Sunbeam 2007 Annual Report Download - page 25

Customers
We have long-standing relationships with a diverse group of retail, wholesale and institutional customers in
North America. We sell through a wide variety of retail formats, including club stores, drugstores, grocery
retailers, mass merchants, department stores, value retailers, home improvement stores and craft stores. Our
principal Branded Consumables customers include Ace, Albertsons, Costco, Home Depot, Kroger, Lowe’s and
Wal-Mart, among others.
Sales and Marketing
For our Branded Consumables sales efforts we utilize internal sales, marketing and customer service staff,
supported by a network of outside sales representatives. Regional sales managers are organized by geographic
area and, in some cases, customers, and are responsible for customer relations management, pricing and
distribution strategies, and sales generation. Our customer-specific organized sales staff includes individuals
focused on key customers such as Home Depot, Lowe’s and Wal-Mart and also key customer groups such as
casinos. Our marketing and sales departments work closely together to develop pricing and distribution strategies
and to design packaging and develop product line extensions and new products.
We have employed a two-tier marketing strategy for our line of home canning and plastic cutlery products.
The Ball®, Kerr®and Diamond®brand names are marketed as premium and specialty products. For the more
price-conscious consumer, we have positioned brands such as Golden Harvest®and Fire Chief®as our value-
priced brands, which have allowed us to minimize the cannibalization of our family of products by lower-priced,
discount store brands. Also, for our plastic cutlery and firelog and firestarter products we manufacture certain
private label products.
Distribution and Fulfillment
We distribute our Branded Consumables products through a number of in-house distribution centers and
third-party warehouses throughout North America. Whenever possible, we utilize highly automated packaging
equipment, allowing us to maintain our efficient and effective logistics and freight management processes. We
also work with outsourced providers for the delivery of our products in order to ensure that as many shipments as
possible are processed as full truckloads, saving significant freight costs.
Manufacturing
We manufacture the metal closures for our home canning jars at our Muncie, Indiana facility. Lithographed
tin plated steel sheet is cut and formed to produce the lids and bands. Liquid plastisol, which we formulate, is
applied to the lids, forming an airtight seal, which is necessary for safe and effective home canning. Finished
products are packaged for integration with glass jars or sold in multi-packs as replacement lids.
We manufacture kitchen matches at our Cloquet, Minnesota location. The plant purchases local wood that
we convert into veneer, from which we saw, stamp and mold the various wood shapes. The wood shapes go
through a secondary manufacturing process to apply the matchhead and prepare it for packing and shipping to
our customers.
We manufacture rope, cord and twine products for the home improvement industry, as well as home safety
products, utilizing Mexican and Asian-based manufacturing. We operate facilities in Juarez and Merida, Mexico.
Our Asian sourcing is comprised of several long-standing sourcing relationships. We have long-standing
strategic alliances with several Asian contract manufacturers that have proven to be reliable sources.
We manufacture playing card decks at our facilities in Cincinnati, Ohio and Vitoria, Spain. All North
American production is manufactured in Cincinnati and in most cases shipped direct to the customer. We do
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