Suppliers honoured for top quality, partnership and innovative strength

    Suppliers honoured for top quality, partnership and innovative strength

More than 500 high-ranking representatives from the Daimler’s most important suppliers as guests in the Mercedes-Benz Customer Centre in Sindelfingen

Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars: “Our Company is entering the next chapter of mobility. And I am confident that we will manage the transformation of Daimler AG successfully, because we have you at our side as partners!”

This year Daimler AG presented the Daimler Supplier Award for the tenth time, to award ten of its suppliers for outstanding performance in the business year just passed. On 28 February 2018, under the motto “ENTER THE NEXT CHAPTER”, the respective Daimler Board of Management members and Heads of Procurement presented the winners with their awards in the categories of Quality, Partnership and Innovation.

The invitation to the Mercedes-Benz Customer Centre in Sindelfingen was followed by 500 high-ranking guests from the supply industry and 150 Daimler AG executives.

“Our company is entering the next chapter of mobility,” said Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars, in his opening speech. “And I am confident that we will manage the transformation of Daimler AG successfully, because we have you at our side as partners!”

Once each year, Daimler presents the Daimler Supplier Award in recognition of above-average performance and partnership collaboration with its suppliers. Performance is measured in terms of quality, partnership and innovation. Furthermore, cost-effectiveness, delivery reliability and sustainable activities based on mutual trust and open communication are also evaluated.

“Great innovations require great efforts. It takes great people to make these efforts. Day after day,” said Martin Daum, Member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG for Daimler Trucks & Buses. “We don’t always have to be the loudest when bringing new things to market. But we must always be the best. That is why we need the best partners at our side, with whom we can lift transport to a new level!”

In his speech Wilfried Porth, Member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG, Human Resources and Director of Labor Relations, Mercedes-Benz Vans, emphasised in his speech the very good collaboration with the suppliers: “A close and trusting cooperation with our suppliers is the basis for short allocation periods and rapid implementation of procurement decisions.”

Ola Källenius, Member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG for Group Development and Mercedes-Benz Cars Development, handed over the Special Award to Harman International Industries, Inc.: “ With MBUX we have created a completely new user experience for our customers. Intuitive and intelligent. This type of digital innovation will become even more important in the future. Therefore we need strong partner to do this.”

Faster, more dynamic and more flexible: Daimler is developing new cooperation models to meet the requirements of the digital world. Accordingly, the motto for the anniversary Daimler Supplier Awards 2017 was “ENTER THE NEXT CHAPTER”. To actively shape the next chapter in mobility, Daimler has established its future strategy with the action areas of CORE, CASE, CULTURE, COMPANY and CUSTOMER. The objective is a future-capable positioning of the Daimler group to remain the leader in the field of individual mobility. Sustained success is based on effective cooperation between Daimler and its suppliers.

This is why both parties will close ranks even more in the future, and consolidate their joint resources. In addition to obtaining insights into the start-up feeling at Daimler, the guests were able to hold conversations in the dialogue zones of the individual procurement departments, with networking between top management and suppliers. An open question-and-answer round with Dieter Zetsche and the suppliers rounded off the event.

The winners of the Daimler Supplier Award 2017 received a newly designed trophy that expresses the importance of trusting cooperation between Daimler AG and its suppliers. The trophies were presented by Dieter Zetsche, Martin Daum, Wilfried Porth and Ola Källenius, in each case together with the heads of the Daimler respective procurement departments, Klaus Zehender, Executive Vice President Mercedes-Benz Cars Procurement and Supplier Quality, Marcus Schoenenberg, Head of Global Procurement Trucks and Buses, and Andreas Burkhart, Head of International Procurement Services.

“Thank you all for your outstanding cooperation, your loyalty and your commitment. Let us start the next chapter together,” said Zetsche as he thanked the suppliers attending.

Winners and other nominees for the Daimler Supplier Award 2017 in the procurement areas of Mercedes-Benz Cars Procurement and Supplier Quality, Global Procurement Trucks and Buses and International Procurement Services:

Mercedes-Benz Cars Procurement and Supplier Quality

Quality category:

Wagon Automotive Nagold GmbH

Award for reliable partnership with exceptional quality and high flexibility for body shell parts.

Other nominees: FRIEDRICH DEUTSCH Metallwerk Ges.m.b.H; Gestamp

Partnership category:

Minth International Ltd.

Award for outstanding efforts towards a transparent partnership based on mutual trust, and for commitment to overcoming technological and business challenges.

Other nominees: Friedrich Boysen GmbH & Co. KG; Rehau AG + Co.

Innovation category:

Hitachi Automotive Systems, Ltd.

Award for its highly creative and dependable contribution to the electrification of the Mercedes-Benz product portfolio.

Other nominees: LG Electronics Inc.; IDEAL Automotive GmbH

International Procurement Services

Quality category:

Werkzeugbau Laichingen GmbH

Award as a longstanding partner for press tools who makes shortened vehicle development times possible while mastering increasing product complexity.

Other nominees: Baumann GmbH; SONA VPC Korea Co., Ltd.

Partnership category:

Thonburi Automotive Assembly Plant Co., Ltd.

Award for its outstanding and longstanding partnership as an assembler of MB cars in Thailand.

Other nominees: Seifert Logistics Group; Stefanutti Stocks Pty Ltd.

Innovation category:

Thoughtworks Software Technologies (Chengdu), Ltd.

Award for its out-of-the-box approaches in the area of app and software development.

Other nominees: SapientRazorfish; Ubisense GmbH

Global Procurement Trucks and Buses

Quality category:

Tri-Ring Group Corporation

Award for the excellent quality of the forged components supplied.

Other nominees: Maxion Structural Components; Hasse & Wrede GmbH

Partnership category:

Stoneridge, Inc.

Award for the international roll-out of “instrument clusters” at FUSO, Freightliner & Mercedes-Benz Trucks.

Other nominees: SISTEMAS AUTOMOTRICES DE MEXICO; MITSUBISHI STEEL MFG. CO., Ltd.

Innovation category:

DENSO

Award for the first introduction to the world of driver camera monitoring systems in FUSO commercial vehicles.

Other nominees: Muellas Y Ballestas Hispano-Alemanas, S.L.; Sonceboz Automotive SA

Special Award for Innovation

Harman International Industries, Inc.

Award for very good software development and integration as well as future-oriented collaboration models for the realisation of MBUX (Mercedes-Benz User Experience).

– Silke Walters, photos Mercedes