GM Names 184 Suppliers 'Best of the Best' for 1998

Warren, Mich. (ots-PRNewswire) - General Motors (NYSE: GM) has named 184 companies that provide everything from steel to seats and logistics planners that ferry parts to assembly plants as winners of the 1998 Supplier of the Year award. The suppliers are being honored by geographic region in a series of four events beginning with Latin American suppliers in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The other events are scheduled in Ruesselsheim, Germany (Europe); Detroit (North America) and Shanghai, China (Asia-Pacific). The winning suppliers were chosen from among more than 30,000 companies that receive part of GM's $86 billion in annual spending. "GM Suppliers of the Year represent the best of the best," said Harold Kutner, vice president and group executive, Worldwide Purchasing and North American Production Control and Logistics. This is an honor that is reserved for those suppliers who have achieved world-class levels of quality, service, technology and price in support of General Motors." Twenty-five of the companies on this year's list were recognized for the sixth or seventh time. "This is especially noteworthy because there is no carryover credit for winning this award in one year," Kutner said. "Every year is a fresh search to find those companies that truly stand out." Companies recognized -- including 43 first-time winners -- were selected by teams of purchasing, quality, engineering and manufacturing experts from GM operations around the world. The measurements for the first time included technology -- using it to improve what the supplier does or provides for GM. "We expect our top suppliers to provide more value and features to our customers," Kutner said. "And we expect them to look at their current processes to see how they can be refined to reflect this emphasis on new technology development. For suppliers, technology is fast becoming the ticket for entry while price and service are becoming more and more standard." The emphasis on technology and getting it into GM cars and trucks is leading to more supplier integration -- where GM provides the functional requirements and the supplier with the creative solution uses its expertise to deliver the component or system. GM takes that strategy a step further with co-development where a supplier's best technical people team with GM's best minds to create game-changing technology. In co-development, many of GM's standard rules of supplier engagement are suspended in exchange for exclusive use of a supplier's breakthrough innovation or a supplier lending its expertise to develop a GM innovation. In both cases, the supplier is guaranteed the business that comes from the collaboration for a set period of years, after which the supplier can market that technology to other companies. One example of that occurred last November when GM signed a 10-year multi- billion dollar agreement to buy aluminum from Alcan Aluminium Ltd. at predictable prices. As a result of the agreement, GM and Alcan engineers will work together over the next five years at the GM Technical Center in Warren, Mich., exploring new and expanding uses for aluminum, including aluminum- intensive vehicles. "One reason our Worldwide Purchasing structure works is that we're committed to building the best-possible business relationship with our suppliers," Kutner said. "We know we're not there yet, but we have been working on it." 1998 General Motors Suppliers of the Year (Listed by Country; Number of Awards Received Noted) Win Argentina Famar Fueguina S.A. 3X Liggett Argentina S. 2X Australia Air International Automotive Division 1X Autoliv Australia Pty. 7X Finemore Holdings Ltd. 2X Mett Diecasting Pty. Ltd. 4X Austria Engle Vertriebsgesellschaft M.B.H. 3X KTM-Kuhler GmbH 1X Magna Europa AG 2X Zizala Lichtsysteme GmbH 2X Belgium Norsk Hydro a.s. Hydro Magnesium Div. 2X Seeber Belgium N.V. 4X Brazil Bunder Express Transportes e Logistica Ltda. 2X Companhia Brasileira de Equipamentos COBREQ 3X Companhia Ultragaz S.A. 1X Dana Albarus S.A. Industria e Comerico, div Elastomeros 4X Freios Varga S.A. Johnson Controls do Brasil Auto. Ltda 1X Krupp Metalurgica Campo Limpo Ltda 4X Meritor do Brasil Ltda-divisao LTV 7X Rassini-NHK Autopecas S.A. 2X Sabo Industria e Comerico Ltda. 4X Canada ABC Group 2X Bend All Mfg. Inc. 2X Cosma Body & Chassis Systems, Div. of Magna 7X Depco International, Inc. 5X Niagara Machine Products 7X Pacific Insight Electronics Corp. 4X Precision Plastics, Division of Windsor Mold Inc. 4X Progressive Moulded Products 1X Seeburn Division Ventra Group Inc. 5X Techform Products Ltd. 1X Tenatronics Ltd. 1X The Standard Products Company 2X Thona, Inc. 3X Tiercon 1X Toral Cast, Division of Tesma International Inc. 1X Van-Rob Stampings Inc. 2X Verspeeten Cartage Ltd. 5X Westcast Industries Inc. 5X Windsor Mold Group, Automotive Components Div. 2X China Delphi Packard Electric Shanghai Ltd. 2X Colombia Goodyear de Colombia S.A. 1X England Xerox Language Services 3X Estonia AS Norma 5X France Anoflex SNC 4X Generators Valeo 7X Germany Aeroquip, Div. of Aeroquip-Vickers Int'l. GmbH 2X Ambrosius Messebau 4X Aunde Achter & Ebels GmbH 3X Baumeister & Ostler GmbH & Co. 3X Behr France 3X Brose Fahrzeugteile GmbH & Co. KG 2X Buderus Guss GmbH 6X Contitech 1X Durr Systems GmbH 2X Edag Engineering u. Design AG 7X Elring Klinger GmbH 3X FFT GmbH + Co. KG 2X FTE Automotive GmbH 4X GEDIA Gebruder Dingerkus GmbH 4X Grob-Werke GmbH & Co. KG 5X Halberg Guss 3X HP-Chemie Pelzer 5X Intra Fleischmann & Aluminum Wacker GmbH + Co. KG 1X Johann A. Krause Maschinefabrik GmbH 4X LUK GmbH & Co. 7X Muller Weingarten AG Germany 2X Mann & Hummel Holding GmbH 7X Mannesmann VDO AG 6X Nippon Antenna (Europe) GmbH 4X Petri AG 7X Schroder GmbH 1X Schuler Hydroforming GmbH & Co. KG 1X Siemens AG, Automotive Systems 6X TCM GmbH Tool Consulting & Management 1X UT Automotive 2X India Sundram Fasteners Ltd 3X Indonesia PT Trimitra Baterai Prakasa 2X Italy Faital S.p.A. 6X Fiamm S.p.A. 4X Mercurio Transporti Internazionali S.P.A. 3X Officina C.F. Franci SpA 1X OLSA s.r.l. 1X Japan Aikoku Alpha Corporation 1X Aisin AW Co., Ltd. 4X Bridgeston Corporation 6X Hokuto Corporation 2X Koyo Seiko Co., Ltd. 1X Nippei Toyama Corp. 2X Sumitomo Metal Ind., Ltd. 1X Korea Samlip Industrial Co. 3X Mexico Atsugi Mexicana, S.A. de C.V. 1X Etal, S.A. de C.V. 3X Krupp Hoesch SASA 3X Nemak S.A. 5X Pistones Moresa, S.A. de C.V. 2X Promotora Arneses Electricas Automotrices, S.A. de C.V. 2X Vitro Vidrio Plano 1X Monaco Mecaplast 2X Netherlands Koyo Seiko Co., Ltd. 2X Portugal HUF Portuguesa, LDA 1X South Africa Precision Exhaust Systems (Pty) Ltd. 7X Spain Castellon, S.A. 4X Caucho Metal Productos S.L. 4X Cikautxo 1X Dr. Franz Schneider S.A. 1X Metalbages, S.A. 4X Transportes GERPOSA, S.A. 1X Sweden Sandvik do Brasil Ltda. 3X Wallenius Line A.B. 5X Turkey Cevher Dokum Sanayii A.S. 2X USA AK Steel Corp. 2X Alps Automotive, Inc. USA 5X Associated Spring, Barnes Group Inc. 1X Automatic Systems, Inc. 2X BBK, Ltd. 2X Bethlehem Steel Corp. 4X Blue Water Plastics, Inc. 2X Caliber Logistics 1X Cambridge Industries, Inc. 4X Charter Mfg. Co. Milwaukee Wire Products 2X Conix Corporation 5X Corporate Express 1X Dawson Mfg. Co. 1X Del-Met Corporation 4X Delphi-Delco Electronics Systems 4X Delphi Energy & Engine Management Systems 4X Delphi Interior Systems 6X Delphi Packard Electric Systems 7X Denso International America, Inc. 6X Donnelly Corpoaton 4X Dynamic Manufacturing, Inc. 5X Falcon Transport Co. 4X Federal Mogul Sintered Products 2X Gentex Cororation 3X GKN Sinter Metals 2X Gonzalez Design Group 6X Griswold Machine & Engineering, Inc. 2X Hawtal Whiting Engineering Ltd. 5X Hermatite 1X Hi-Lex Controls, Inc. 1X Hitachi Automotive Prod. (USA), Inc. 3X Hornish Brothers, Inc. 5X ICI Americas, Inc. 2X ITW Automotive Products 1X J. Aron & Co. Div. of Goldman Sachs & Co. 4X Jernberg Industries 4X Johnson Controls, Inc. 5X Kennametal 3X Kitty Hawk, Inc. 2X Knight Facilities Management, Inc. 5X Lapeer Metal & Stamping 1X Lear Corporation 3X Lescoa, Inc. 1X Lorro, Inc. 2X LucasVarity Automotive 6X Magee Rieter Automotive Systems 7X Magna Interior Systems - Versatrim 2X Mays Chemical Co., Inc. Michigan Spring Div. 6X Precision Products Group, Inc. 2X Micro Craft, Inc. 1X Mitsubishi Heavy Ind. Climate Control, Inc. 2X Montell Polyolefins 4X Morrison Knudsen Corp. 3X Motion Ind., Inc. 3X Motorola AIEG 1X Nelson Metal Products 3X Nippon Seiki 1X NSK Corporation 2X OEM/Erie 1X P.J. Wallbank Springs 1X Panasonic Automotive Electronics Co. 2X RDS/Rapid Design Service, Inc. 6X Regal Plastics Co. 3X Setech, Inc. 6X Smalley Steel Ring Co. 1X Terry Machine Co. Div. of SPS 2X Textron Automotive Co., Inc. 1X The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. 4X U.S. Tsubaki, Inc. 6X UniBoring Co., Inc. 1X Yarema Die and Engineering 2X Venezuela C.A. Acumuladores Duncan de Venezuela 3X Statistics Number of countries represented: 29 Number of per/year winners: 7-year winners 11 6-year winners 14 5-year winners 16 4-year winners 29 3-year winners 26 2-year winners 45 First-time-year winners 43 Total 184 ots Original Text Service: General Motors Corporation Internet: http://www.newsaktuell.de Contact: Alan Adler (USA) 810-986- 6129, or Dan Jankowski (USA) 810-986-6376, both of GM Web site: http://media.gm.com Upozorňujeme odběratele, že materiály označené značkou PROTEXT nejsou součástí zpravodajského servisu ČTK a nelze je publikovat pod její značkou. Jde o komerční sdělení zadavatele, který je ve zprávě označen a který za něj nese plnou odpovědnost. PROTEXT