Tim Bell, plant manager at the Salisbury manufacturing facility of Imperial Brown, Inc., has received the company’s President’s Award for 2015, given annually to the employee who demonstrates strength in customer focus, inspiration, innovation and leadership.

The award was presented by Rick Schermerhorn, president of Imperial Brown, who said that under Bell’s leadership, the Salisbury plant doubled weekly production and also doubled its workforce in 2015.

Imperial Brown is one of the leading walk-in cooler/freezer manufacturers in the world, with a plant in Portland, Ore., as well as Salisbury. Salisbury is the only walk-in cooler/freezer plant in the world building soft-nose, hard-rail and hybrid walk-in coolers and freezers.

Schermerhorn credited Bell’s leadership with helping to make this happen in 2015, by adding hard-rail construction methods, including needed production equipment.

“Tim maintains a very high quality threshold, keeping us a preferred vendor to a very demanding national account,” Schermerhorn said. “He consistently worked six and seven days per week, often with weekly hours exceeding 70 to meet production demand.”

Other contributions include: adding a second shift, adding and training supervisors to oversee growth, supporting safety and OSHA compliance regulations and maintaining a safe and environmentally-friendly plant.

The President’s Award, given by the company since 1997, awards the most outstanding employee at each plant.

“The recipient’s efforts make a strong contribution toward Imperial Brown meeting its sales, financial and operations goals,” Schermerhorn said. “The recipient has high respect among his fellow workers and is a strong role model who makes sound decisions that demonstrate a big-picture mentality.”

Bell has been an employee for 27 years, initially working in production for W.A. Brown & Son, which merged with Imperial Manufacturing in 2012 to create the current structure. A native of Rowan County, he is a graduate of South Rowan High School. He and his wife, Wanda, have four children, TJ, a student at Wingate University; Jacob, a student at the University of Mount Olive and Issac and Jessica, students at Carson High School. He enjoys horseback-riding and team roping in his spare time.