Tyson Foods Honors Suppliers of the Year

Six companies have received honors in the second annual Supplier of the Year awards given by Tyson Foods, Inc.

Mid-States Supply Company, Kerry Savory, the Cryovac Division of Sealed Air Corporation and Rock-Tenn were each honored as Supplier of the Year in their supply categories. Two additional award categories were added and awarded this year: Multi-Craft Contractors, Inc. was honored as Tyson’s first Contractor of the Year, and Memco/M&M Poultry, Inc. was awarded with Tyson’s first Diverse Supplier of the Year recognition.

The awards were based on continuous improvement contributions; performance surveys from Tyson locations, order fill rate and customer satisfaction performance, sales and technical support, ease of doing business and diversity support efforts.

Multi-Craft Contractors, Inc. of Springdale, Arkansas, won the first ever Tyson Foods Contractor of the Year award. Multi-Craft Contractors performs a variety of mechanical, electrical, HVAC, millwright & general contracting services for Tyson Foods.

"Multi-Craft has resources to take a multi-discipline project and provide a turn-key solution at a cost that brings real value to Tyson Foods,” stated Jeff Rajnowski, Tyson’s Director of Capital Operations. “A contractor like Multi-Craft provides a smooth schedule flow with expert quality workmanship to the food processing environment in which we operate.”

The Middleton Group of Hollister, Missouri, was honored with the newly-created Tyson Foods Diverse Supplier of the Year award. The Middleton Group (M&M Poultry Equipment, Memco, Inc., Middleton Equipment, Delmar Textiles) is a women-owned business and has been supply partners with Tyson for many years.

According to Jim O’Brien, Sourcing Manager for Tyson Foods, “M&M Poultry has gained popularity within our company due to their attention to customer satisfaction, forward thinking approach to business, and continuing product innovation. M&M Poultry has been challenged to resolve several issues with original equipment manufacturer (OEM) equipment and has successfully helped Tyson with cost reduction efforts and equipment performance opportunities.”

Mid-States Supply of Kansas City, Missouri won the Supplier of the Year award for the Indirect Materials category. Mid-States Supply is a 60-year old company that supplies pipe, valves and fittings to Tyson Foods, Inc. They also supply Tyson with many value-added services from their Midco Technical group, which assists Tyson plants with outside support needs in areas such as steam trap surveys, valve automation, valve applications, and piping specifications. Mid-States has been instrumental in successful implementation of e-commerce solutions such as electronic billing and tracking systems, as well as many other services vital to the success of Tyson Foods.

Tyson is recognizing three direct materials suppliers as Supplier of the Year in their respective categories for consistently providing Tyson with quality products, service, and solutions. These three companies are Cryovac®, a Division of Sealed Air - Strategic Packaging Category; Rock-Tenn - Critical Packaging Category; and Kerry Savory - Strategic Cooking Ingredients Category. These suppliers led a list of exceptional Tyson suppliers in 2006.

A division of Sealed Air Corporation, Cryovac® is a leading global manufacturer of materials and systems for food packaging applications. Cryovac® exhibits vast knowledge in meat science, protein processing and packaging applications, along with superior cost and account management.

Headquartered in Norcross, GA, Rock-Tenn is one North America’s leading manufacturers of packaging products, merchandising displays and recycled paperboard. Rock-Tenn has been a top-performing supply partner, driving value through paperboard product solutions, sustainable material alternatives and cost management. The company has also made a significant contribution in meeting Tyson’s company diversity goals through the co-development of minority supplier relationships.

Kerry Savory is focused on bringing complete solutions to the food industry. Kerry Savory is part of the Kerry Group, a global food ingredients company with over 10,000 products and manufacturing facilities in 19 countries. Kerry has demonstrated progressive achievement in the areas of innovation, new product development and technology. Most recently Kerry has provided Tyson with exclusive rights to commercial technology they developed.