In, 2009, Ball enjoyed one of the best years in its history. Despite the economic downturn, our company worked on getting in better shape, our stock price increased nearly 25 percent and we even made a $600 million acquisition.

So what’s next?

“Build momentum,” says John Hayes, president and chief operation officer. “We’re headed in the right direction.  We have great employees and our strategy is clear. 2010 can be a better year than 2009 for Ball; it’s up to us to make it happen.”

Over the past 18 months, Ball identified five enterprisewide areas of excellence – broad areas of focus at which we must excel to be successful as a company.  Each of these areas of excellence is tied to specific activities that can be measured to show progress.

For example, getting close to customers ties directly to Ball’s new customer relationship management efforts.  World class operational excellence links to attention to detail and increasing economic value added.  And people and culture includes Ball’s talent development initiative.

“These are topics that identify our strategic direction,” Hayes says. “If you drill down into each one, you will find critical issues and then specific goals.  These are all important part of aligning our activities to create value and enabling us to measure progress and be accountable.”

Each Ball division has its own critical issues.  Some are similar to the corporate critical issues, other are very different depending on the needs of that business.  All division and corporate critical issues connect to the enterprisewide areas of excellence.  Throughout the year, we will bring you information on the portal and in Ball Line about our goals and progress toward them in 2010.

Tags: 2010 Game Plan, Bal Steeltin, Ball Corporation