Oshkosh, Wisconsin – Hormel Foods Corporation has awarded Curwood, Inc., with a 2010 Spirit of Excellence Award—a prestigious honor that celebrates the company’s commitment to continuous improvement and contribution to the Hormel heritage of innovation and quality.
Curwood, a leading packager and a division of Bemis Company, supplies Hormel with a broad range of brand packaging solutions for Hormel’s high-quality food and meat products. Following the recent Bemis acquisition of Alcan Packaging Food Americas, the company integrated manufacturing facilities, material technologies and resource teams to provide strengthened capabilities and a seamless source of supply. Curwood, well aware of the relationship Hormel has held with Alcan for over 100 years, reached out to Hormel and asked them how to make the acquisition as smooth as possible. According to Hormel, Curwood has not missed a beat in the process.
“The last year was a model process of integrating two companies in dealing with Hormel, and that’s a big reason Curwood is getting this award,” says Dan Miller, Manager, Packaging Development Group at Hormel.
“Curwood is honored to accept this award,” said Brent Peterson, Curwood National Account Manager–Hormel Foods. “This recognition is a testament to the many employees whose individual strengths and contributions came together to provide a whole new level of value to our customer.”
To be considered for the Spirit of Excellence Award, Curwood demonstrated a steadfast focus on high-level service: meeting stringent package performance requirements, consistently achieving on-time deliveries and providing high-level administrative support. Only a few select suppliers earn this award from Hormel annually.
On May 3rd, Hormel’s top purchasing professionals travelled to the Bemis Innovation Center in Neenah, Wisconsin, where Curwood’s Research & Development team is located, to personally present the award.
“The Spirit of Excellence Award acknowledges the best of the best among Hormel suppliers,” said Steven Jensen, Corporate Purchasing Manager at Hormel Foods. “Curwood continually demonstrates a next-level dedication and focus to serving our organization.”
One of the reasons Curwood has excelled at Hormel is because of their thorough understanding of the “Strengths and Weaknesses” program that Hormel uses to provide feedback on ten different categories including film quality, billing, customer service, mockups and plant support. Curwood is only one of two suppliers out of Hormel’s 30 that request quarterly update meetings to go over these strengths and weaknesses in detail with Hormel personnel.
According to Dan Miller, “Curwood is one of the best of the best, almost to elite status, when it comes to being proactive with new innovations, R&D support and support in the plant.”
Known throughout the world for technological leadership in high-barrier packaging, Curwood is a preferred supplier of innovative packaging materials and systems for food, beverage, household, industrial and personal care industries. Curwood maintains strategic manufacturing and service centers throughout North America, South America and Europe, and is well-positioned to meet global distribution and marketing needs. Headquartered in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, U.S.A., Curwood is part of the Bemis family of companies.
Bemis Company is a major supplier of flexible packaging and pressure sensitive materials used by leading food, consumer products, healthcare and other companies worldwide. Founded in 1858, the Company is included in the S&P 500 index of stocks and reported pro forma 2010 net sales of $4.84 billion. The Company’s flexible packaging business has a strong technical base in polymer chemistry, film extrusion, coating and laminating, printing and converting. Headquartered in Neenah, Wisconsin, Bemis employs nearly 20,000 individuals worldwide. More information about the Company is available at our website, www.bemis.com.
Source: Curwood
