Packaging

Graham Packaging Wins Supplier Excellence Award From Abbott

Thursday 02. April 2009 - Graham Packaging Company, L.P., has been singled out as a winner of a 2008 Supplier Excellence Award from Abbott for "dedication to innovation, customer service, and quality of product." Graham Packaging was one of only 37 companies out of 15,000 Abbott suppliers worldwide to receive the award.

Graham Packaging makes two-ounce multi-layer polypropylene bottles for Abbott’s Similac infant formula and eight-ounce multi-layer polypropylene bottles for its Ensure nutritional beverage. The bottles are made at Graham Packaging plants in Alta vista, Virginia; Casa Grande, Arizona; and Findlay, Ohio.

“This award recognizes out strongest performing suppliers — those that have consistently delivered in an outstanding manner, as measured against stringent metrics and goals,” Abbott said in its announcement to Graham Packaging.

Jay C. Arnold, vice president and general manager of Graham Packaging’s Food & Beverage Polyolefin Business Unit, said, “This recognition is a result of the collective efforts of our plant teams, our project managers, and our corporate and engineering support teams. Given Abbott’s extremely high standards, this is a fantastic accomplishment.”

Abbott Nutrition (www.AbbottNutrition.com) develops and markets a wide range of science-based infant formulas, medical nutritionals, nutrition and energy bars, and related products to support the growth, health and wellness of people of all ages.

Graham Packaging, based in York, Pennsylvania, is a worldwide leader in the design, manufacture, and sale of technology-based, customized blow-molded plastic containers for the branded food and beverage, household, personal care/specialty, and automotive lubricants product categories. The company has an extensive blue-chip customer base that includes many of the world’s largest branded consumer products companies. It produces more than 20 billion container units annually at 82 plants in North America, Europe, and South America, and had sales of $2.58 billion in 2008.

Graham Packaging is a leading U.S. supplier of plastic containers for hot-fill juice and juice drinks, sports drinks, drinkable yogurt and smoothies, nutritional supplements, wide-mouth food, dressings, condiments, and beers; the leading global supplier of plastic containers for yogurt drinks; a leading supplier of plastic containers for liquid fabric care products, dish care products, and hard-surface cleaners; the leading supplier in the U.S., Canada, and Brazil of one-quart/one-liter plastic motor oil containers; and a leading supplier of bottles for personal care products.

The Blackstone Group of New York is the majority owner of Graham Packaging.