OREANDA-NEWS. The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) recognized seven of its top performing External Business Partners with its prestigious Partner of the Year award yesterday. Additionally, P&G also awarded over 50 other companies The External Business Partner Excellence Award, including two for superior performance in Supplier Diversity.

Speaking at the event, A.G. Lafley, P&G’s Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer, emphasized innovation, productivity and partnership, saying, “P&G’s ask of you is that you partner with us on innovation. Partner with us on productivity. Let’s work together as partners to create value for each other, for consumers and for our industry.” He shared examples of how several of the companies present had worked with P&G to bring new innovations to market, such as Pampers® and Tide® PODS.

Among P&G’s more than 75,000 suppliers and agencies, the seven that received the highest honor of being named Excellence Award winners and “External Business Partner of the Year” were:

  • EY
  • MonoSol, Kuraray WS Film Division*
  • PEGAS NONWOVENS
  • Rising Display Products (Zhongshan) Co., Ltd.*
  • RONCHI MARIO S.p.A.*
  • SUPERPAC, INC.* ++
  • Yamada Electric*
    * These five companies were named External Business Partner of the Year in 2013 as well.
    ++ This company is a women- and/or minority-owned business.

In addition to the select few “External Business Partner of the Year” awards, the following 51 companies received Excellence Awards for consistent high performance:

  • Albany International Corp.
  • AMPACET CORPORATION
  • Arkay Packaging
  • Bilfinger Industrial Services Inc.
  • Breakthrough®Fuel
  • Carat NA Planning
  • Cartus
  • Cellfire Inc.
  • Chase Design Group
  • CHEP*
  • Citizen Relations
  • D. Cloostermans-Huwaert nv
  • DAWSON Integrated Marketing Communications Co. Ltd
  • Diamond Packaging++
  • Diversified Supply, Inc.++
  • ECS European Containers N.V.
  • ELIF
  • ?ltex Ltd.
  • Encapsys®
  • FDK CORPORATION
  • Fibria Celulose
  • FIRMENICH
  • FLUOR Industrial Services*
  • FOBOHA GmbH
  • Givaudan Fragrances
  • Gulsan
  • Havpak Inc.++
  • Hitachi Metals, Ltd.
  • HPV Engineering s.r.o.
  • JLL
  • Kang Na Hsiung Enterprise Co., Ltd
  • Lingaro
  • Model Kramp
  • Mondi
  • NIPPON SHOKUBAI CO., LTD.
  • Novozymes
  • One Asia Network
  • PwC
  • QPSI / RockTenn++
  • Quality Associates, Inc++
  • Rialto Enterprises Pvt. Ltd.
  • Saatchi & Saatchi X
  • Sasol Performance Chemicals
  • SCHNEIDER NATIONAL CARRIERS, INC.
  • SelectNY
  • Shandong Tianli Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.
  • Starcom UK TV & Digital Activation Team
  • Technimark LLC
  • THE SHIBUSAWA WAREHOUSE CO., LTD.
  • Van Genechten Packaging
  • WEYERHAEUSER COMPANY
    * These two companies were recognized for their commitment to Supplier Diversity.
    ++ These five companies are women- and/or minority-owned businesses.

Two companies, CHEP and FLUOR Industrial Services, were specifically recognized for their efforts and results on Supplier Diversity. These two companies have consistently grown their spending with minority and women-owned suppliers and have demonstrated a strong focus on this important business strategy. While P&G spends more than \$2 billion annually with diverse suppliers, this is the first time it has recognized External Business Partners for their commitment to Supplier Diversity.

“I congratulate all of our award winners, especially those who were recognized as ‘External Business Partner of the Year’ and those we recognized for Supplier Diversity,” said Stew Atkinson, Chief Purchasing Officer. "As we move the business forward in a structured, strategic way, our external business partners will continue to play a crucial role in helping us serve the world’s consumers."

P&G works with all business partners to reach excellence levels, and therefore there is no limit on the number of excellence awards that can be achieved.

About Procter & Gamble

P&G serves nearly five billion people around the world with its brands. The Company has one of the strongest portfolios of trusted, quality, leadership brands, including Always®, Ambi Pur®, Ariel®, Bounty®, Charmin®, Crest®, Dawn®, Downy®, Fairy®, Febreze®, Gain®, Gillette®, Head & Shoulders®, Lenor®, Olay®, Oral-B®, Pampers®, Pantene®, SK-II®, Tide®, Vicks®, Wella® and Whisper®. The P&G community includes operations in approximately 70 countries worldwide.