented two U.S. organizations with the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the nation’s highest honor for organizational innovation and performance excellence.

Why should an organization integrate lean methodology with the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence? And how should it go about doing that?