Category: Golden Leaf Awards

Best in class

Golden Leaf Award winners accept trophies in Prague
TR Staff Report
Representatives of Alliance One International, Reconex, Eco2, NDC Infrared Engineering and Vrijdag Premium Printing accepted Golden Leaf Awards during the TABEXPO gala dinner on Nov. 16 at the famous Restaurant Francouzska in Prague. Andromeda Forwarding took home the People’s Choice Award due to the sheer number of client recommendations it submitted.
Tobacco Reporter’s publisher, Noel Morris, recalled the history of the Golden Leaf Awards, while George Hendrata, CEO of cigarette paper and packaging manufacturer BMJ, praised the quality of entries received. The Golden Leaf Awards are organized by Tobacco Reporter and exclusively sponsored by BMJ.
Companies received awards in five categories.
Alliance One International’s agronomy team received a Golden Leaf Award in the most impressive public service initiative category for its efforts to promote farmer sustainability and food security in one of its major sourcing areas, Malawi.
Malawi has played a leading role in the world burley market. Alliance One felt that for this to continue it was necessary to address the issues of farmer sustainability and food security.
The Alliance One agronomy team in Malawi was tasked with finding a solution to these challenges, and as a result of a dedicated and professional approach, they have produced the required results.
The team focused on contract growing, modeled on an integrated production system (IPS) that provides for a sustainable and fully compliant crop that also affords a contribution toward food security.
Through IPS, the Alliance One agronomy team was able to improve the quality of the tobacco as well as increasing farmers’ yields. The higher leaf quality enabled the farmers to attract significantly higher prices—up to $0.40 more per kg—for their tobacco.
The agronomy team’s efforts helped efficient farmers managed achieve yields in excess of 1,600 kg per hectare, compared to the average of 700 kg per hectare for noncontracted farmers selling through the auction system.
Reconex, made by HT Agro, was recognized in the most exciting new product introduction category for its unique properties.
Most existing reconstituted tobacco products fall into two categories—reconstituted sheet tobacco, made using mostly stems and produced on a paper machine, and drop caste sheet, which tends to be less expensive and of lower quality.
Reconex, by contrast, is an extruded product, which gives it unique properties, including considerably higher fill value and the flexibility to produce exactly each customer’s requirements.
The process can use any type of waste or scrap tobacco products. These are milled into a fine dust and then a suitable binder, along with some moisture, is added and fed into the extruder. The resulting product can be directly shipped to the customer.
Reconex can be used directly in cigarettes or machine-made cigars. The product is stable and has a long shelf life. It does not easily turn to dust and has good aroma and burn characteristics. It can be added at the end of the primary process as it does not require additional processing. Flavors can be added if required.
In this way, a small primary’s capacity can be effectively enlarged simply by the addition of Reconex at the final process.
Tests show Reconex blends well and homogeneously. It stays in the blend until the final cigarette. Weight and density are similar to cut rag, allowing it to become an integral and permanent part of the cigarette blend.
EcO2 accepted a Golden Leaf Award in the most exciting newcomer to the industry category.
The company was established in 1996 when the Dutch government requested that an alternative method be found to methyl bromide, which was formerly used in the food and tobacco industries as a fumigant to kill stored-product insects.
EcO2 researched the issue until the end of 1999, at which point it was confident it had a method that worked and was ready to be launched as a commercial undertaking.
Its first commercial project came at the beginning of 2000, when it installed a controlled atmosphere (CA) treatment facility at a large international warehousing company in the port of Rotterdam.
Next, it built a complete container fumigation center in the port. The project earned the company a Best Life Environment Project award from the European Commission.
In 2003, EcO2 struck out for Asia and other parts of the world. By January 2011, it had a presence in 18 countries.
After gaining experience with food commodities, consumer goods, furniture, artifacts, packaging and other materials, EcO2 has recently started applying its treatment to tobacco beetles, which are increasingly resistant to the prevailing treatment, phosphine fumigation.
The CA treatment involves storing tobacco in an airtight room and then lowering the oxygen level to 0.5 percent for a certain period of time. In this way, all the stages of the beetle are killed—the adults and the larvae, which are relatively easy to deal with, as well as the eggs and the pupae, which normally present more of a challenge.
EcO2’s approach has generated considerable interest in the tobacco industry—and for a good reason: Tobacco beetles cost the industry an estimated $800 million per year.
NDC Infrared Engineering received a Golden Leaf Award in the most outstanding service to the industry category.
A supplier of on-line near-infrared (NIR) moisture gauges and quality assurance bench-top analyzers, the company realized early on that the tobacco industry’s requirements are unique. As a natural product, tobacco shows huge diversity in color and chemistry. Simple NIR moisture measurements required frequent instrument recalibration, while traditional laboratory moisture analyses by oven testing was/is slow. NDC also knew QA labs would benefit from rapid measurement technology.
The company embarked on two major projects to address these issues—Infralab and the TM Series.
Infralab provides a secondary method to relieve labs of the quality testing burden. It requires only occasional validation against the primary method. Results can be obtained in seconds rather than hours. NDC launched its first Infralab analyzer, Infralab 5000, in the late 1980s. Over the years, NDC has worked to further improve simplicity of operation, ease of data capture and tolerance to conditions in various operating environments. Today the product is in its fifth generation, the Infralab e-Series, which is extremely tolerant to blend variations, reducing calibration maintenance requirements.
NDC’s tobacco-specific on-line moisture gauge, the TM series, is capable of measuring tobaccos from all over the world. It uses a single calibration slope and only requires adjustment on-line by trimming the calibration to the local reference method. For the customer, this means huge savings in time and money. The TM series is currently in its eighth generation. The TM710e is completely Ethernet-based, which opens up a realm of new possibilities, including remote diagnostics.
Regarding the future, NDC is looking beyond moisture. The company already offers nicotine and sugar analyzers and is developing on-line moisture analyzers that are not affected by blend top dressings and flavorings.
The BMJ most committed to quality award went to Vrijdag Premium Printing, which entered two of its products to illustrate its printing skills and technologies.
For the 2011 edition of the annual ProCigar Festival in the Dominican Republic, Vrijdag designed a vertical box in which the upright cigars are visible in a “staircase” arrangement. After the top lid is removed, the box unfolds to reveal both the cigars and the included cutter and lighter.
In producing the box, Vrijdag used advanced printing technologies, such as its gold bronze process and blind embossing. To prevent fingerprints on the box, Vrijdag finished the labels with a laminate. Each box has a high-security foil, a security cut and an individual number.
In addition to the ProCigar Festival Box, Vrijdag entered its I-Box into the Golden Leaf Awards competition. The I-Box showcases not only Vrijdag’s printing and finishing prowess, but also demonstrates what can be achieved beyond the traditional four-color printing process. With two magnetically shutting lids, the box’s contents represent Vrijdag’s four main markets—chocolates, cosmetics, spirits and, of course, tobacco. The interior contains an informational leaflet produced with the various techniques at Vrijdag’s disposal.
Andromeda Forwarding & Logistics once again took home the People’s Choice award. As evidence of the esteem in which it is held by its customers, the company submitted a large number of client recommendations with its entry.
Andromeda Forwarding & Logistics was established in 1998 by Willem Marsé and Bart Brouwerens, former members of Kersten Hunik ABX Group and A.J. Shipping Holmar. Marsé and Brouwerens were determined to offer integrated solutions customized to customers individual requirements; they wanted to offer more than just a logistics service.
Today, Andromeda is one of the most qualified and experienced providers of integrated supply chain solutions, combining air freight and ocean freight operations on a global basis.
Through its network of offices and agents in more than 100 countries, it strives to exceed customers’ needs by offering a range of logistics supply chain logistics solutions with quality, transparency, experience and high level of skills.
The Golden Leaf Awards were created in 2006 to draw attention to outstanding achievements in an industry that had become accustomed more to criticism than to recognition. Previous Golden Leaf Award ceremonies were held in Bali, Rio de Janeiro, Paris, Bangkok and Bangalore.
The next event will be held in Antwerp, Belgium, during the 2012 Global Tobacco Networking Forum.
December 1, 2011
And the winners are…
Tobacco Reporter and BMJ present their annual Golden Leaf Awards.
TR Staff Report
Representatives of Universal Leaf Tobacco Co., Iggesund Paperboard, Amcor Rentsch, Manifattura Italiana Tabacco, Godioli E Bellanti and the EDAPS Consortium collected their 2010 Golden Leaf Award trophies during a festive ceremony in the ballroom of the Royal Gardenia Hotel in Bangalore, India. The event was one of many highlights of the 2010 Global Tobacco Networking Forum, which took place Oct. 4-9.
George Hendrata, CEO of the Golden Leaf Awards’ exclusive sponsor, Indonesian paper manufacturer BMJ, congratulated the recipients on their achievements in areas such as product quality, customer service and corporate social responsibility.
Tobacco Reporter representatives Noel Morris and Elise Rasmussen then called the individual winners on stage and presented them with their trophies. The event was enlivened by spirited Indian dancers, who moved their bodies to the beats of traditional Indian music and more modern tunes such as “Jai Ho” from the Oscar-winning movie Slumdog Millionaire.
This was the fifth edition of the awards program, which was created in 2006 by BMJ and Tobacco Reporter to recognize tobacco companies and their suppliers at a time when recognition for those working in tobacco is in short supply.
The organizers honor companies and individuals in five categories—most impressive service initiative, most promising new product introduction, most exciting newcomer to the industry and most outstanding service to the industry, as well as most committed to quality, an award sponsored by BMJ.
The previous ceremonies were held in Bali (2006), Paris (2007), Rio de Janeiro (2008) and Bangkok (2009). The 2011 Golden Leaf Awards will be presented in Prague during the TABEXPO trade exhibition and Congress.
Please look for entry forms on Tobacco Reporter’s website and in its print edition as of January 2011.
Most impressive public service initiative
Universal Leaf Africa received a Golden Leaf Award in the most impressive public service initiative category for its community-support programs in Mozambique. The company’s social responsibility initiatives comprise a number of areas based upon the needs of each region, such as health, environmental conservation and education.
Mozambique is an important leaf tobacco sourcing area for Universal Leaf. The company has built, repaired, supplied and furnished schools to provide access to elementary and secondary education. Within the last year alone, Universal has built four new schools, along with two teachers’ houses, in Mozambique. Because villages in rural Mozambique tend to be isolated, the provision of teachers’ houses is as fundamental as the construction of the school itself. Good living conditions attract qualified teachers and encourage them to stay.
Two additional schools have been refurbished, creating a good learning environment for about 3,200 students.
In addition, Universal has provided schools with basic needs, such as potable water and proper bathrooms. This eliminates the need to travel long distances to water sources and protects students from exposure to harmful waterborne bacteria, which in turn improves school attendance.

Most exciting newcomer
Manifattura Italiana Tabacco received a Golden Leaf Award in the most exciting newcomer category. Remarkably, while being the “new kid on the block,” the company claims to be the oldest tobacco factory in Europe.
Founded in 1769, Manifattura Italiana Tabacco was previously owned and operated by the Italian tobacco monopoly.
Today, the company has new owners—a group of Italian investors. The company’s mission is to produce high-quality, tailor-made Italian cigarettes. Its strengths are flexibility, “quality without compromise,” substance and style.
Based in Chiaravalle in Italy’s central region of Marche, Manifattura Italiana Tabacco owns three Italian brands—Futura, 821 and Linda. Its flagship brand, Futura, has recently undergone a redesign, and the company is in the process of developing new brands with international appeal.
The company is well-equipped for this task. In addition to a modern primary department with a capacity of 12 million kg per year, it operates a highly automated secondary department with an annual capacity of more than 5 billion cigarettes.
Going forward, Manifattura Italiana Tabacco’s goals are to strengthen its brands domestically and internationally.
“We are proud and excited about this unexpected award—especially because it comes from such a prestigious organization,” says Luca Cecconi, sales manager of Manifattura Italiana Tabacco.
“Manifattura Italiana Tabacco is the oldest cigarette factory in Europe and the biggest independent in Italy. We want to set a new benchmark for made-in-Italy premium cigarettes.
“Tailor-made products, superior quality standards and creativity lead our day-by-day jobs.”

Most outstanding service to the industry
Godioli E Bellanti received a Golden Leaf Award in the most outstanding service to the industry category. Based in Citta di Castello, Italy, the company has been designing, manufacturing and supplying tobacco machinery to customers worldwide since 1923.
Proud to serve the tobacco industry with its tailor-made processing lines and equipment, Godioli E Bellanti’s sales and service are characterized by reliability, quality and competitive pricing. Thanks to these qualities, the company is able to retain existing customers and attract new ones.
To respond to changing customer requirements quickly, Godioli E Bellanti has a flexible structure that allows it to combine the best of its in-house resources with specialized outsourcing.
The company continues to invest in its people, recruiting qualified engineers and technicians to strengthen its lead. Godioli E Bellanti operates a professional international sales network with agents in all countries where a permanent presence is required.
Godioli E Bellanti is also a good corporate citizen. Among other initiatives, it maintains strong relationships with local universities and supports local cultural and sporting events.
CEO and sales director Lorenzo Curina was ecstatic by the news of the award.
Because he was traveling on business at the time of the ceremony, Curina received news through a text message to his telephone. “We were so excited,” he says. “It has been really emotional, calling shareholders, exchanging SMS [messages] with sincere and close friends.”
Godioli E Bellanti immediately added the Golden Leaf Awards logo to its website. “We wanted the world to know that even a company like Godioli E Bellanti—which is not big like the multinationals, but works silently with continuity, commitment quality and professionalism—is appreciated.”
According to Curina, the people that count noticed. “We felt ourselves repaid,” he says. “Hopes and dreams came true.”
BMJ most committed to quality award
The EDAPS Consortium received a Golden Leaf Award in the BMJ most committed to quality category.
The company said it was proud to have won the most prestigious Golden Leaf Award, and that it was ready to prove the quality of its products and solutions on new international markets.
To secure collection of excise duties on tobacco products and protect against counterfeiting, EDAPS has developed a comprehensive solution that uses forgery-proof tax and control stamps with holographic security elements (HSE), combined with a track-and-trace information system.
In the production of the HSEs, EDAPS’ member company, Specialized Enterprise “Holography”, uses state-of-the-art technologies, including electronic lithography and advanced demetallization technology. EDAPS solutions have enabled government agencies to more than double excise tax collections from cigarettes and tobacco products. EDAPS can help the tobacco industry restore revenues being lost through illicit trade.
The quality of the products and the experience of EDAPS on highly secure ID documents and IT systems have been recognized by organizations such as the ICAO, OSCE and Interpol as some of the best in the world. The EDAPS-produced De Beers Diamond Passport provides for the first time a forgery-proof certification of De Beers diamonds and jewelry items.
EDAPS now brings all this experience and knowledge to the world of tobacco products protection.
EDAPS says the Golden Leaf Award will encourage it to continue raising the bar for excellence in quality and security of its products and solutions for the tobacco industry.
Most promising new product
Iggesund Paperboard and packaging converter Amcor-Rentsch won a Golden Leaf Award in the most promising new product category. Iggesund had asked Amcor to design a pack that would challenge its paperboard to the maximum.
Not one to shy away from a challenge, Amcor-Rentsch came up with a complex pack featuring both round corners and unusual curves. Dubbed the “diamond pack,” Amcor-Rentsch’s experimental pack features a whopping 112 crease lines (compared with perhaps 20 for a conventional round-corner pack).
The higher the number of creases, the greater the stress placed on the paperboard. Iggesund’s Invercote paperboard passed the test comfortably.
The diamond pack offers cigarette manufacturers another opportunity to set their products apart in an increasingly crowded marketplace. As regulators restrict advertising and health warnings occupy ever-larger areas of the pack’s real estate, the shape and “feel” of packaging will play an even greater role in establishing brand identity.
“Receiving the Golden Leaf Award was a very pleasant surprise to us,” says Carlo Einarsson, marketing communications director of Iggesund Paperboard. “The award was also a great endorsement of the fact that designer freedom really is important and counts. The Diamond Pack, being round, square and diamond shaped in one, is a great testimonial of an exciting and unconventional packing solution. It looks pretty nice and apparently we are not the only ones who think so!”
Invercote was also used for Tobacco Reporter’s cover this month.
December 1, 2010
And the winners are…

Announcing the 2009 Golden Leaf Awards winners
TR Staff Report
Representatives of Sopariwala Exports, Filligent Ltd., U.S. Flue-Cured Tobacco Growers Inc. and Andromeda Forwarding received their Golden Leaf Awards trophies during a festive ceremony in the Globe restaurant on the 23rd floor of the Centara Grand Hotel in Bangkok.
Against the breathtaking backdrop of Bangkok’s nighttime skyline, George Hendrata, CEO of Indonesian cigarette paper manufacturer BMJ, congratulated the winners with their achievements in areas such as product quality, customer service and corporate social responsibility. BMJ is the exclusive sponsor of the Golden Leaf Awards.
The winners expressed their appreciation and told the audience about the efforts that contributed to their recognition.
This was the fourth edition of the awards program, which was created in 2006 by BMJ and Tobacco Reporter to recognize tobacco companies and their suppliers for outstanding achievements in five categories—most impressive public service initiative, most promising new product introduction, most exciting newcomer to the industry, most outstanding service to the industry and the BMJ most committed to quality award. In addition to their trophies, winners of the Golden Leaf Awards received a $1,000 donation to a charity of their choice.
The first three ceremonies were held in Bali (2006), Paris (2007) and Rio de Janeiro (2008). The next event will take place in Bangalore, India, in fall 2010. Please look for entry forms on Tobacco Reporter’s Web site and in its print edition.
Most impressive public service initiative
Sopariwala Exports received a Golden Leaf Award in the most impressive service initiative category. As one of India’s largest exporters of tobacco and tobacco products, Mumbai-based Sopariwala believes it should give back to the society from which it gained its knowledge and wealth so that others benefit as well.
The company runs several charitable trusts—the South Bombay Public Charitable Trust and Aishabai & Haji Abdul Latif Charitable Trust. Sopariwala Exports has taken a particular interest in education because it believes education is the surest route for people to overcome the devastating effects of poverty. The challenge is particularly pressing in India, where literacy remains below the threshold level of 75 percent.
The company has adopted more than 16 municipal schools, with a total student capacity of 23,000. Among other initiatives, Sopariwala has helped its schools attract better-qualified teachers and provided vocational courses. Since starting its program in 1998, the passing percentage of board-examinations has increased threefold. At one of the schools, the passing percentage has even increased to 100 percent—from a paltry 34 percent before.
Sopariwala Exports has also adopted a “children’s village” at Lonavla, based on the concept of the international SOS Village Movement. The village provides a home for orphans and destitute children, offering all basic amenities and opportunities to help them develop their full potential.
In addition to its education initiatives, Sopariwala Exports provides free medical aid to the poor and the needy, scholarships for higher studies on merit and coaching classes for public service office entrance examinations.
Currently, the company is in talks with various technical institutes for a partnership that would allow children with an inclination toward technical education to enroll.
Most promising new product introduction
Filligent Ltd. received a Golden Leaf Award in the most promising new product introduction category. A Hong Kong biotech company, Filligent launched a new cigarette filter in the third quarter of 2009 that it says reduces biological activity of mainstream cigarette smoke by 30 percent compared with a leading “lights” cigarette as measured by the Ames assay using TA-100.
In addition, the new filter, called Gen4B Microblue, reduces several key mainstream smoke constituents when compared to the leading light cigarette. Crucially, this is done without effecting a change in the cigarette smoke taste.
The Gen4B Microblue has a dual-filter segment construction containing special granules in the tobacco side filter segment. The granules produced by Filligent USA are the same size as carbon granules normally used in cigarette filters and can be mass-produced on standard dual-plug filter-making equipment.
The Gen4B granules may be blended with standard activated carbon granules to accomplish mainstream gas phase constituent reduction. The new filter can be produced by Filligent USA, or Filligent can supply the granules to filter or cigarette manufacturers for production in their own operations.
Most exciting newcomer to the industry
Shisha shop Arabian Nights received a Golden Leaf Award in the most exciting newcomer to the industry category. Arabian Nights is a first-of-its-kind shisha shop featuring an elite showroom of shisha and its accessories. The store provides a wide array of shishas sourced from around the world.
Based in Mumbai, India, the shop now has 12 exclusive branded retail chain outlets in India. It has established showrooms in the country’s major metropolises and is planning to move into second- and third-tier cities in India. It also has plans to establish itself internationally.
The Arabian Nights shisha shop is an initiative of Sopariwala Exports.
Most outstanding service to the industry
U.S. Flue-cured Tobacco Growers Inc. won a Golden Leaf Award in the Most outstanding service to the industry category. With the drastic changes in the U.S. tobacco industry in 2009, including a considerable tax increase, U.S. Flue-cured Tobacco Growers decided it had to quickly change the way it ran its business—so it could stay in business.
In response to the challenges, the company developed a strategic program to save money while improving customer service. Among other changes, the company eliminated its sales force and set up “master distributors” to sell its products.
While the company had to overcome some skepticism about its plans at first, employees, customers and business partners today appear very pleased with the changes. The best evidence of this is the sales figures of Flue-cured Tobacco Growers’ flagship brands, which the company says have grown “tremendously” since implementing the program.
BMJ Most committed to quality award
Bimo Italia SpA won the BMJ most committed to quality award. Bimo entered the international cigarette wrapping market in 2002 as a small regional producer of shrinkable BOPP film. The gradual installation of faster wrapping machines and greater expectations for wrinkle-free pack appearance challenged traditional BOPP manufacturing know-how.
With a series of dedicated certifications and in-house learning procedures, Bimo succeeded in establishing itself as a respected BOPP producer for the cigarette industry, increasing volumes five-fold and reducing proportionately claims and problems for its customers through product quality and consistency.
The company has certifications from ISO (9001 and 14001), the British Retail Council and Institute of Packaging and the American Institute of Bakers, among others.
In 2008, British American Tobacco awarded Bimo its coveted Business Enabler Survey Tool (Best) certification. The Best certification uses 108 criteria for measuring suppliers’ performance, including employee rights and training, process control, quality production, financial controls and the supplier’s ability to trace its own raw material sources.
People’s choice award
For the third year in a row, Andromeda Forwarding took home the People’s Choice Award. As happened during previous editions of the Golden Leaf Awards, the judges were overwhelmed by a large number of customer nominations for Andromeda Forwarding—a recognition in its own right. The repeated wins by Andromeda prompted one judge to suggest renaming the trophy the “Bart Award,” after Andromeda’s CEO Bart Brouwerens.
December 1, 2009
And the winners are
The winners of the 2008 Golden Leaf Awards, along with Tobacco Reporter’s then-publisher, Noel Morris, in Rio de Janeiro
Golden Leaf Awards winners accept trophies in festive atmosphere
Representatives of Universal Leaf Tobacco, Tobaccotoday, U.S. Flue-Cured Tobacco Growers and Andromeda Forwarding received their Golden Leaf Awards trophies at a festive ceremony held during Tobacco Reporter’s first Global Tobacco Networking Forum at the Intercontinental Hotel in Rio de Janeiro.
George Hendrata, CEO of the Golden Leaf Awards exclusive sponsor, BMJ, accepted the trophy on behalf of ITC Printing and Packaging, which had won the prestigious BMJ “most committed to quality” award but was unable to send representatives to the forum.
The other winners were recognized in the categories “most promising new product introduction” (Flue-Cured Tobacco Growers); “most impressive service initiative” (Universal Leaf); “most outstanding service to the industry” (Universal Leaf again); and “most exciting newcomer to the industry” (tobaccotoday.info).
For the second year in a row, Andromeda Forwarding took home the “people’s choice” award. The company had been nominated by a whopping 44 business partners—12 more than in the run up to the 2007 Golden Leaf Awards. In addition to their trophies, winners of the Golden Leaf Awards received a $1,000 donation to a charity of their choice.
Following the awards ceremony, festively (and scantily) dressed Brazilian dancers took over the stage and encouraged the crowd to join in. Many participants eagerly did so, with some displaying remarkable levels of stamina on the dance floor. As the evening wound down, many agreed it was an event worth repeating. They can look forward to the next Golden Leaf Award ceremony, which will be held during the TABINFO exhibition and congress in Bangkok, Thailand, Nov. 11-13, 2009.
December 1, 2008
And the winners are …
Announcing the 2007 winners of the BMJ-sponsored Golden Leaf Awards
TR Staff Report
Tobacco Reporter is proud to announce the winners of the second Global Leaf Awards competition. The winners are ILTD, the Uncommitted Tobacco Auction, GCH, Colin Mear Engineering and Andromeda Forwarding. Sponsored exclusively by Indonesian paper manufacturer BMJ, the Golden Leaf Awards were created to recognize professional excellence and dedication in the tobacco industry.
We’ve granted awards in five traditional categories—most impressive public service initiative, most promising new product introduction, most exciting newcomer to the industry, most outstanding service to the industry and the BMJ Most Committed to Quality Award. For the first time, we also handed out a people’s choice award.
The judge panel included Rick Lewis, whose company, Winter, Bell, won the BMJ Most Committed to Quality Award in 2006.
The awards were presented on Nov. 27 during TABEXPO 2007 in Paris, in Les Cariatides restaurant. In addition to a commemorative trophy, the winners received $1,000 for donation to a charity of their choice.
This is the second year of the contest. The first ceremony took place last year in Bali Indonesia. The next Golden Leaf Awards will be presented during TABINFO Sâo Paulo in October 2008. Entries can be submitted starting in March 2008.
Following is a series of short descriptions of the companies and their winning entries.
ILTD
ITC’s Leaf Tobacco Division (ILTD) won two Golden Leaf Awards in this year’s contest, a first in the short history of the competition. The Indian company was recognized in the “Most impressive service initiative” and “Most committed to quality” categories.
The judges were particularly impressed by ILTD’s international quality rating system (IQRS). IQRS is a business excellence model designed to steer organizations to grow their maturity levels in total quality management. It has 10 levels, with No. 3 being equivalent to ISO 9000. ILTD has achieved level 7.
IQRS covers all aspects of business, including management controls, primary processes, and feed-forward and feedback loops. Management controls comprise areas such as leadership and strategy, employee involvement and communication and management systems and documentations. Primary processes covers marketing and sales, design and development, purchasing and contracting, etc., while feed-forward and feedback loops include monitoring and measurement, quality audits, and stakeholder satisfaction and relationship management.
The system helps ILTD provide its customers with a common approach to quality and related processes. It also enables company managers to find answers to questions through self-assessment and initiation of actions.
In the ultimate analyses, the system translates into operational excellence, people alignment and cost savings across the value chain, leading to improved quality of ILTD’s products and services.
ILTD’s community projects in Chirala, Andhra Pradesh, were recognized as the most impressive public service. Motivated by its “commitment beyond the market,” ILTD has always felt a larger societal purpose on top of its commercial objectives. Even as the company attains new milestones in wealth creation, it remains eager to enlarge its contribution to Indian society.
As a big employer in Chirala, ILTD takes a keen interest in the well-being of its community. Many of its initiatives have targeted women and children, aiming to improve the community’s overall quality of life. This has had powerful incremental benefits contributing to better nutrition, health and education. Helping to build family incomes and assets, women are emerging as a positive force for social change and community enterprise.
ILTD’s initiatives cover 20 villages, with more than 100 micro-credit groups, 1,000 active members and more than 200 female entrepreneurs.
In addition to the Chirala initiative, ILTD is helping India’s rural communities by campaigning against child labor. The company is also investing in water-conservation and harvesting projects.
UTA
The Uncommitted Tobacco Auction (UTA) won a Golden Leaf Award in the “Most exciting newcomer” category. Like death and taxes, uncommitted tobacco stocks are hard to avoid. Contracts, political considerations and the whims of nature mean leaf traders sometimes end up with more tobacco than confirmed orders. While uncommitted stocks are nothing new, they are increasingly hard to justify. Operating on thin profit margins, leaf merchants are under pressure to control cost. What’s more, with overall business fundamentals deteriorating, tobacco companies no longer enjoy the easy access of credit they once had.
UTA provides tobacco companies with an additional avenue to sell their stocks. By connecting companies who weren’t trading previously, UTA hopes to fill a gap in the system. The company stresses that it’s not out to change the existing leaf trading system but merely to add to it. The first UTA auction took place in late 2006 at the warehouses of Tabaknatie in Antwerp, Belgium. During its most recent auction, in September, customers viewed more than 20 million kg of tobacco from 17 origins. UTA’s mission is to be accepted as a serious cost-effective facilitator and provide a neutral platform to the trade.
GCH
GCH’s fully automated burley harvester won a Golden Leaf Award in the “Most promising new product introduction” category. The machine was developed to eliminate some of the grueling manual tasks that have been a way of life for more than two centuries. The burley harvester can harvest between four and five acres per day and reduces labor requirements by approximately 80 percent—a welcome development in a time when many farmers are facing labor shortages.
The machine cuts, conveys and inverts the leaves, which are then hung down along the stalk to prevent breakage. Because the only mechanical contact occurs near the base of the stalk, the only leaves at risk of detachment are the least valuable ones.
The harvester dispenses and fills portable curing frames, which are offloaded in the field and then moved to a nearby area by tractor. After approximately one week of wilting, the portable frames are covered by waterproof material. The tobacco remains in the covered frames until curing is complete.
In addition to labor savings, the machine eliminates the need for storage and curing barns.
Colin Mear Engineering
Colin Mear Engineering finished first in the “Most outstanding service to the industry” category. In today’s highly regulated tobacco market, creative packaging presents an opportunity to support marketing efforts and boost sales. Changing cigarette pack styles at regular intervals keeps brands relevant and in the forefront of the consumer’s mind but also carries risk. Existing packaging machinery is not always sufficiently flexible to accommodate frequent style changes, creating additional cost and lead times.
CME has structured its business to help its customers develop special pack styles. Using a combination of creative approaches and proven technologies, the company is not tied to one particular solution but has the ability to use whatever is best to meet the customer’s needs. Among other projects, the company’s engineering efforts enabled British American Tobacco to produce its famous wallet pack.
CME is continuously looking for ways to work through its processes more efficiently. By thoroughly analyzing a proposed solution upfront, it can bring ideas and answers into the process early, thereby preventing delays later.
CME believes its technical knowledge, flexible manufacturing capability and willingness to work intimately with customers put it into a league of its own and qualify as “outstanding service.”
Andromeda Forwarding
Competing for the “Most outstanding service” award, Andromeda Forwarding of Rotterdam, Netherlands, was nominated by so many customers (32) that we decided to create a new category—the people’s choice award. Andromeda won handsomely in that category.
With international trade booming, shipping has become a scarce “commodity,” and Andromeda has clearly created a following among its clients. To service its customers in the tobacco industry even better, the company has recently created a specialized tobacco forwarding department, which sets itself apart through its flexibility and attention to detail. While many shipping companies and air freight companies have grown to the point that they are no longer in a position to provide specialized service when necessary, Andromeda retains its personal touch.
When customers contact Andromeda, they will be connected to their dedicated service representative, who will arrange everything. Andromeda provides a one-stop shop for door-to-door delivery, including warehousing, fumigation, customs formalities and other services, allowing its customers to focus on their core business: tobacco.
Andromeda recently moved to a new building in Rotterdam, close to every major shipping company. The move enables the company to obtain solutions quickly and offer even better service.
Rick Lewis, whose company, Winter, Bell won last year’s BMJ most committed to quality award, was one of the judges this year. Commitment to quality starts and ends with people, according to Winter, Bell, which is based in North Carolina, USA. And it’s not a mindset that you can turn on and off; Winter, Bell encourages its employees to think quality day and night. “We don’t ship product out of the door unless we are positive it is what customers ordered in all respects,” a company representative said during last year’s awards ceremonies.
December 3, 2007
And the winners are…
Winners of the first Golden Leaf Awards competition.
TR Staff Report
Tobacco Reporter is pleased to announce the winners of the first Golden Leaf Awards competition. Sponsored exclusively by Indonesian paper manufacturer BMJ, the Golden Leaf Awards were created to recognize professional excellence and dedication in the tobacco industry.
We’ve granted awards in five categories—most impressive public service initiative; most promising new product introduction; most exciting newcomer to the industry; most outstanding service to the industry; and the BMJ most committed to quality award.
Here are the winners:
- Lakson Tobacco Co. won in the category “Most impressive public service initiative” for its social and medical services to people in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province, particularly after the region was hit by a devastating earthquake in 2005.
- TobaccoPeople was recognized as the industry’s “Most exiting newcomer.” Applying cutting-edge information technology to a traditional industry, the group has created a professional networking Web site that has grown exponentially since its launch in September 2005.
- Titan Adhesives received the “Most promising product introduction” award for its 9067 Easy Pop hot-melt adhesive. Titan designed an adhesive specifically for sealing/tacking a cigarette carton’s long flap, an application that is often overlooked by other manufacturers because of the small volumes involved.
- Celanese Acetate accepted the “Most outstanding service to the industry” award for its support to the industry worldwide, and specifically to that in Indonesia, where Celanese has supported the clove cigarette industry since the introduction of the first machine-made kreteks.
- Winter, Bell won in the “BMJ most committed to quality” category for its comprehensive program to guarantee quality. A supplier of unprinted innerframe, Winter, Bell has in place a system that not only prevents errors from occurring but also helps the company quickly correct any defects before product is shipped to the customer.
Tobacco Reporter and BMJ wish to congratulate all winners on their considerable achievements. The winners will receive a commemorative trophy during a special banquet in Bali, Indonesia, on Nov. 8, 2006.
This is the first year of the contest. The next Golden Leaf Awards banquet will take place in Paris during the TABEXPO exhibition in November 2007. Entries can be submitted starting in March 2007. The categories will be the same as this year’s. We encourage everybody to enter and make the 2007 awards even more successful than the 2006 edition.
November 5, 2006