Schaumburg, IL – INX International Ink Co.’s longstanding leadership in the can industry recently achieved a pinnacle moment. Rexam, a leading global beverage can maker, recognized INX as its Supplier of the Year for 2013 for achieving the highest total score across four categories: Quality, Cost, Support and Innovation.

It is the third time since 2007 where the INX family was recognized by the Rexam Supplier Excellence Award program, but the first time it has earned the North American Supplier of the Year honors. In 2009, INX UK was the recipient of the Rexam BCE award for their 2008 Innovation Excellence. One year earlier, INX UK was presented the BCE Supplier of the Year award.

“This North American award means a great deal to everyone involved as we have worked and serviced many of the companies that make up today’s Rexam group for almost 50 years,” remarked Rick Clendenning, INX International Ink Co. President & CEO. “With everything we do to service all their facilities every day, this is quite an accomplishment and honor. I’m very proud of our people and thank them for their dedication to win this prestigious award.”

The across-the-board success leading to the Supplier of the Year award began with high scores achieved in Quality. In 2013, Rexam indicated there were no reports of defective material received and no claims made for issues either related to ink supplied by INX or services provided by INX’s in-plant staff. In the Cost category, INX worked with Rexam’s plants to optimize ink formulations to meet their customers’ requirements while maintaining plant efficiencies.

“INX is an important strategic partner to Rexam and it is a pleasure to work with the entire INX team,” said Gene Pawula, Rexam VP of Supply Chain and Information Management. “INX was awarded Supplier of the Year because of the outstanding quality and support they have provided Rexam over the past year, as well as being instrumental in our efforts to deliver innovative, eye-catching can graphics that really help our customers’ packaging stand out on store shelves.”

Pawula indicated INX in-plants manage the ink inventory at each Rexam facility and always react quickly to meet constantly changing customer demands and production schedules. Rexam has 55 can making plants total in more than 20 countries that employ around 8,000 people. Each Rexam plant completes a “Voice-of-the-Customer” survey each quarter to rate each major supplier across a range of categories. INX received an exceptionally high average score of 9.4 on a 10 scale, the highest among all suppliers of direct materials in 2013.

Regarding Innovation, Pawula said INX does an outstanding job supporting Rexam’s specialty products by providing “tactile”, fluorescent, and retort inks, and working closely with Rexam’s graphics department to create and proof all new labels for all the plants.

“The individuals who really deserve this award are the people that service and supply each and every facility in North America daily. That is everyone in our Metal Division, a great team made up of exceptional individuals,” commented Clendenning. “Management, manufacturing, logistics, R&D, quality and technical service all did their part, but the service group that deserves special recognition is our In-plant staff. They work very hard every day right inside our Rexam facilities and are on call 24/7.”

“We are very proud of this award, and we see this as validation for our employees at every level of the organization that support Rexam on a daily basis. Our people are dedicated to our customers and to this marketplace,” added Dave Waller, INX VP Sales - Rigid Packaging.

In reminding all how important the can industry is to INX, Clendenning expressed his appreciation to Rexam for developing their Supplier Excellence Award program and for keeping INX at the top of their game.

“This award reinforces and shows we remain fully committed to this industry and our customers that are part of it.  We are always trying to improve and to keep the leadership role that our people have earned over many years.  I deeply appreciate Rexam for recognizing our accomplishments in 2013.”