BOISE, Idaho, July 29, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Boise Cascade Engineered Wood Products, headquartered in Boise, Idaho, announced today its selection as one of only 10 national winners of the prestigious, industry leading 2011 "A,A" "Partners of Choice" Award for Quality and Service from David Weekley Homes, the third-largest for profit privately-owned homebuilder in the U.S. The increasingly influential "Partners of Choice" honor, considered the "gold standard" in the homebuilding industry, is awarded trading partners that receive the highest marks in David Weekley Homes' comprehensive evaluation system as rated by team members from all levels of the builder's organization. Only Boise Cascade and 9 other companies out of 150+ trading partners doing business with David Weekley Homes – about 7% -- were chosen for the highly sought after 2011 "A,A" Award. Boise Cascade has received this world-class honor for the sixth consecutive year.
Since the National Trading Partner Survey is truly a Business to Business 360-degree assessment of a supplier's performance, trading partners cannot talk their way to a higher score. The system is rigorous and requires constant attention to win this high honor even once, much less the six times running that Boise Cascade has achieved the award. This six-year feat is even more remarkable in that it represents approximately 10,000 individual rating opportunities on Quality and Service from over 5,000 David Weekley Homes team members from all levels of the homebuilder's organization. Its six-year achievement proves that Boise Cascade is world-class in delivering quality products and service during some of the most challenging times ever in the homebuilding industry.
A great deal has happened in the 6-1/2 year time span since early 2005, the first year for which Boise Cascade won an "A,A" "Partners of Choice" Award for Quality and Service. Hurricane Katrina hit Monday, August 29th, 2005 as Boise Cascade was almost eight months through its first winning year. The following year, when Saddam Hussein was captured on November 5, 2006, Boise Cascade was over ten months through its second winning year. The following year, on August 9, 2007, the U.S. Federal Reserve pumped 24 billion U.S. dollars into financial markets to ease tightening credit stemming from troubles in high-risk subprime mortgages. Even in that terrible time for the housing industry, Boise Cascade was over seven months into its third winning year. Boise Cascade has had to manage in very difficult times -- from the boom to the trough and mid-way through the return -- and through it all, these awards are proof of consistent ongoing world-class Quality and Service performance by Boise Cascade.
Also consistent has been David Weekley Homes' quest for providing a world-class experience to their customer, the homebuyer. It is in this regard that the homebuilder designed, launched and has continued to build upon its revolutionary supplier evaluation system. David Weekley Homes' National Trading Partner Survey is a running quarterly review of its suppliers as determined by approximately 500 team members from all levels within the Company. Suppliers are rated quarterly on a 1-10 scale in both Quality and Service, and scores are averaged and ranked with all other participants in 20% increments from A to F, with 20% receiving an "A", etc. Receiving an "A" for both quality and service in the same year is difficult, and doing that six years running is almost unheard of.
"The National Trading Partner Survey is not a static competition, but is a very rigorous and dynamic evaluation system that constantly challenges all parties in the supply chain to be as effective and efficient as possible. As a result, average scores continue to increase approximately 13% per year," said Bill Justus, Vice President of Supply Chain Services for David Weekley Homes and the brains behind this highly credible evaluation system. "Through its unique ranking system, the National Trading Partner Survey is a practical way of measuring companies from diverse industries. Trading partners are not judged solely on their actions but also on the actions of independent third parties in the delivery and installation of the company's goods into David Weekley Homes. This concept, called channel alignment, is where many companies fall down. But Boise Cascade, through its actions, has demonstrated over six consecutive years to be world-class in not only manufacturing quality products, but in actively managing the supply chain to ensure their authorized distribution partners are performing to world-class standards in providing its products to David Weekley Homes," said Justus. This enables David Weekley Homes' team to concentrate on providing a superior experience to their customer, the homebuyer. "We have needed and will continue to need partners that are willing to work with us to effectively manage the supply chain," Justus added. "And over the last six years, as decided by over 10,000 individual Quality and Service rating opportunities, our team members confirmed Boise Cascade has done that. Boise Cascade is a world-class partner," said Justus.
"For the sixth straight year, we want to say, from the bottom of our hearts, 'Thank you' to our good friends at David Weekley Homes for awarding this highly treasured, difficult to attain honor to our people," said Denny Huston, Boise Cascade Engineered Wood Products general sales manager. "We are very proud to work with David Weekley Homes on these advanced Quality and Service initiatives to assist in reaching their goal of the most satisfying experience for their homebuyer customers," Huston added.
About David Weekley Homes
David Weekley Homes, founded in 1976, is headquartered in Houston and operates in 15 cities across the United States. David Weekley Homes was the first builder in the United States to be awarded the Triple Crown of American Home Building, an honor which includes "America's Best Builder," "Builder of the Year," and the "National Housing Quality Award." Weekley has also appeared seven times on FORTUNE® magazine's coveted "100 Best Companies to Work For" list. Since inception, David Weekley Homes has closed more than 65,000 homes. For more information about David Weekley Homes, visit the company's web site at http://www.davidweekleyhomes.com/">www.davidweekleyhomes.com.
About Boise Cascade
Boise Cascade, L.L.C., headquartered in Boise, Idaho, manufactures engineered wood products, plywood, lumber and particleboard and distributes a broad line of building materials, including wood products manufactured by the Company. Visit the Boise Cascade web site at www.bc.com">www.bc.com.
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