St. Louis, Missouri-based beer brewer Anheuser-Busch Inc. bestowed its “select status” designation, an award given to only about half of all its suppliers, on the Milford, Massachusetts plant of Saint…
St. Louis, Missouri-based beer brewer Anheuser-Busch Inc. bestowed its “select status” designation, an award given to only about half of all its suppliers, on the Milford, Massachusetts plant of Saint-Gobain Containers on 12 April 2006 in recognition of its quality control efforts. Cheryl Stelter, Anheuser-Busch manager of supplier certification, said that at a time when suppliers are consolidating and fewer manufacturers are experts in glass production, the quality of goods going into Anheuser-Busch is important to its business. “It“s critical that you focus on those key business relationships to keep them,” she said. Saint-Gobain Containers, which makes glass bottles and jars for the food and beverages industries, is based in Muncie, Indiana. Workers at the Saint-Gobain plant in Milford took breaks from their shifts on 12 April 2006 to share a celebratory lunch. Company officials credited the work of unionized employees in achieving to the award. Workers at the plant are represented by the Glass, Molders, Pottery, Plastics and Allied Workers Union and the United Steelworkers. Having achieved Anheuser-Busch“s select status quality level at its other US plants, the Milford facility was the sixth and last of Saint-Gobain Containers“ US facilities to attain the designation. The Milford facility took years to satisfy all 56 of Anheuser-Busch“s quality standards, company officials said. The effort was important, however, in ensuring the plant“s ability to serve customers, said Joseph R. Grewe, president and chief executive of Saint-Gobain Containers. “Getting this select status means a lot to our company and our ability to continue to get business with Anheuser-Busch,” Mr. Grewe said. Anheuser-Busch is a USD 17.25 billion brewer. The company developed its corporate purchasing supplier certification program in the mid-1990s, asking its suppliers to meet quality system evaluation standards in employee involvement, education and training, warehousing/storage and retrieval of material/completed work, and statistical methods, amongst others. Anheuser-Busch specifies the importance of “select status” in contracts with suppliers. In a 2004 contract with Anchor Glass Container Corp., Anheuser-Busch reserved the right to end or phase out purchases from Anchor plants that did not attain “select status”. Ms. Stelter said many of Anheuser-Busch“s quality standards resemble those promoted by the ISO quality movement. About 64 of the company“s 125 US suppliers have achieved the select status level. Saint-Gobain Containers in Milford employs about 220 people, and Anheuser-Busch is the plant“s main customer. Going through the quality process to attain select status, Mr. Grewe said, “makes us a better company for all our customers”.