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Leaders from all Excel Polymers locations met Jan 5-6 in Cleveland, Ohio, to discuss expectations for 2005, celebrate exceptional performers and to review 2004 results. "Gearin' up for Customers '05" was the theme.  Excel's plan for 2005 anticipates continued growth of 6 percent. Significant growth is expected in our Mexico, China, and England plants, while the U.S. growth is expected to be moderate.
Each functional leader presented their goals for making the plan profitable by using and expanding those programs available or developed in 2004 to overcome ongoing inflationary pressures. Excel's capability to process High Performance Elastomers is enhanced to meet the growing demand for these engineered products. The plan's emphasis is on improvements in quality, order turnaround and customer responsiveness.
Some highlights of 2004 as presented by Excel Polymers CEO John Quinn and CFO Vic March:
- Excel's continuing efforts to provide a safe workplace coupled with our associates' commitment to working safely resulted in a 20 percent improvement compared with 2003.
- Excel Polymers grew by 54 million pounds in 2004 despite the complexities of the transition from being part of publicly held PolyOne Corporation to a stand-alone, privately held company and closing two plants. This growth, plus intensive efforts to reduce and control costs though overhead reduction, procurement efficiencies, and our LEAN Kaizen programs, enabled Excel to show improved profitability compared with 2003.
- The severe inflationary trend in raw materials resulting from unprecedented increases in feedstock costs and shortages due to capacity constraints significantly decreased margins in the second half of 2004 despite cost improvements and material price passthroughs to our customers.
- The startup of the Shanghai plant and the relocation of the plant in England enhanced our ability to respond to the demands of Excel's global customer base. The technology staff worked with our customers to improve formulations while identifying substitutions to minimize the impact of increases in raw materials. A new Materials Information System was designed and implemented to reduce the delivery time for recipe solutions to customers.
Perhaps the highlight of the meeting was the annual Awards Ceremony where individuals or groups were honored for outstanding achievements during 2004. The associates chosen for the award were selected from three nominees. The award winners (in bold) and nominees were:
| The Safe Workplace Improvement Award |
| *Jonesborough, Tenn. | Larry Lowe (Plant Manager) |
| Burton, Ohio | John Gorrell (Plant Manager) |
| Santa Fe Springs, Calif. | Andrew Wallace (Plant Manager) |
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| Rookie of the Year |
| *David Garcia | Regional Sales Mgr. - Southern Tier |
| Mark Ewing | Regional Sales Mgr. - Performance Additives |
| Karen Chickletts | Raw Material Sourcing - Solon, Ohio |
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| Business Support Person of the Year |
| *Andrea Singer/Mary Lou Rogers | Human Resources - Solon, Ohio |
| Kevin Park | Pricing Manager - Solon, Ohio |
| Amy Bull | Sourcing - Solon, Ohio |
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| LEAN Kaizen of the Year |
| *Burton - Specialty Polymers Processing Center | John Gorrell - Plant Manager |
| Queretaro - Processing | Francisco Viliesid - Plant Manager |
| Dyersburg - 12J Mixing Line | Tim Dunagan - Plant Manager |
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| Technologist of the Year |
| *Matt Snider | Technologist - Burton Plant |
| Bill Toth | Technologist - Burton Plant |
| Vince Cremona | Technologist - Burton Plant |
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| Sales Person of the Year |
| *Bob Keown | Regional Sales Manager - Northern Tier |
| Craig Bramble | Sales Manager - Japanese Business Group |
| Tommy Lewis | National Sales Manager |
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| Champion of Change |
| *Jason Joyner | Engineering Services Team Leader - Dyersburg |
| Rich Rybka | Technologist - Burton Plant |
| Michael Turek | Regional Sales Manager - Northern Tier |
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| Sales Team of the Year |
| *Tire & Toll Team | Glenn Thurman, Jerry Ann Carson, David Garcia |
| Rolls | Steve Chase, Darrell Wood, Darrin Roe, Tom McCarthy, Tony Hallworth, Clay Beauchamp, Mark Magill |
| Northern Region | Michael Turek, Bob Keown, Jane Urban, Shirley Urbanowicz, Milan Hokr, Richard Bagenstose |
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| Plant of the Year |
| *Burton | John Gorrell - Plant Manager |
| Queretaro | Francisco Viliesid - Plant Manager |
| Jonesborough | Larry Lowe - Plant Manager |
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| President's Award |
| *Clay Beauchamp | Intl. Business Development Mgr. |
| Francisco Viliesid | Plant Manager - Queretaro, MX |
| Tom McCarthy/Tony Hallworth | Technical Mgr./Sales Mgr. - UK |
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Chairman of the Board Peter De Leeuw ended the evening by congratulating the winners and nominees and challenging the entire leadership team to follow their examples to continue to create profitable growth for Excel Polymers. He charged associates to enhance our position as the largest in the industry by continuing to be the leader in bringing quality, value-added solutions to Excel's customers.
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