Coburg
Brose Group Honors International Top Suppliers
Top Supplier Award 2011 ceremony (from left): Sandro Scharlibbe (Vice President Purchasing Brose Group since March 1st, 2012), Frank Wirthwein (Board of Sales, Wirthwein AG), Marcus Wirthwein (Board of Engineering, Wirthwein AG) and Dipl.-Ing. Udo Wirthwein (CEO, Wirthwein AG), Maurizio Basso (CEO of Nuova SME S.p.A.) Josef Wildgruber (CEO of ATS Automotive Tooling Systems GmbH), Dr. Gerta Rocklage-Marliani (Vice President Division Electrical Drives, Robert Bosch GmbH), Horst Jürgens (Vice President Purchasing Brose Group), Bernd Diebold (Key Account Brose, Robert Bosch GmbH) and Jürgen Otto (CEO of the Brose Group).
On the occasion of the International Supplier Day held in Coburg on February 24th, the Brose Group awarded its 2011 top suppliers in the categories: Raw Materials, Series Production Material, Capital Goods and Services. Wirthwein AG (Creglingen) received the award for the excellent cooperation during the development and delivery of plastic carrier plates and outstanding performance in ensuring the delivery capacity. Nuova SME S.p.A. (Veggiano/Italy) won the award for its quality consciousness despite continuously high call-off rates and for the successful cooperation for an innovative seat adjuster motor. The system supplier ATS Automotive Tooling Systems GmbH (Heimstätten) was honored for its above-average degree in flexibility, reliability and speed.
Bosch was presented an honorary award in recognition of the long-standing strategic cooperation. Jürgen Otto, CEO of the Brose Group, described the relationship with Bosch as "a real, long-term and genuine partnership marked by mutual trust" in his speech.
The International Supplier Day discussed the challenges and opportunities of continued cooperation with the Brose Group: "We anticipate growth of about 60% for the next four years. This means we need competent partners on a long-term basis who support us along the way with top performance, comparable standards in terms of perfection and precision and top quality," explained Jürgen Otto. Since Asia and North America offer the greatest opportunities for growth, Otto requested the suppliers to position themselves globally and to localize development and service in addition to production. Transparent problem management is another objective according to Otto. He promised to get suppliers more involved and at an earlier stage in the product development process, which also means that they will need to take on more responsibility during the problem solving process.
Brose bids farewell to Horst Jürgens on his retirement
The International Supplier Day was more than just an awards ceremony for Horst Jürgens (Vice President Purchasing Brose Group), whose passive phase of early retirement started on March 1st, 2012. He is succeeded by Sandro Scharlibbe who has many years of experience in the Business Division Seat Systems and has headed Development/Purchasing Drives, Window Regulators, Seat and Closure Systems (ZEK/EA) since 2010.