Supplier awards programs range in age, scope and priority
By Staff -- Purchasing, 11/15/2007 2:00:00 AM
There are still a number of companies providing their top suppliers with formal awards. In fact, some supplier awards programs are moving into their third decade.
At a ceremony in Burlingame, Calif., chip giant Intel awarded 10 of its suppliers with its 20th annual Supplier Continuous Quality Improvement (SCQI) award. The SCQI award, the highest recognition from Intel, honors high quality and performance from essential product and service suppliers. The award is part of an overall SCQI process that suppliers can only qualify for if they score at least 95% on a supplier scorecard that rates specific goals including quality, cost and technology.
"We're proud to recognize Intel's Supplier Continuous Quality Improvement award winners for attaining outstanding levels of excellence in their capability and support," says Bob Baker, senior vice president and general manager of Intel's technology and manufacturing group. "These suppliers have demonstrated the commitment, innovation and results that set them apart from the rest of the industry. We congratulate them for their outstanding accomplishments and their focus on world-class performance."
In its 17th annual Supplier Awards Program in Santa Clara, Calif., Sun Microsystems awarded 17 of its suppliers this year in recognition of the suppliers' high performance and commitment to improvement over the fiscal year. Seagate Technology was this year's recipient of Sun's Supplier of the Year award, thanks in part to supplying Sun with competitively priced disk drives.
"The suppliers have shown exceptional performance and are vital to our ability to deliver and service Sun's products in a timely and cost-efficient manner," says Kurt Doelling, Sun's vice president of supply management. "They continuously allow us to exceed customer expectations and drive us to raise our own expectations of what we can provide."
Eight suppliers received Sun's Best-In-Class award for exemplary performance in their commodity class, while another nine received a Meritorious Performance Award.
At a Nashville, Tenn. ceremony, car manufacturer Nissan North America met with more than 300 representatives from its suppliers to recognize improvements and achieved goals in quality. Three Nissan suppliers were awarded with the Regional Supplier Quality Awards, which Nissan calls its "highest honors" in recognition of the "best of its supplier team."
"Supplier contributions are a key part of Nissan's success, and that's evident when we launch new models," says Doug Betts, senior vice president of total customer satisfaction at Nissan. "Each vehicle we build represents an important purchase in our customers' lives, and our suppliers help us satisfy their expectations."
Of the suppliers present, about half received Zero Defect certificates from the company, meaning these suppliers' defect rate was below three parts per million for the year. Another 53 suppliers earned the title of Quality Masters upon hitting top ratings in Nissan's supplier scorecarding from a variety of Nissan departments—including purchasing, production control and manufacturing—on metrics such as defect rate, warranty, responsiveness, recalls and countermeasure leadtimes.
Wichita, Kan.-based aircraft manufacturer Hawker Beechcraft gave Rockwell Collins its Supplier of the Year Award this year for "having the most significant business impact" on the company this year. Rockwell Collins "demonstrated achievement through consistently delivering quality products on schedule, created valuable business solutions to HBC often involving their own investment, and were committed to continuous improvement," says Hawker Beechcraft in a statement. Other supplier award categories this year include performance excellence, small business partner, innovative excellence and performance promise champion.
In a Toledo, Ohio award ceremony, housing products maker Owens Corning gave BNSF Railway its award as Global Logistics Carrier of the Year in recognition of BNSF's consistent on-time performance.
"Our carriers define what is possible each day to provide the entire Owens Corning enterprise with ongoing superior service," says Jerry Ulm, Owens Corning global carrier relations leader. "This recognition of the elite in our industry is due to their ability to effectively anticipate and adjust their processes to meet the daily challenges while continuing to provide a consistent level of superior performance."
Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) awarded Rohm and Haas Electronic Materials CMP Technologies with its Excellent Supplier Award this year during its Key Supplier Program meeting in Shanghai, China. Rohm and Haas supplies SMIC with materials including photoresists, ion exchange resins, and chemical mechanical planarization materials such as slurries and polishing pads. Criteria for this award include quality, on-time delivery, service, cost and environmental precautions. Four units of Rohm and Haas supply for SMIC including CMP technologies; the other three are microelectronic technologies, packaging and finishing technologies, and ion exchange resins.
Restaurant company Brinker International honored 11 of its service suppliers this year at its Outstanding Supplier Partner Awards ceremony in October.
"Our award-winning supplier partners continue to meet and exceed the high standards our guests have come to expect from Brinker," says Happy Webberman Brinker executive vice president of brand solutions. "These awards serve as a meaningful thank-you for all the great work they do."
Of Brinker's more than 1,000 suppliers, the winners were selected on criteria such as product innovations, savings, performance, on-time delivery, quality and customer service. Brinker recognized suppliers that service the company as well as its four restaurant franchises.
This year Lockheed Martin named information service company SecureInfo as its STAR Supplier Award recipient. The award, which is distributed by Lockheed Martin's global supply chain management, aims to recognize suppliers with high levels of performance in specific business areas of supplier management. Quality, cost, delivery and management are key criteria for the STAR Award, but volume, spend, mission success and multiple site utilization are also considered.
"SecureInfo has proven to be a critical Lockheed Martin partner in ensuring aircrews are effectively prepared for a variety of missions without actually flying the aircraft," says Lockheed Martin vice president of flight solutions, aircrew and space training Lorraine Martin.
In an official press release, Lockheed Martin says the information and support provided by SecureInfo on the Air Force's C130J Maintenance and Aircrew Training System made the supplier a clear candidate for the supplier award. According to that press release, "this award recognizes SecureInfo's achievements in meeting some of the most stringent certification and accreditation and security testing and evaluation criteria in the aerospace and defense industry."
Plymouth, Mich.-based Johnson Controls gave out 46 awards to its automotive suppliers in an awards ceremony in Holland, Mich. "We are proud to honor the outstanding suppliers that have exhibited excellence in their performance and dedication to quality throughout the year," says Terry Nadeau, vice president and general manager of North American purchasing for Johnson Controls. The company recognized suppliers for high performance in technology, service, development, logistics, quality and cost on a three-tiered system of gold, silver and bronze awards.
Industrial manufacturer Eaton held its second-annual Supplier Awards Program in Cleveland, Ohio, where 50 total suppliers were named "Premier Suppliers." Of those 50 suppliers, Eaton awarded 12 with the company's Supplier Excellence Award.
"We have thousands of suppliers around the world that we evaluate on quality, productivity, innovation and technology," says Rick Jacobs, vice president of supply chain management at Eaton. "These companies we are honoring with these awards excel in these critical categories."
"[These suppliers'] products, services and support have contributed greatly to Eaton's success," says Eaton chairman and CEO Alexander Cutler. "With an increasing percentage of our sales—now 42%—to customers located outside the U.S., our suppliers' geographic diversity and expertise is very important to us."
During its annual North American Supplier Meeting in Michigan, aluminum company and Toyota supplier Denso presented two awards to supplier Hydro out of five total. The awards recognize Hydro's accomplishments in the areas of quality as well as delivery and service, says Denso, specifically for Hydro's work on a micro-tubing product for Denso's RS Evaporator program.
Distributor Network Services Company presented four supplier awards at a meeting in Austin, Texas. The company named Spartanburg, N.C.-based Southeastern Paper Group as its Member of the Year for its "outstanding performance as a network member," according to a Network Services press release. The other three award winners include Waxie Sanitary Supply of San Diego, awarded the title of Servicing Agent of the Year; Service Paper of Renton, Wash., which received an Operations Excellence Award; and Pollock Paper of Dallas, which received the IT Excellence Award.
Atlanta-based construction and maintenance product distributor HD Supply awarded 12 of its suppliers at its Supplier of the Year event during its annual Supplier Conference. Criteria for winning the supplier award include delivery, quality, innovation and dedication to service.
Says CEO of HD Supply Joe DeAngelo: "Strong relationships with manufacturers, service providers and our other valued vendors are essential. Working together, we can create a Lean supply chain that helps our customers be successful, while penetrating new market opportunities and contributing to continued growth in the industry."
Aerospace giant Boeing honored 11 of its suppliers at an award ceremony in Bellevue, Wash. The winning suppliers were selected for the premier supplier award out of Boeing's more than 27,000 suppliers in approximately 100 countries, based on statistical measurements of quality, on-time delivery, yearly cost, post-delivery support and adaptiveness to changing customer needs. Each supplier was selected as a top performer in one of 11 categories.
"We are pleased to recognize the achievements of these 11 suppliers for reaching extraordinary levels of performance and quality, and becoming the best in the Boeing supply chain," says Steve Schaffer, functional leader of supplier management for Boeing, and vice president and general manager of Global Partners, Boeing Commercial Airplanes. "Boeing's ongoing commitment to working together with our partners helps us meet the high standards for quality, productivity and efficiency that our customers deserve and our competitive business environment demands."
Of the 11 winners, five suppliers are U.S. government-certified small businesses, and another two are based outside of the U.S.
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