Carolina Canners, Inc. hosted an employee appreciation and incentive event

The “Drive for Perfect Attendance” program culminates in the new truck giveaway.

CHERAW – Carolina Canners, Inc. (CCI), an independent Pepsi bottler and production cooperative, gave away a brand new 2021 Ford Ranger Tremor valued at over $43,000 to one of their full-time employees.

The Drive for Perfect Attendance initiative was implemented in August 2021 to promote attendance among hourly employees. Each week that an employee achieved perfect attendance, his/her name was entered into a drawing for a chance to win the brand-new Ford truck.

Temporary employees were not eligible to win the truck but earned an entry for a $250 cash prize for each week they achieved perfect attendance. Employees also earned an additional entry by referring a candidate who was hired to work full-time. Employees who achieved perfect attendance for the full 18 weeks of the program earned an additional 18 entries into the drawing.

Twenty employees achieved this milestone and were awarded a smaller level prize in addition to the extra entries. The program culminated in the giveaway event on December 9 at the plant located in Cheraw. All employees were invited to attend amid an atmosphere of celebration, which included lunch and multiple door prizes ranging from Yeti coolers to Walmart gift cards. Over 75 people attended, including State Senators Gerald Malloy, Penry Gustafson, and Mayor Andy Ingram.

The excitement in the crowd was at an all-time high when CCI President, Mark Avent, announced that all employees would receive a one-time bonus of $750.

The grand prize winner of the truck was 3rd Shift Injection Molder Corey Robinson who had worked his way up from temporary to a full-time employee. Robert Johnson was the part-time employee winner of the $250 cash prize.

Jeff Stevens, CEO at Carolina Canners, Inc. (CCI) commented, “With all the challenges that the pandemic has presented, our leadership team wanted to develop an incentive to promote and reward attendance among our hourly workforce. We all benefit when everyone comes to work, and we work together as a team. Our most valuable asset at CCI is our people. They are the hardest working and most dedicated workforce that I have been associated with in my 36 years working in this industry. I am so proud of what they have been able to accomplish this year and thrilled we were able to offer this incentive and celebration as a testimony of their efforts”.

Carolina Canners operates in Cheraw and specializes in bottle injection molding and features two bottle-filling production lines, two can-filling production lines, and a fountain syrup production line, producing and distributing Pepsi-Cola and other affiliated brands.

The company purchases PET resin locally from Nanya Plastics in Lake City and injects preforms to be used in state-of-the-art, high-speed bottling lines that blow and fill bottles at a rate of 1000 bottles per minute. Additional companies under the CCI umbrella include Carolina Packaging Inc., Southeast Hot Fill, Pepsi of Florence, Pee Dee Foodservice, and Pepsi of Greenville.