Abbott honours partners with Supplier Excellence Awards

Abbott has announced the 2011 winners of its annual Supplier Excellence Awards, which recognise outstanding performance in supplying materials, equipment and services to Abbott.

A total of 30 companies – including Agilent Technologies, Sigma-Aldrich, Dell, Verizon Wireless, Besins Healthcare, Mindshare and Colbert Packaging – were chosen from the more than 23,000 worldwide suppliers that work with the firm.

They were selected as winners based on their exceptional contributions to Abbott over the last year, as judged by criteria such as quality, delivery performance, service, cost-effectiveness, process improvement and innovation.

The Abbott Supplier Excellence Award programme originated in 1991 and uses an assessment process combining performance data along with feedback from internal stakeholders.

Sarah Catterson, divisional vice-president for corporate purchasing at Abbott, said: "Abbott is proud to recognise our suppliers that share the company's longstanding commitment to excellence."

The company generated sales of $3.72 billion (2.3 billion pounds) in the first quarter of 2012, up by nearly six percent year over year.