Considering that we sent out our first 2011 Readers' Choice Awards survey in the summer of 2010, most of our food & beverage processing respondents probably were still feeling the effects of the recession when they contemplated the role suppliers play in their success … or survival.
"Expectations are higher with a shrinking market," Ron, whose firm supplies the foodservice market, said of his suppliers. He added that "those that responded" were rewarded with his business.
Positive comments again outnumbered critical ones in responses to this, our ninth annual survey of customer satisfaction and relationships with suppliers. "I'm very much satisfied with the companies I am currently with," wrote wrote a Corpus Christi, Texas, processor. "These are all great companies that over the years have served our dairy well," wrote another.
One cautionary comment we want to pass on: "I am terrifically and overall well pleased with the customer service of my suppliers. But pricing is just too volatile," wrote a California respondent.. "It's getting too expensive to make anything anymore."
We performed the survey differently this year, breaking up the 19 equipment and 25 ingredient categories into several smaller surveys. This year, we included five former Wellness Foods ingredient categories. There were two separate lists of survey recipients: one for our subscribers primarily involved in specifying processing and packaging equipment and services, a separate one for those buying ingredients and flavors.
As we mentioned, the first ballot went out last summer; the last one in November. E-mails to our subscribers, both print and online, contained links to a web-based survey form. We also carried a full ballot in the magazine, which brought in a handful of votes by old-fashioned fax machine. We received a total of 388 votes.
No supplier names were suggested; the form is an unaided recall survey. The e-mail recipients represent all categories of the food and beverage industry and all sizes of companies.
Congratulations to the 128 companies named on the following pages. You readers can use it as a yellow pages for new suppliers. And our thanks to all you food & beverage processors who responded to our survey.
On the following pages are the first-, second- and third-place winners in each category, as long as they get a minimum of 5 percent of the votes cast in that category. Differences of less than 3 percent are considered statistically insignificant.
Select a category:
{pb}Equipment, Packaging and Services
Control Systems
Rockwell 37%
General Electric 7%
Invensys/Wonderware 5%
Conveying Equipment
Heat and Control 7%
Dorner 6%
Extruders
Wenger 12%
Clextral 10%
Buhler 7%
Flooring
Stonhard 26%
Tufco 17%
Flow Measurement
Emerson Process Management 33%
Endress+Hauser 17%
Form/Fill/Seal Equipment
Triangle 16%
Bosch 13%
Matrix 6%
Lubricants
Lubriplate 12%
Shell 11%
Petro Canada 7%
Exxon Mobil 6%
Metal Detection/X-ray/Inspection
Safeline/Mettler-Toledo 42%
Thermo Fisher 23%
Fortress 9%
Loma Systems 9%
Mixing & Blending
Charles Ross 10%
Breddo Likwifier 6%
Buhler 5%
Motors & Drives
Baldor 40%
SEW Eurodrive 10%
Rockwell 8%
Packaging Machinery
Krones 6%
Multivac 6%
Bosch 5%
Sealed Air/Cryovac 5%
Packaging Materials
Sealed Air/Cryovac 10%
Printpack 7%
International Paper 6%
Pest Management
Copesan 20%
Orkin 16%
Ecolab 12%
Pumps
Waukesha Cherry Burrell/SPX 30%
Goulds 10%
Alfa Laval 5%
Refrigeration & Freezing
Emerson (Vilter, Copeland) 16%
Frick/York/Johnson Controls 14%
JBT Foodtech 7%
Size Reduction
Urschel Laboratories 12%
Prater-Sterling 7%
Quadro Engineering 7%
Software (Manufacturing)
Rockwell 10%
Uniform Services
Cintas 30%
Aramark 19%
Weighing/Checkweighing
Mettler Toledo 36%
Ishida/Heat and control 8%
Sartorius 7%
