The Gustave A. Larson Company recently celebrated the 26th anniversary of our supplier evaluation program, Partners in Excellence and Quality (PEAQ). An awards dinner was held at the Blue Mound Country Club in Wauwatosa, WI on July 29, 2015 to honor the five supplier winners for 2014. The PEAQ Program was created out of the desire of Karl G. Larson to find a means to honor the partnership between the Gustave A. Larson Company and its business partners. The companies honored were Advanced Distributor Products, Crystal Distribution Inc., Heatcraft Refrigeration Products, Nu-Calgon and Mitsubishi Electric US Cooling and Heating. All received the 2014 Partners in Excellence and Quality (PEAQ) Award.
The winners are chosen through an evaluation of data collected throughout the year considering various measurements of the quality of partnering in business. Factors considered in the supplier evaluation process include product quality, profitability, marketing, sales support, electronic commerce capabilities, on-time deliveries, lead-time, warranty policy, credit terms, business policies and procedures. It can easily be seen that every department within the Larson Company has input into the evaluation process and selection of our winning suppliers and sales representatives.
The Larson Company held a separate awards dinner on July 28, 2015, at the Blue Mound Country Club to honor the top supplier sales person for 2014 in each of Larson’s five regions. The winner for outstanding sales person in the Great Lakes Region was Eric McClure, Sporlan Valve. Nate Decker, representing Nu-Calgon was the winner in the East Central Region. The winner in the Mountain Region was Jennifer Corey, representing Mitsubishi Electric US Cooling and Heating. Keith Rinderknecht, representing RAC Sales Inc., was the winner in the North Central Region and Roy Heimbrock, representing Endres and Associates, was the winner in the Great Plains Region.
The primary goal of the PEAQ Program is to help us find ways to work more closely with our supplier partners for the mutual benefit of our companies. It has helped us to have better communication with our suppliers on issues, policies and procedures. The program also gives us an opportunity to recognize our supplier partners and the local sales representative in each of our five regions. The feedback we have received from our suppliers has confirmed and validated the value of our program. This was our 26th year for the Partners in Excellence and Quality Program and it remains an important part of our business relationship with our suppliers.