Havi Global Solutions (www.havigs.com), which provides strategic sourcing, packaging services solutions, and strategic supply chain management for some of the world’s largest full-service and quick-service (QSR) restaurants, has awarded Bell Inc. (www.bell-inc.com) the “Supplier of the Year Quality Award for 2011.”   

The award, which is given annually, recognizes excellence in areas such as quality systems and processes that are proactively managed and embedded in company culture.  Complaint rates, recall and recovery rates, and sanitation are factored in, as are bi-monthly scorecard and trimester ranking reports, process variation measures, and annual sustainability audits.

Bell Inc., one of the 10 largest independent folding-carton companies in North America, received the recognition for packaging products it provides to Havi’s largest customer, a multinational QSR operator.  Some of the criteria for the award are established by Havi and some by the customer.

“When it comes to quality, Bell has embraced quality practices and continues to improve each year,” says Ron Li, quality manager at Havi.  “They take a proactive approach in managing quality and are committed to continuously driving improvement with quality processes, response time, and issues resolution.“

Li cites a recent situation where Bell noticed that one of the cartons in production for a Havi customer was falling toward the low end of tolerance for glue length. “Bell had moved the cartons to another gluer and called me to report it—before the system even had a chance to pick up the issue.”  Other examples Li cites in the selection of Bell for the award include:

• For the last six years, Bell has consistently been well below complaint rates established by Havi as acceptable--rates already set above industry standards. Bell achieved significantly better than the established complaint rate for cartons, and zero complaints for clamshells.   


• No product recall has ever been necessary for the packaging Bell produces for Havi customers. 


• Bell has received the highest possible ranking in third-party sanitation audits conducted by AIB International, a leading provider of independent food safety audits and inspections, for fourteen out of fifteen years since Bell first subscribed to the volunteer audit in 1997.


• Bell consistently earns Havi’s highest rating of “green” in third-party “supplier workplace accountability audits” that measure social and environmental responsibility.
  

“This is testament to all Bell employees and their commitment to quality, day in day out,” says Ben Graham, Bell president and CEO. “Havi and its customers set some of the highest standards in the consumer products world, and it’s an honor to have earned their trust, their business, and now this recognition for the work we do for them.”  

Bell’s quality initiatives also were recognized with Havi’s Zero Defect Award in 2010 and 2011, for production of an annual promotional project incorporating high value game pieces for Havi’s largest customer.  In 2010 Bell received Havi’s Quality Award for Packaging Excellence, for the highest scorecard performance in packaging promotions.