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Leadership Quality
Member dairies take top honors at QCS annual conference.
Key dairy and supply
community services and training highlighted the 2007 QCS Leadership
Conference for members of its co-sponsors — Naperville, Ill.-based
Quality Chekd Dairies Inc., a member-owned cooperative of independent dairy
processors, and DeLand, Fla.-based SECO & Golden “100”
Inc., a member-owned purchasing cooperative.
The annual conference, held in April at the Denver
Marriott Tech Center in Denver, combined the individual spring and summer
meetings formerly hosted by Quality Chekd and SECO/Golden 100. Attendees
explored innovative ways to better their companies’ performance,
discussed purchasing opportunities and participated in training workshops,
the annual supplier trade show and product judging, as well as annual
awards and recognition, including the coveted Quality Chekd Irving B.
Weber, Wayne Gingrich and Harlie F. Zimmerman awards. The
conference’s awards program annually underscores the commitment of
Quality Chekd Dairies and its membership to continued excellence and
quality in products, manufacturing and promotion.
This year, the prestigious Irving B. Weber
Distinguished Award for Quality Excellence, named for Quality Chekd’s
first board, again went to Umpqua Dairy Products Co., Roseburg, Ore. As
recipient of the award, for the second year in a row, Umpqua Dairy
accumulated the highest annual scores for leadership, customer
satisfaction, production quality, marketing communications, staff
development and overall business ethics. In recognition of this
achievement, Umpqua received a trophy and a check for $25,000.
The winner of this year’s Wayne Gingrich Award
for Production was Hiland Dairy, Fort Smith, Ark., in recognition of its
status as the best single production plant within the Quality Chekd
membership.
The Harlie F. Zimmerman Award went to Hiland Dairy
Foods Co., Springfield, Mo., for marketing excellence and best
communication of brand essence. The award honored Hiland for its clearly
defined marketing objectives and strategies, measurable actions and
execution of results.
For more conference highlights, visit www.qchekd.com
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