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7 November 2006 Proud faces. There were smiles on all faces when the Grundfos group gathered round Lars Aagaard, Managing Director of Grundfos A/S, after the EFQM event. Grundfos is now among the most well-managed companies in Europe. This was proven when, earlier this evening, the pump group's Danish manufacturing company won what is probably Europe's most prestigious company award at the EFQM (European Foundation for Quality Management) Forum in Budapest, Hungary. Among 27 finalists, Grundfos A/S won the EFQM Excellence Award – Award winner and the EFQM Excellence Award - Prize winner for Corporate Social Responsibility and EFQM Excellence Award - Prize winner for People Development & Involvement. In its grounds, EFQM states that Grundfos A/S today is an operating unit amongst the best in Europe with an inspirational way to achieve excellent results in many fields, by putting business excellence at the core of their culture in line with the values, involving and valuing their employees to focus on improvement and learning from assessments, using smart visual ways to come to a common understanding of goals, able to transfer into practice the essence of its brand to “Be, Think and Innovate”. Many things have changed since, 10 years ago, the Grundfos A/S top management decided to introduce Business Excellence as a management model in the improvement process undertaken in the company. Factories and departments have improved their knowledge sharing, employees make more suggestions for improvements, and both customers and employees experience a greater level of satisfaction. According to General Manager Lars Aagaard, this is above all due to a whole-hearted commitment at all levels of management and involvement of all employees. "All employees contribute to setting targets, identifying areas for improvement and evaluating our processes," explains Lars Aagaard. He continues: "Our common understanding and a common frame of reference have served as the foundation for creating improvements in the company - for the benefit of our competitiveness and our ability to retain a major part of our production in Denmark." According to Group President and CEO Jens Jørgen Madsen, Business Excellence in Grundfos A/S has a major influence on activities in the entire organisation – especially the other manufacturing companies. "The fact that Grundfos A/S has a professional approach to profitable production and distribution benefits the entire Group – especially in relation to products and components that can only be produced with in-depth knowledge. At the same time, the company's active involvement in product and technology development provide significant support for the globalisation activities. I regard Grundfos A/S as a catalyst for the Group's position as a permanent market leader. It is for this reason that we have focused on developing Grundfos A/S into a world-class company," says Jens Jørgen Madsen. The Group President and CEO acknowledges the great efforts made by management and employees in order to make the Group's biggest manufacturing company deserve the prize. "Grundfos A/S serves a model for all other manufacturing companies in the Group and by winning these distinguished prizes it has once again led the way. This is a triumph for every single employee," says Jens Jørgen Madsen. Facts about EFQM The organisation behind the prizes is EFQM (The European Foundation of Quality Management). Its raison d’être is to inspire and help companies throughout Europe to participate in improvement activities ultimately leading to excellence in customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, impact on society and business results. For further information please see www.efqm.org. EFQM milestones for Grundfos A/S 1996: 1997: 1999: 2000: 2001: 2003: 2006: Introduction of Business Excellence – training and involvement of all top managers. Establishment of annual Business Excellence cycle. Winner of the Danish Quality Award. Introduction of Business Excellence in the production groups. EFQM finalist. Winner of EFQM’s special award for ”Leadership and Constancy of Purpose". EFQM Excellence Award – Award winner, and the EFQM Excellence Award - Prize winner for Corporate Social Responsibility, and EFQM Excellence Award - Prize winner for People Development & Involvement. The Business Excellence activities are not over in Grundfos A/S. On the contrary – they will become more focused and continue to spread throughout the Group. Facts about Grundfos A/S The Danish manufacturing company Grundfos A/S is the biggest and oldest company in the pump group – established in 1945 by Poul Due Jensen. Together with the Group's headquarters it is located in Denmark, employs 4,000 people and had a turnover of EUR 573 million in 2005. Grundfos A/S primarily manufactures circulation pumps for heating and air-conditioning plants, industrial centrifugal pumps, submersible pumps for water supply and electronics. Facts about the Grundfos Group Grundfos strives to be the world’s leading and most innovative company in the pump business. The Group is dedicated to continued research into new materials and processes in order to be able to introduce new, groundbreaking pumps and pump systems that satisfy market demands for efficient, reliable and energy-saving plants. With its 73 companies, the Grundfos Group is represented in 41 countries worldwide. In addition, Grundfos products are available from local distributors in a large number of countries. The Grundfos Groups has 14,500 employees. In 2005, the Group had a turnover of EUR 1.8 billion. Download pictures: > Download Proud faces. There were smiles on all faces when the Grundfos group gathered round Lars Aagaard, Managing Director of Grundfos A/S, after the EFQM event. > Download Jette T Pedersen, HR Director, and Lars Aagaard, Managing Director, use both hands to lift up the visible proof of the honour given to Grundfos A/S.