Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For more information, contact:
Karen Moore or Nanette Schimpf, PR counsel
Florida Sterling Council
(850) 224-0174 or (850) 528-2639

GOVERNOR BUSH AND LT. GOVERNOR JENNINGS ANNOUNCE 2006 STERLING
QUALITY ACHIEVEMENT RECIPIENTS

~Florida Sterling Council to Honor Three Organizations~

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (May 24, 2006) - Governor Jeb Bush, Lt. Governor Toni Jennings, and the Florida Sterling Council announced today three organizations will be recognized for their role model processes and receive the 2006 Sterling Quality Achievement Award. Buffalo Rock Company (Pensacola & Panama City divisions), the Hillsborough County Tax Collector's Office, and the Naval Surface Warfare Center (Panama City) will be honored at the Governor's Sterling Award Banquet at the JW Marriott Orlando Grande Lakes on June 2.

"The Sterling Quality Achievement recognizes mature practices that enable an organization to achieve superior results," said Governor Bush. "These three organizations embody the excellence associations throughout our great state demonstrate."

The Sterling Quality Achievement recognition is given to organizations for approaches, methods, strategies, or processes that represent role model practices other organizations could learn from. Each winner underwent a series of in-depth assessments and evaluations by Sterling examiners that analyzed productivity and organizational performance.

Buffalo Rock Company, Pensacola & Panama City
The Buffalo Rock company spans over 100 years and five generations of the Lee family. Buffalo Rock Ginger Ale was the sole product of the company until 1951 when it purchased the rights to distribute Pepsi-Cola brands. Then in 1961, the company obtained the rights to Dr. Pepper, and now also distributes Sierra Mist. This made Buffalo Rock the first production plant in the country to bottle three major brands under one roof. Buffalo Rock is now the nation's largest, privately held, single family owned, Pepsi bottler; with approximately 2500 Employee-Partners and annual sales of $.5 billion. Buffalo Rock is receiving the SQA for its comprehensive disaster preparedness plan that can be initiated as much as five days prior to the arrival of a hurricane to a coverage area. Key steps include:
· Identification of sources for additional product (i.e., water)
· Preparation for Employees-Partners
· Taking care of the retailer customers (products needed before and after the storm)
· Finalize communication procedures when the storm hits

The effectiveness of this planning was demonstrated after Hurricane Ivan where Buffalo Rock was able to get product to the areas affected a full week in front of the competition resulting in gained distribution.

Hillsborough County Tax Collector's Office
As an elected Constitutional Officer, the Hillsborough County Tax Collector (HCTC) is the public trustee for the collection and distribution of taxes, license fees and related information. The Florida Constitution establishes county Tax Collectors as independent government agencies. HCTC Office provides its Public, Business and Government Customers with the quickest and most accurate service as recognized in the local media by comparison to other government service agencies. The Tax Collector has eight locations in the county and the elected official's motto is "Not government as usual." The Hillsborough County Tax Collector's Office is being recognized for Visionary Leadership. A key indicator of effective leadership is that customer satisfaction ratings of good and excellent have been above 97.6 percent from October 2001 to March 2006. Employees believe in the sincere desire of the elected official to strive for performance excellence and to be recognized as the exemplary county agency of its kind.

Naval Surface Warfare Center, Panama City
The Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City (NSWC PC) is a working capital fund (WCF) activity within the U.S. Navy. The WCF is unique in that it follows a classic profit loss business model within the Department of Defense. In that context, NSWC PC exists to perform research, development, acquisition, test and evaluation, in-service engineering, and limited manufacturing associated with producing warfighting products applicable to warfare in coastal regions. The NSWC PC exists to develop and support systems, technologies, concepts, and tactics that enable naval forces to conduct their missions safely and effectively in the littoral areas of the world. NSWC is being recognized for its Human Capital Strategy, which ensures that the organization will have the right workforce with the right skills at the right time to complete assigned work through Workforce Planning, Workforce Shaping, Workforce Management, and Workforce Development. The environment in which the organization exists is one in which it is under high pressure to reduce the workforce, yet retain the technical profile and expertise to deliver ever more rapid innovation in products and services. The Human Capital Strategy is based upon projected workloads derived from the Strategic Plan of its parent organization, an Environmental Scan, and a Probable Outcome Diagram.

Established in 1992, the Florida Sterling Council is a public/private not-for-profit organization supported by the Executive Office of the Governor. Sterling's Annual Conference is exclusively designed to teach participants how to achieve performance excellence and increase productivity. More than 1,000 executives and professionals gather at this event for a one-stop source for education, information, and inspiration. The Conference concludes with the recognition of best practices, the Team Showcase Champion, and presentation of the Governor's Sterling Awards. For more information on the Florida Sterling Council, contact Dione Geiger at (850) 922-5316.

For other information visit the website at www.floridasterling.com.