The Eugene Singer Award
Here are the four winners of the Tag and Label Manufacturer Institute’s Eugene Singer Award:
• Fountain Valley, Calif.-based Coast Label Company won in their category for the third time. The small company category is defined by annual sales of less than $6 million.
• Fairfield-based Kopco Graphics won for the mid-range company category, defined by sales of $6 million to $14 million. This is Kopco's second TLMI Eugene Singer Award.
• Aurora, Ill.-based The Label Printers won for the medium company category, defined by sales of $15 million to $35 million. This is The Label Printer’s first Eugene Singer Award.
• Longwood, Fla.-based Consolidated Label won for the large company category defined by sales greater than $35 million. This is Consolidated Label’s eighth Eugene Singer Award.
FAIRFIELD — For the second year in a row, Kopco Graphics is one of the best managed label companies, according to an industry association.
Officials at a recent Tag and Label Manufacturers Institute’s meeting in Palm Springs, Calif., announced Kopco as one of four winners of the Eugene Singer Award for Management Excellence.
“It makes us a very strong competitor in the market place,” Kopco president and CEO Walt Zeek said of the honor.
Kopco manufactures thousands of types of labels for about 1,000 companies, Zeek said. They have two locations with 39 total employees. The majority of employees are at the Fairfield headquarters at 250 Osborne Drive. The other plant is in Sarasota, Fla.
“Every customer is important to us, from the smallest customer up to the largest,” Zeek said.
Customer service representative Allyson Lawary said not every company has that priority. She said one customer had patronized a competitor but was delayed to accommodate a larger order. That customer then called Kopco, she said.
“Even though the top 10 (customers) represent a large portion of our company, even though the small guys may only order every couple months, we still give them the same service,” Lawary said. “We get everyone’s order out on time, no matter what percentage their business represents to us.”
To be eligible for the Singer Award, TLMI officials review a company’s financial statements. “Excellence in business management” is measured by an established set of profitability ratios, according to the association’s Web site. The four winners are selected based on annual sales.
Kopco, which is entering its 21st year, won the award for the second consecutive year. It was in the $6 million to $14 million category.
“Even though that’s the measurement, you have to look behind all that,” Zeek said of the financial records. “It’s basically the people in this building and down in Florida.”
Shortly after Zeek came to Kopco in August 2007, the first of many changes started with the organization — from a streamlined printing process to standardizing various types of work.
“The employees are starting to see the success of their efforts,” Zeek said.
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