When FPL received the Deming Prize in November, 1989, company president Bob Tallon cited numerous instances of quality-improvement benefits received from applying Deming principles. For example, the company had reduced the average length of customer power service outages from 100 minutes annually in 1982 to 48 minutes in 1989. In the safety category, FPL had reduced lost-time injuries from more than one per 100 employees in 1985 to 0.42 in 1989. Additionally, customer complaints to the Florida Public Service Commission were at their lowest level in 10 years. FPL also had reduced its fossil power plant’s forced outage rate from 14 percent in 1986 to less than 4 percent in 1989, saving ratepayers $300 million that would have otherwise been spent on new generating units (“FPL First International Winner,” 1989).