Schaeffler Group Presents ¡°Supplier of the Year 2005¡± Awards

Schaeffler Group Presents ¡°Supplier of the Year 2005¡± Awards The Schaeffler Group with its INA, LuK and FAG brands has presented its best and most reliable suppliers with the ¡°Supplier of the Year 2005¡± awards. From the Schaeffler Group¡¯s roughly 5,000 main suppliers worldwide, awards were presented to seven companies from Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Croatia, Russia and Japan. The most important judging criteria were quality, supplier reliability, innovation, a willingness to globalize and competitive prices. Partner, Maria-Elisabeth Schaeffler thanked the 50 nominated suppliers for their very professional cooperation and spoke about their valuable contribution: ¡°A company is not only as good as its employees, but also only as good as its suppliers.¡± With this in mind, Schaeffler has always attached great importance to good and close cooperation with its suppliers and the International Suppliers¡¯ Days have a long tradition in the company. Quality also has the highest priority for Dr. Juergen M. Geissinger, President & CEO of the Schaeffler Group and, therefore, he honored the business partners personally: ¡°With your excellent performances, you have made a contribution to the positive development of the Schaeffler Group.¡° However, quality requirements continue to increase and joint opportunities for improvement must, therefore, be exploited, demanded Geissinger: through process optimization, quality management and cost reductions. The Schaeffler Group¡¯s target of zero defects also applies to its suppliers. This includes eliminating sources of defects from the outset. It is no longer sufficient just to identify defects and correct them at a later stage. ¡°In line with the general development in the market, purchasing is also focusing more strongly on Eastern Europe and Asia¡°, said Senior Vice President, Dr. Rainer Woska.¡° He also emphasized that there is significant further potential for additional cost savings by improving products and processes across the entire supply chain. Guest speaker, Erich Schmitt, Member of the Audi Board of Management, outlined the challenges for the automotive industry and suppliers in an international comparison. He emphasized that besides quality, supplier reliability and cost, above all, supplier innovation is very important. This is the only way to achieve the necessary differentiation from the competition and long-term brand loyalty.