February 02, 2004,  St. Louis, MO, USA – Sigma-Aldrich (NASDAQ:SIAL), a $1.2 billion Life Science and High Technology company, has been named 2003’s ‘Best-in-Class’ supplier for service and support by over 1,200 life scientists worldwide.  For the second year in a row, Sigma-Aldrich Customer Service has been ranked #1, while Technical Support has moved from #2 to #1.  Results are based on an annual survey conducted by BioInformatics, LLC, a leading market research firm specializing in the life sciences. In addition to international honors, Sigma-Aldrich Customer Service was also named a ‘Regional Favorite’ in the US and Europe—as well as a favorite among academic and industrial markets.  Technical Support achieved ‘Regional Favorite’ status in Europe and was named a favorite in the academic market.

 

“These high honors are proof, once again, that we’re making science easier for our customers,” said David R. Harvey, Sigma-Aldrich Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer.  “Research is vital to economic prosperity for both countries and companies—and fine chemicals are the key to commercializing these developments.  Through our unwavering passion for process improvement, we will continue to improve every aspect of our customer service and technical support.  And by doing so, make our one million customers worldwide more successful in everything that they do.”

 

The 6,000 Sigma-Aldrich employees around the globe deliver on this commitment every day.  For example, technical service professionals handle over one million customer inquires annually.  Plus,  Sigma-Aldrich processes 15,000 customer orders daily, shipping 95% of in-stock products the same day. 

 

“And with more than 85,000 products—the largest selection in the world—chances are excellent that we already have what each customer needs in stock or we can make it, in any quantity, right away,” Harvey said.

 

With 40,000 manufacturing procedures on file and 31 production facilities in nine countries, including FDA and cGMP-compliant plants,  Sigma-Aldrich has more biochemical and organic chemical manufacturing capabilities than any other company in the world.  In addition, Sigma-Aldrich has 16 distribution centers globally, to deliver customer orders accurately and on time.

 

“In short, we offer more of what our customers are looking for than anyone else.  And our #1 rankings in service and support prove that our customer-focused approach is working,” Harvey said.  “But, we won’t rest on our laurels.  We’ll continue to improve—and to the lead the way.”

 

 

BioInformatics, LLC, is a market research firm in Arlington, Virginia that supports marketing, sales and R & D executives in the life science, medical device and pharmaceutical industries through published research reports, custom research and consulting.  For a complimentary Executive Summary of this BioInformatics survey, please visit:

 

http://gene2drug.com/reports/Default.asp?action=details&report­_id=68&criteria=.

 

Sigma-Aldrich is a leading Life Science and High Technology company.  Our biochemical and organic chemical products and kits are used in scientific and genomic research, biotechnology, pharmaceutical

development, the diagnosis of disease and chemical manufacturing.  We have customers in life science companies, university and government institutions, hospitals and in industry.  Over one million scientists and technologists use our products.  Sigma-Aldrich operates in 34 countries and has 6,000 employees providing excellent service worldwide.  We are committed to the success of our Customers, Employees and Shareholders through leadership in Life Science, High Technology and Service.

 

For more information on Sigma-Aldrich, please visit our award winning Web site, sigma-aldrich.com.