Diageo Honors Leading Supply Partners at Second Annual Diageo North America Supplier Awards

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Oct 22, 2012, 11:17 ET

NORWALK, Conn., Oct. 22, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Diageo, the world's leading beverage alcohol company, honored materials, packaging and service delivery partners at its second annual Diageo North America Supplier Awards on October 4. Over 130 guests were in attendance representing more than 35 key suppliers.

David Cutter, President Americas Supply said, "Working with World Class Suppliers is a key element in ensuring Diageo delivers on quality, innovation, service and value to its customers. Diageo North America's Supplier Awards is one way that we can recognize the great contributions of our supply partners."

The awards program was launched to recognize suppliers who delivered outstanding results against all of Diageo North America's Supply and Procurement metrics or achieved breakthrough performance in Diageo's fiscal 2012. Suppliers were recognized in nine award categories including the coveted Supplier of the Year Award.

Each of the unique categories represents the different ways Diageo's suppliers have significantly contributed to its business objectives. Below are the categories and winners for the 2012 Diageo North America Supplier Awards:

Supplier of the Year	CCL Labels
Quality Excellence	Grain Processing Corporation
Service Excellence	Pratt Industries
Value Creation	Moosehead Breweries
Collaboration Excellence	Spear Label Company
Innovation Excellence	LiDestri
Breakthrough Performance	Berry Plastics Corporation
Distinguished Honors – Special Projects	Perrier (Fowler) and J. Benton Construction
Emerging Markets Supplier Excellence	Textile USA – Vietnam

About the Diageo North America Supplier Awards

The Supplier of the Year Award category represents suppliers who exemplify brilliant performance, excellence and execution in all areas of quality, service, innovation, breakthrough performance, and value creation, exemplifying the attributes Diageo looks for in its strategic supply partners.

The Quality Excellence Award is given to one of Diageo's suppliers that have demonstrated outstanding performance in quality of materials and service; process capability improvement, utilizing root cause problem solving techniques, schedule adherence performance, and helped us improve our overall equipment effectiveness as a result.

The Service Excellence Award is given to a supplier that has reliably delivered materials to Diageo on time and in full through robust capacity and production planning processes while improving lead times. The suppliers nominated in this category have demonstrated flexibility and responsiveness in the face of a challenging forecasting environment, and offered outstanding levels of partnership and service.

The Value Creation Award is given to the Diageo supplier who has demonstrated a deep commitment to a continuous improvement culture while driving year over year cost reductions and overall value. Value

The Collaboration Excellence Award is given to a supplier who has demonstrated a deep commitment to resolving material or service issues in collaboration with our conversion site teams utilizing robust root cause problem solving methods. Suppliers recognized in this category have also helped Diageo to meet its social responsibility goals on safety, environmental and sustainability.

The Innovation Excellence Award is given to the supplier who has demonstrated brilliant execution of new Diageo product offerings. By working in partnership with Diageo, this supplier has shown breakthrough performance and speed to market despite demanding timelines.

The Breakthrough Performance Award is given to a supplier who has faced challenging performance goals and demonstrated tremendous improvements in both service and quality, enabling improved success for Diageo.

The Distinguished Honors – Special Projects award is given to the supplier who has delivered a significant and critical project on time and on budget with exceptional leadership and delivered creative ideas that deliver value to Diageo.

The Emerging Markets Supplier Excellence Award is given to a Supplier who is located in an Emerging Market and has demonstrated superior quality, service, responsiveness, value and outstanding corporate citizenship in their communities.

About Diageo

Diageo (Dee-AH-Gee-O) is the world's leading premium drinks business with an outstanding collection of beverage alcohol brands across spirits, beer and wine. These brands include Johnnie Walker, Crown Royal, JεB, Windsor, Buchanan's and Bushmills whiskies, Smirnoff, Ciroc and Ketel One vodkas, Baileys, Captain Morgan, Jose Cuervo, Tanqueray and Guinness.

Diageo is a global company, with its products sold in more than 180 countries around the world. The company is listed on both the New York Stock Exchange (DEO) and the London Stock Exchange (DGE). For more information about Diageo, its people, brands, and performance, visit us at Diageo.com. For our global resource that promotes responsible drinking through the sharing of best practice tools, information and initiatives, visit DRINKiQ.com.

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SOURCE Diageo