Avery Dennison Label and Graphic Materials has recognized eight pressure sensitive industry suppliers during the company's Fifth Annual Supplier Recognition Ceremony, which was held March 12-13 in Oegstgeest, the Netherlands. Winners were selected based on their performance in areas such as sustainability, innovation, service and quality.

"Our suppliers play a key role in our mission to deliver value to our customers," says Roland Simon, global VP of procurement and corporate sustainability, Label and Graphic Materials. "This ceremony serves as a platform to showcase our suppliers' innovations and outstanding support, and to thank them for their collaboration and consistent performance."

The list below details those companies recognized during the ceremony and their respective award categories:

Supplier Distinction Award
Jerich International (Gleisdorf, Austria): Avery Dennison introduced this award to highlight a supplier that makes extraordinary contributions to its success. As a global logistics provider, Jerich has offered tailor-made transport solutions to enable Avery Dennison to deliver products to customers efficiently and effectively.

Best Emerging Supplier
Sumei Chemical Co. (Taipei, Taiwan, PRC): This award goes to the supplier that is growing with Avery Dennison globally while successfully meeting quality, service and innovation targets. As an emerging vendor in the chemical area, Sumei has distinguished itself for being fast to market, cost effective, and a great collaborator with Avery Dennison's R&D and operations teams when it comes to commercializing solutions.

Best Indirect Supplier
GP Lux (Kayl, Luxembourg): This award goes to the indirect supplier that provided superior quality and service while continually improving its processes. A supplier to Avery Dennison since 2004, GP Lux is the company's highest-volume regional packaging supplier, and its wedges are used at almost every location in Europe.

Best Supplier Sustainability
Eneco Wind (Mechelen, Belgium): This award goes to the supplier that demonstrated both leadership and action to align with Avery Dennison's sustainability policy to use responsibly sourced materials, comply with third-party verification processes and show clear commitment to innovation and continuous improvement in this very important area. Eneco partnered with Avery Dennison to build and launch last fall a wind turbine at Avery Dennison's Turnhout, Belgium, plant. This turbine will supply about one-third of the plant's energy demand while also lowering the company's energy costs.

Best Supplier Service
Gantrade Corp. (Montvale, New Jersey, USA): This award goes to the supplier who in 2017 constantly met Avery Dennison's availability targets and found ways to reduce overall supplied lead times. Gantrade went above and beyond to ensure Avery Dennison had an adequate supply of acrylic and vinyl acetate monomers even in the face of hurricanes in the US and a major force majeure situation in Europe.

Best Supplier Innovation
BASF S.A. (Sao Paulo, Brazil): This award goes to the supplier that was a key partner in the successful implementation of new products and ideas in 2017. BASF in Latin America partnered closely with Avery Dennison last year to develop a specific, high-growth product segment - acrylic film adhesives - in Brazil and Argentina.

Best Supplier Quality
Sappi (Brussels, Belgium): This award goes to the supplier that in 2017 best demonstrated the ability to deliver defect-free material that exceeded the expectations of Avery Dennison and its customers. As one of the company's global paper suppliers, Sappi not only grew their business with Avery Dennison last year, but did so while reducing its defect rate to best-in-class levels.

Best Transportation Supplier
USF Holland (Holland, MI, USA): This award recognizes the consistent delivery of outstanding transportation services. Despite freight capacity constraints in the US in 2017, this carrier consistently provided on-time delivery to Avery Dennison's top customers.