Anyone of a certain age who grew up in New England first encountered Hood dairy products at home – when a uniformed delivery person set glass bottles of milk at the kitchen door. 

The days of home dairy delivery may be long gone and HP Hood LLC is now one of the largest food and beverage manufacturers in the United States, but the Lynnfield-based company still values the personal relationships it has established with customers over a 180-year history. These relationships are now expressed through innovation, uncompromising quality, advanced manufacturing, and a commitment to sustainability. 

Hood maintains 11 processing plants across the country, with the largest fluid processing plant located on Main Street in Agawam. That 94,000-square-foot facility made history as the first fluid dairy processing plant to earn the EPA Energy Star Certification. 

The company also maintains a research-and-development facility in Wilmington and its corporate headquarters in Lynnfield. 

Now, Hood is the recipient of AIM’s Excellence in Manufacturing Award for September. The award is presented monthly to a Massachusetts manufacturing company that has demonstrated an exceptional commitment to operational excellence, innovative production techniques, workforce training, economic opportunity, and service to the community. 

AIM will honor the company during a visit to its Agawam facility on September 17. 

Hood was founded in 1846 in Derry, New Hampshire by Harvey Perley Hood, who decided after delivering milk for other farms that people deserved better, fresher, more reliable, premium-quality milk. After two years in Derry, Hood took his milk south and established a processing facility in Charlestown.  

The company grew methodically over a century and a half through both acquisitions and product development. Along the way, it gained a reputation as one of the most innovative companies in the food industry. 

In 1984, Hood was the first dairy to bring Lactaid® brand lactose-free milk to the New England market. Thirteen years later, the company introduced the LightBlock Bottle® to keep milk tasting fresher longer. 

Under the ownership of the Kaneb family, Hood today is a $3.4 billion enterprise with a national footprint and 3,100 employees. 

Hood’s portfolio of national and super-regional brands and franchise products includes Hood, , Heluva Good! Dips, LACTAID®,, Blue Diamond Almond Breeze® Almond Milks, and Planet Oat Oatmilks. 

The company is also a visible presence in the community. 

At Boston Children’s Museum, the outdoor ice cream stand takes the form of a large Hood Milk Bottle and sponsors minor league baseball teams such as the WooSox.  

The art and science of manufacturing built the Massachusetts economy, from the Springfield Armory pioneering the use of interchangeable parts in 1777 to bioscience companies like Takeda producing state-of-the-art medicines in the Commonwealth today. And though manufacturing companies employ about half the number of people they did three decades ago, the sector remains a critical conduit for economic opportunity and advancement. 

It’s one of the reasons that AIM devotes much of its public-policy efforts to supporting manufacturers in areas such as taxation, sustainability, energy and regulation. 

Approximately 230,000 people work at manufacturing companies here, 7 percent of the Commonwealth’s total non-farm payroll. Manufacturing is expected to contribute $64 billion in economic output this year – 9.6 percent of the Massachusetts gross state product.