UTC's Minority Business Exchange honors the efforts of its diverse suppliers

By Susan Avery -- Purchasing, 3/1/2007

United technologies corp., recipient of Purchasing's Medal of Professional Excellence for 2006, recognized the performance of its diversity suppliers at its fifth annual Minority Business Exchange held recently in East Hartford, Conn.

George David, chairman and CEO at UTC, presented the MBE Excellence Award to Ferco Tech, of Franklin, Ohio, a hardware supplier established 20 years ago by Cuban immigrant Guillermo Fernandez. Guillermo "Willy" Fernandez Jr., the late founder's son, accepted the award, which made significant process improvements through implementation of Lean techniques and ACE (Achieving Competitive Excellence), UTC's operating system. Fernandez cited the support he received at UTC, particularly from Pratt & Whitney, a UTC company.

David also recognized a team from UTC's Hamilton Sundstrand unit that introduced a successful approach to developing and sourcing to small and minority-owned businesses. Receiving the Advocate Excellence Award were four commodity managers: Charlie Hietala, Jill Michels, Sharon Norfleet and Carol Weber. The team implemented a mentor protégé program that helped potential minority suppliers improve performance. Using ACE tools such as value-stream mapping, the suppliers improved quality and efficiency to win UTC's business.

The MBX helps minority business enterprises gain a greater understanding of UTC's key business strategies, offering workshops, a recognition ceremony and a targeted matchmaker to facilitate business relationships. The event drew nearly 300 attendees, including minority business representatives, non-minority business representatives and UTC employees.

"Our executive leadership is committed and our Supplier Diversity Council, consisting of supplier diversity managers from each UTC division, is front and center in our initiative," says Cassandra Charles-Gerst, manager of UTC Supplier Diversity and Corporate Supplier Responsibility.

The theme of the event was "Competing in a global market," which encouraged suppliers to add a global dimension to efforts. Keynote speaker Harriet R. Michel, president of the National Minority Supplier Development Council, told attendees that U.S.-based minority business enterprises can gain a competitive advantage by creating strategic alliances and expanding their business outside the U.S.

UTC expects to spend more than $275 million with diverse suppliers in 2006. In five years, the company has spent more than $1 billion with the suppliers.