Rheem Manufacturing's Water Heating Division honored 11 suppliers at its Annual Supplier conference in May. The awards were presented by the Supplier Development department, which was organized in 2002 to forge more effective working relationships between Rheem Water Heating and its key partners.

Supplier-Partner of the Year awards were presented to the top performing supplier in each of six different commodity groupings. Here is a list of the winners: Diamond Manufacturing Co. - Manufactured components; Mercury Plastics - Plastic/Rubber components; Channel Products - Electrical- Mechanical components; CM Associates - Printed/Packaging, Insulation components; Prime Steel Corp. - Raw Materials; Store Room Fasteners - Distribution.

The awards were based upon supplier performance in five categories: technology, delivered product quality, service and support, delivery and cost. Other factors included the average division rating for the calendar year, the number of plants serviced and the dollar volume of purchases.

In addition, six companies were cited by The Supplier Development department for achieving “zero defects” in the products and services they supplied to Rheem Water Heating during 2005: Store Room Fasteners, Channel Products, Corrugados de BAJA California, Bull Moose Tube Co., Effikal International and Centro De Distribucion Del Norte.

Allegan Tubular Products was presented with a new annual supplier award for demonstrating the most improvement in delivered product quality and supplier rating performance over the previous year.