Meet the Food Manufacture Excellence Awards 2011 Sponsors

Company of the Year​

Sponsor: The Cheese Warehouse

The Cheese Warehouse supplies cheese, cheese products and expertise to the UK's food manufacturing Industry.

It processes British and Continental cheese in a range of formats to suit each customer's application, whether it is grated, crumbed, diced, shaved or shredded.

With time-saving and ease of preparation being an important factor for today's consumer, The Cheese Warehouse provides convenient cheese ingredients to help producers provide fresh, inspired and tasty meal solutions Added-value cheese products include individually quick frozen mozzarella pearls, portion-controlled cheese pellets, sachets and flavoured cheeses.

It also provides ideas and inspiration and presents new products to its customers in its development kitchen, which is fully-equipped for developing and testing new products, ideas and concepts. The Cheese Warehouse has formed partnerships with dairies and manufacturers to develop and launch innovative new cheeses for the food manufacturing sector.

Gruyére, the so-called 'King of Swiss cheeses' is now produced in the UK, exclusively for The Cheese Warehouse, to a recipe developed in-house. The firm also offers new product development presentations.

From the intense, authentic flavour profile of a Grana Padano to the subtler sweet, nuttiness of a Gruyère cheese, The Cheese Warehouse can supply the cheese ingredient to suit.

Tel: 01948 666060

Judges' Special Award​

Sponsor: Zurich

Zurich Financial Services Group (Zurich) is a leading multi-line insurance provider with a global network of subsidiaries and offices.

Zurich's UK General Insurance division is the UK Branch of Zurich Insurance plc, part of the Zurich Group. It supplies personal, commercial and local authority insurance through a variety of distribution channels. Based at locations across the UK, with large sites in London, Glasgow, Cardiff, Birmingham, Leeds, Swindon, Newcastle Farnborough and the Isle of Man, the division employs approximately 4,200 people.

As a leading UK corporate insurer, Zurich has always worked closely with brokers and their customers aiming to share knowledge, anticipate trends and provide the food and beverage sector with the best possible insurance solutions. It has successfully been helping to protect manufacturing companies against risk for over 135 years.

In a complicated industry that's changing rapidly and with food and beverage manufacturers vulnerable to increasing regulations, Zurich's insight helps companies to understand current and emerging risks so they can better safeguard their businesses.

Benefits from industry-specific protection include: expert strategic and operational risk management; supply chain insurance; and advice on mergers and acquisitions.

Tel: 08000 966233

Small Company of the Year​

Sponsor: Institute of Food Science 
& Technology

The Institute of Food Science & Technology (IFST) is the leading qualifying body for food professionals in Europe and the only professional food body in the UK that is concerned with all aspects of food science and technology.

Originally established in 1964, IFST is a registered charity with members working across all points of the food chain. It is independent of government, industry, lobby or special interest groups.

Membership is open to anyone with a professional interest in food who meets our high standards of professionalism. Members may demonstrate their qualifications, proficiency and experience through achievement of its professional qualifications.

IFST key services:

Organises events to encourage the sharing of knowledge and experience

Accredits continuing professional schemes to raise the standards of food scientists

Operates specialist registers to assure the quality of food professionals

Works with schools and colleges to encourage young talent into the sector

Offers robust scientific statements on food-related issues.

Tel: 020 7603 6316

Ambient Company of the Year​

Sponsor: Food Manufacture

Food Manufacture is Britain's leading publication for the UK food and drink processing sector. Its unrivalled combination of hard-hitting news, features and comment helps busy food sector professionals stay ahead of developments in business, legislation and technology.

Published monthly, it is aimed at a range of industry roles: from food technologists and new product development specialists, to operations and technical managers, right up to board level positions. Each month the magazine also carries the largest number of job vacancies within the food and drink manufacturing sector.

Food Manufacture has a strong web presence. Foodmanufacture.co.uk publishes the latest exclusive news and developments in the UK food and drink processing sector.

As well as running the well-established Food Manufacturing Excellence Awards, Food Manufacture hosts a number of face-to-face events in the sector. It organises conferences and round tables; from food safety and new product development, to HR issues and IT.

Food Manufacture's annual business leaders' meeting in January has become a must-attend event for directors in the sector. Other events cover topics from robotics and automation; environmental management to saturated fat reduction, all chaired by experts in their respective fields.

Tel: 01293 610493

Bakery Company of the Year​

Sponsor: Lauras International

Lauras International specialises in the delivery of rapid improvement within fast-moving medium- to large- consumer goods manufacturers. 'Rapid Lean' implementations involve a joint top down/bottom up approach that is focused on increasing the rate of improvement achieved by site personnel site teams are helped to achieve impressive results, and in living the journey go on to sustain an increased rate of improvement.

The simplified 'Rapid Lean' toolkit is designed to explain the why not just the what of powerful improvement tools, and enables shopfloor personnel to solve longstanding problems, and focus on the right areas.

Refined management engagement combined with appropriate coaching and mentoring ensures the improvement is owned by the local management, and long-term sustainability embedded.

Each member of the team has real manufacturing experience, mostly engineers or food technologists who have gone on to manage a factory or a significant part of one.

Customised programmes, significant results, performance guarantees, and strong recommendations from both blue-chip and venture capital owned businesses denotes a business that is growing fast, and forging partnerships with key businesses sector by sector.

Tel: 0333 456 1988

Beverage Company of the Year​

Sponsor: Foodmanjobs

Food Manufacture and Foodmanjobs provide cost-effective recruitment in the food and drink manufacturing sector. They deliver candidates of the highest quality and reduce your cost per hire.

Their unique promotional strategy includes extensive advertising in Food Manufacture, The Grocer and other related titles, such as meatinfo and bakeryInfo. Online at foodmanufacture.co.uk, it ensures that search engine optimisation, search engine marketing, social media and smart phone technology, drives active and passive job seekers to the site.

Foodmanjobs serves over 2,000 dedicated jobs each month, provides daily updates of new jobs and has around 25,000 unique visitors and view over 350,000 pages. The site generates around 10,000 job applications each month.

Add the printed magazine to the mix and you can reach an additional 65,000 key people in over 4,000 sites throughout UK food and drink manufacture.

Quite simply, as established and trusted sources, Food Manufacture and Foodmanjobs are the place where the top talent goes to find the top employers, and the top employers go to find the top talent.

Do you want to recruit the best people and save money at the same time?

If that sounds like a good deal, give us a call to find out more.

Tel: 01293 610372

Chilled Food Company of the Year​

Sponsor: FoodManufacture.co.uk

FoodManufacture.co.uk is a daily online news service for the UK food manufacturing industry that covers breaking news across all sectors of the food and drink business.

It is available as a free-access website and sends free e-newsletters to its subscribers three days a week.

The FoodManufacture.co.uk journalists scan all available scientific, technical and industry sources and search out previously unpublished material, primary data and expert opinions in all areas of significance to the target audience.

With over 45,000 unique users a month and over 12,000 weekly subscribers to its e-newsletter, the site delivers the latest news and industry insight to the desktops of management decision makers across the UK.

Whether it's news about legislation, food safety, new product launches or details of the latest processing and packaging innovations, FoodManufacture.co.uk is the industry's trusted online reference point.

To get your free subscription sign up

Tel: 01293 610221

Dairy Company of the Year​

Sponsor: Coriolis

Coriolis, a specialist adviser to the food and drink industry, works with international clients to deliver operational excellence with a passion.

The company values its workforce highly. It employs exceptionally talented individuals who combine high academic qualifications with a sound and diverse experience of manufacturing operations in blue chip companies.

Coriolis has developed a number of proven tools and techniques that support clients in areas that range from manufacturing excellence through to capital projects management.

The service can transform operational capabilities to meet and adapt to an ever-changing business environment. Coriolis has helped some of the best-known names in industry tackle the prevailing issues and "get it right". This is what its clients say:

"The Coriolis team's results were impressive. Their comprehensive list of improvements include increasing our fermentation capacity by better use of existing assets, reduced packaging, improved supply chain costs and better inventory planning," says John Power, vice president global supply chain, AB Enzymes. "As a direct result of their success, Coriolis are now working with other ABF Ingredients companies in the USA and Germany."

Tel: 08452 263 364

Fresh produce Company of the Year​

Sponsor: Gist

Gist is a leading UK supply chain company with a history that spans over 100 years.

Gist has a turnover of euro 600M and is a leading player in the perishable and chilled sector, although Gist's 1,000+ customers cover a wide range of commercial and industrial sectors.

The creation of bespoke solutions that meet all the requirements for time and temperature control, alongside optimising transportation and warehousing, means food producers, manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers can gain significant competitive advantage through their supply chain.

Gist's 5,000 employees operate from 54 locations in the UK and continental Europe.

Through its extensive network of sites and close partnerships it manages UK, European and global end-to-end supply chains from Asia, South America and South Africa.

Gist is owned by leading gases company The Linde Group. The Linde Group has an annual turnover of euro 12bn, through which Gist benefits from global capability, synergy and scale.

Tel: 01256 891111

Frozen Food Company of the Year​

Sponsored by: British Frozen Food Federation

The British Frozen Food Federation (BFFF) represents about 300 companies in the frozen food industry. Its unique and substantial membership covers the entire cold chain, from large companies to small to medium-sized enterprises, increasing its influence with government and outside agencies.

Members include producers, retailers, wholesalers, distributors, importers and brokers. There are also a host of associate members serving the cold chain, such as logistics service providers, ingredient suppliers, insurers and cold store operators.

Membership allows companies to be at the heart of the industry, working with like-minded firms, all dependent on the success of frozen foods. Member services are offered impartially to each individual member company.

The Federation's objectives are to promote and protect the interests of its membership and the frozen food industry through the provision of information, the development of unity and the co-ordination of collective strength.

Key services:l Renowned events, providing excellent networking opportunitiesl Promotion campaign to cover both the foodservice sector and consumersl Industry magazine, The Bulletinl Technical and legislative advicel Health and safety advicel Trade and business leadsl Annual awards for new productsl Members' benefit schemesl One-to-one hotline for advice

Tel: 01400 283092

Meat & Poultry Company of the Year​

Sponsor: Kimberly-Clark Professional

Kimberly-Clark Professional is committed to working in partnership with its food industry customers to ensure the highest standards of hygiene and safety in the workplace.

Just turning up to deliver the products its customers have ordered isn't the company's style. Kimberly-Clark Professional knows every production site is different, so it takes the time to establish the specific needs of a business before recommending the products that can help make a customer's manufacturing site a cleaner, safer place. And it doesn't stop there. Kimberly-Clark Professional believes in building long-term relationships, so you can be sure that as your business grows and evolves, it will be there with you at all times to make sure your requirements are still being met.

Kimberly-Clark Professional offers a wide range of flexible solutions and packages to suit every health and safety need in the food manufacturing sector: from cleaning products and equipment to protective workwear. Using the latest technology and always keeping sustainability in mind its products offer food safety managers unrivalled performance and peace of mind in the production environment.

Kimberly-Clark Professional knows that food safety is not just about choosing the right products to install. Education is also vital and that's why it recently ran its 'Take control of poor hand drying' campaign, which emphasised the importance of installing safe and hygienic hand drying facilities, such as single-use paper towels, in food processing sites. This initiative underlined the company's commitment to safety in the food sector.

Tel: 0800 269470

Seafood Company of the Year​

Sponsor: Foodex 2012

Foodex is the UK's leading exhibition for the food and drink processing, packaging and logistics sectors. For the first time in 2012, Foodex will incorporate dedicated elements of bakery, ingredients and logistics, alongside the existing sectors of seafood, meat, dairy, beverages and fresh produce, creating a single, all encompassing, must-attend event.

An extensive programme of live events will take place at the show with specifically designed content for the key areas of the UK manufacturing sector, including seafood, meat, bakery and logistics.

Following the introduction of Seafood@Foodex in 2010, the show's organiser is delighted to be supporting the Seafood category of the Food Manufacturing Excellence Awards 2011. Figures from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs show that the seafood market in the UK has grown by 17% since 2005, and forms a major part of the manufacturing and processing market.

Foodex is proud to support the UK seafood sector, both through the awards and the 2012 show, which offers an ideal platform for companies involved with the seafood market to develop their businesses.

Foodex 2012 will take place at the NEC, Birmingham from March 2527 2012 and is co-located with Food & Drink Expo, National Convenience Show and the Forecourt & Fuel Equipment Show.

Tel: 01293 610355

Personality of the Year​

Sponsor: Q8Oils

Q8Oils supplies high-quality lubricant base oils exclusively from Kuwaiti crude feedstock. The oils are refined by a specialist hydrofinishing process that produces base oils which are almost free of impurities.

The laboratory in Leeds is the Industrial Centre of Excellence in the UK. With world-class scientific equipment and highly experienced chemists, Q8Oils is leading the way in industrial lubricant technology.

Q8Oils has achieved and maintains BS EN ISO 9001:2000 certification for its customer service and internal business processes.

The industrial and manufacturing sectors have experienced dramatic changes in recent years due to the increasing demand for quality and productivity. In a bid to support this dynamic and robust industry, Q8Oils has recently launched a newly extended food-grade lubricant range (Rossini).

The Rossini range has been designed to meet and exceed the specialist requirements of the food and drink industry, offering something for all manufacturers, large and small, across a range of applications, delivering cost saving, efficiency and performance benefits.

Tel: 0113 236 5204

Training Programme of the Year​

Sponsor: Improve/The National 
Skills Academy

Improve

Improve provides the strategic overview for the food and drink manufacturing sector to help increase performance and productivity. It researches which skills are needed and sets national occupational standards, regulating and ensuring that qualifications are fit for purpose and reflect the skills the sector needs.

Being partly government- and partly self-funded, Improve is perfectly placed to be the voice between employers and government. It articulates and champions the sector's needs to government skills bodies and reports back on government policy and how it affects the sector.

Improve carries out indepth research into the skills landscape across the UK. This research is the basis for the development of qualifications, ensuring they are in-line with industry needs.

Improve continuously develops suites of National Occupational Standards (NOS) for the food and drink industry.

Tel: 0845 644 0448

The National Skills Academy

A single source of training for the food and drink sector, The National Skills Academy (NSA) uses Improve's insight to ensure that employers get exactly what they need.

It has been developed to help food and drink manufacturers train their staff so that they can achieve the maximum from their abilities and help them achieve their full potential.

It works with groups of employers to develop industry-wide solutions and with individual companies to satisfy specific training needs. It operates through a high-quality delivery network of approved food and drink training providers including universities, colleges and private institutions.

Although completely self-funded, the NSA works in partnership with Improve, continually feeding back valuable frontline intelligence to ensure continuous improvement and up-to-date information.

Tel: 0845 644 0558

Diversity in Recruitment​

Sponsor: Silver Stone Search & Selection

Silver Stone Search & Selection prides itself on being quality focused and passionate about what it does. It gains true satisfaction by helping to shape the futures of its clients and candidates.

This professional recruitment business has real depth of food manufacturing knowledge gained through years of experience working within the food industry. It recruits across all disciplines and in all sectors including chilled, ambient and frozen environments for major brands and own-label suppliers.

Silver Stone Search & Selection works hard to attract the right candidates and ensure that there is a high level of communication between itself, candidates and clients alike. Whether this is by visiting a site and taking a full job brief through to answering any questions raised through a process, the company will fully understand your requirements then work tirelessly to fulfil your needs. Silver Stone can pretty much be contacted at any time of the day or night and always aims to make working with the company as easy as possible.

Silver Stone prides itself on being one of the major players in the market and realises that its continued success is measured by its continued delivery.

Tel: 08448 550000