Salzgitter companies win the ZF Supplier Award 2010

Every year, ZF Friedrichshafen AG distinguishes its five top suppliers with the ZF Supplier Award. In a standardized selection procedure the suppliers are determined that offer the best quality, exceptional technologies, efficient logistics processes and competitive cost structures.

This year’s Supplier Award went to Salzgitter Flachstahl (SZFG) and Salzgitter Mannesmann Precision (SMP), an honor bestowed on the “best among the good” as ZF sources stated. The award ceremony took place in the course of the “Materials Management Meeting” at the ZF Friedrichshafen research and development center.

Wolfgang Eging, Executive Board member Tubes of Salzgitter AG, was at the event to accept the award. Salzgitter Flachstahl was represented by Dr. Sebastian Bross, managing director sales and logistics, as well as Claus Griesbach, head of sales automotive supplier industry, while SMP was represented by Paul Deventer, chairman of the executive board.

Both Salzgitter companies look back on many years of successful cooperation with ZF Sachs AG, Schweinfurt, as well as ZF Lemförder GmbH, both subsidiaries of ZF Friedrichshafen AG.

The bestowed supplier award allows the Salzgitter companies to refer to themselves as “TOP Supplier to the ZF Group.”

Salzgitter Flachstahl provides ZF with hot-rolled wide strip and strip steel for the manufacture of shock absorbers, clutches, transmissions, steering systems, axles and vehicle components. The material provided by Salzgitter Flachstahl meets the highest demands made on these components in terms of formability and purity levels, in combination with the most stringent geometrical tolerances.

In particular, SMP supplies seamless precision steel tubes such as shock absorber cylinder tubes, piston rod tubes, as well as precision tubes for cylinder sleeves, piston bosses, metal parts and shock and impact absorbers. The seamless tubes production sites also provide tubes for rotary parts and roller bearing tubes. These tubes are turned out by the SMP precision tubes manufacturing locations in Germany, France and Mexico and are delivered to ZF plants worldwide. Given this position, the ZF Group and its subsidiaries are key – and indispensible – customers and partners for SMP.