TLMI honors best managed companies

Four converter member companies of the Tag & Label Manufacturers Institute were awarded the prestigious TLMI ‘Best Managed Company Award’ at the institute's recent 2006 converter meeting, held in California, USA.

The ‘Best Managed Company’ award is given annually by the Tag and Label Manufacturers Institute, North America's leading trade association serving the tag and label industry. TLMI represents more than 150 converter member companies with combined sales totaling more than 50 per cent of the industry's annual sales.

Awards are given in four categories, based on annual sales volume. Those honored included Stixon Labels, New Mexico; LGInternational, Oregon; Consolidated Label Co., Florida; and Belmark Inc, Wisconsin.

Stixon Labels won for the second consecutive year in the ‘small company’ category with annual sales of less than $6 million. Company vice president and TLMI board member Julie Chavez accepted the award: ‘When Frank Sablone called to notify us that we had received the Eugene Singer Award, we were all thrilled and honored,’ she said. ‘Receiving the award last year was a high point in the history of Stixon Labels. Being recognized a second year in a row shows that the hard work and dedication of our team really does pay off.

‘The member benefits of TLMI, such as the Management Ratio Study, the Quarterly Trends Reports, the Wage and Labor Study, and the Technical Conference, are invaluable and have aided us in achieving these results,’ she added. ‘Spending time with other converters and suppliers in various forums has been educational and the camaraderie will last a lifetime. We would like to thank TLMI for recognizing Stixon Labels by awarding us the Eugene Singer Award. It is a pleasure to be associated with the fine folks that make up the TLMI membership.’

LGInternational returned as a winning company in the ‘mid-range’ category, with sales between $6 million and $15 million, for the first time since 1996. The company previously won four consecutive years, from 1993 to 1996.

Founder and CEO Lon Martin praised his son, Mike, who has been president of the company for the past four years, for his company's ongoing success. Martin said: ‘How sweet it is to hand off the baton to someone you love and respect and see them succeed in the business world.’

Consolidated Label won for the fourth consecutive year, for the second time in the ‘medium company’ category, with sales from $15 million to $35 million.

‘Consolidated Label had a very strong year in 2005, keeping the momentum going from 2004,’ said company president Joel Carmany. ‘As the year progressed it picked up speed and we were very pleased with overall results for the year. Our employee base grew significantly and they all worked very hard to make it a great year. We thank our employees and customers very much for their continued support.’

Belmark won for the eight year, this time in the large company category with sales greater than $35 million.

‘On behalf of all our employees, president Karl Schmidt and I are absolutely delighted to learn that we won the 2005 Eugene Singer Award for the large company category,’ said founder and chairman Bruce Bell. ‘Our industry is growing in both size and skill so winning this award among all the participating good companies in the TLMI is both an honor and greatly appreciated.

‘We continue to praise our customers, vendors and employees for making this award possible. It is only through their loyal commitment that we are able to even qualify for this recognition among our business peers. Our thanks go to the TLMI membership and our industry for selecting Belmark as this year’s winner.’

These awards recognize excellence in business management, measured by defined business ratios calculated through the TLMI Management Ratio Study. Competing for the award encourages TLMI members to incorporate new and innovative methods of improving productivity and efficiency in order to increase financial return to the company.

Established more than 72 years ago, TLMI is a member-driven association that provides effective forums to address issues critical to the success of the narrow web, tag, label, packaging and converting industry of North America.

Photo: TLMI chairman Scott Pillsbury (Rose City Label), center, presents Best Managed Company Awards to (from left): Joel Carmany (Consolidated Label), Bruce Bell (Belmark), Julie Chavez (Stixon Label) and Mike Martin (LGInternational)