AROUND 250 Lopez Group members and members of the Lopez family took part in the Business Excellence Awards on August 18 at the Dolphy Theater at the ABS-CBN Broadcast Center.

The annual celebration of the best accomplishments within the Lopez Group recognized the outstanding and exceptional achievements of kapamilya for the 2009- 2010 cycle.

Organizations received due recognition for successfully attaining Standards Based Systems certification in Investors in People and Integrated Management Systems. Also honored were companies that reached safety milestones in terms of accident-free million man-hours. Climate change program advocates Bauang Private Power Corporation and Meralco’s South Distribution Services were cited for their pioneering efforts in greenhouse gas accounting and clean fleet management, respectively.

Winners of the Lopez Achievement Award were as follows: Bayan Telecommunications Corporation for Through-the-Lines Campaign of BayanDSL’s Lola Techie (Corporate Image-Building category); Energy Development Corporation (EDC) for Fast-track Restoration of its MGPP-2 Exciter (Operations Management category); First Philippine Solar Corporation for Braving the Uncharted Territory: In Pursuit of Global Leadership in Photovoltaic industry (Operations Management category); First Sumiden Circuits Inc. (FSCI) for Resilient in the Midst of Global Financial Crisis (Business Management category); The Labor Management Council as a Tool for Lasting Industrial Peace in the Workplace from EDC (Human Resource Focus category); and First Philippine Industrial Corporation (FPIC) for Golden Transformation to Achieve Profitability and Superior Performance (Human Resource Focus category).

Since 2002, three individuals and 49 teams have received the LAA. Meanwhile, FPIC consistently showed outstanding performance. After achieving Level I-Recognition for Pursuit of Excellence in 2005 and Level II-Recognition for Commitment to Excellence in 2007, FPIC attained the highest and most prestigious award within the Lopez Group, the Oscar M. Lopez Award for Performance Excellence in the 2009 cycle. FPIC received a trophy commissioned from National Artist Napoleon V. Abueva.

The full Oscar has only been awarded once before, by exercise of the chairman’s “golden vote,” to recognize the achievement of FSCI in attaining the highest ever score in the Philippine Quality Awards in 2007. Highlights of the event may be viewed on the Business Excellence Knowledge Network (www.lopezgroupbeknet.net).