This year, at the Kellanova Annual Supplier Summit, Accel Inc. was honored with both the 2024 Cost Award and Best Overall Contract Packager.
We’re incredibly proud of our team–but what makes these awards meaningful isn’t the recognition alone. It’s how we earned them: a year marked by deep collaboration, shared innovation, and a commitment to continuous improvement alongside our partners at Kellanova.
And while we’re celebrating this moment, we also want to share what others can take away from the kind of partnership that made it possible.
Below are three lessons any brand–co-packer relationship can use to strengthen outcomes.
Micro-Innovation Drives Macro Results
Cost savings rarely come from one major idea. They come from a steady rhythm of small, smart improvements that build on each other.
What we did together:
Our teams examined workflows, changeovers, downtime patterns, and engineering opportunities to find efficiencies everywhere–not just where they were obvious.
Why it matters:
Those incremental adjustments created real, measurable year-over-year savings.
Takeaway for readers:
Build a weekly cycle of improvement.
Ask your team:
- What slowed us down today?
- What’s one thing we can test tomorrow?
- Where did variation creep in?
Small improvements compound into big wins–and eventually, industry awards.
Quality Improves When It’s Co-Owned
Strong quality systems are not “handed off.” They are built together.
What we did together:
Rather than operate independently, Accel and Kellanova aligned on:
- How to measure quality
- Which indicators matter most
- How data is shared
- How quickly issues escalate
- How to prevent defects before they happen
Why it matters:
Joint ownership strengthened our performance, reduced friction, and made quality measurable and predictable.
Takeaway for readers:
Treat quality as a shared responsibility.
Co-develop controls. Align language. Share data. When both organizations own the outcomes, performance accelerates.
Transparency Turns Vendors Into True Partners
Efficiency improves at the speed of honest communication.
What we did together:
We built a relationship grounded in transparency–shared risks, shared opportunities, shared ideas. Both teams could talk openly about what was working and what wasn’t.
Why it matters:
This openness allowed ideas to move faster, improvements to stick longer, and innovation to flourish.
Takeaway for readers:
Ask your partners the questions that open doors:
- What slows you down?
- What information do you wish you had earlier?
- Where can we remove friction?
Transparency is the foundation of every meaningful operational improvement.
A Moment Worth Celebrating–and a Model Worth Following
We’re grateful to the Kellanova team for the recognition–and even more grateful for the partnership that made it possible and the many Accel team members who bring excellence, creativity, and collaboration to the floor every day.
This celebration is well deserved, but it’s also proof of something bigger. When brands and co-packers innovate together, share ownership of quality, and commit to transparency, performance doesn’t just improve: it transforms.
And that’s something worth celebrating–this year and every year.
Contact Accel today to explore how a collaborative partnership approach can transform your packaging operations.
