August Läpple GmbH & Co. KG is “Porsche Supplier of the Year”Sports car manufacturer presents its “Supplier Awards” 2003 for excellent performance
Stuttgart/Leipzig. Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, based in Stuttgart, has once again singled out ten of its suppliers for excellent performance in terms of quality, logistics and technology. Body part manufacturer August Läpple GmbH & Co. KG of Heilbronn won the top award. Porsche and Läpple share a long history of cooperation that has grown in the course of time; the Heilbronn-based company has now supplied parts to the sports car manufacturer for more than 50 years.
On Porsche’s open day for suppliers, nine more companies received the “Porsche Supplier Award 2003”. Members of Porsche’s Executive Board, Holger P. Härter (Chief Financial Officer) and Michael Macht (Production and Logistics), handed over the trophies to the following companies at Porsche Leipzig GmbH’s customer center: Aisin AW Co., Ltd. (Anjo City, Japan), Benteler Automobiltechnik GmbH (Paderborn), Karosseriewerk Dresden GmbH (Radeberg), KS Aluminium-Technologie AG (Neckarsulm), LEONI Bordnetz-Systeme GmbH & Co. KG (Kitzingen), Lucas Automotive GmbH (Koblenz), Schweikert GmbH (Lehrensteinsfeld), Sommer Corporate Media AG (Waiblingen) and PeTra, a Porsche external transport network which consists of various logistics companies. By presenting these awards and holding its suppliers’ open day under the motto of “Connecting Excellence”, Porsche aims to improve its already close connections with the supplier industry and promote open, mutually beneficial dialog.
Porsche AG’s Chief Executive Officer Dr. Wendelin Wiedeking stressed the great importance of suppliers for Porsche: “As a premium manufacturer, we need premium suppliers. They have to prove their quality awareness, flexibility and reliability again and again.” At the suppliers’ event, Porsche’s CEO emphasized that the suppliers had done a great job in the past and thus contributed to Porsche’s success.
According to Dr. Wiedeking, the supplier industry confirms how much commitment, productivity and know-how is available in the German economy. “Made in Germany still has a good reputation all over the world, and we must make that it stays that way.” The trend toward moving production abroad had to be stopped, he declared, in order to prevent Germany from being weakened even further. “Society must find solutions to this problem as a matter of urgency. European politicians should join together and think of ways to control imports of parts manufactured at dumping prices by imposing customs duties,” Wiedeking said at the Porsche’s suppliers’ event.
GO 2004-03-24
Please note: Accredited journalists can access the Porsche press database on the Internet and download a photo showing winners of the “Porsche Supplier Award 2003”.
The group photo shows the winners of the “Porsche Supplier Award 2003” with Porsche's Chief Executive Officer Dr. Wendelin Wiedeking and Porsche Executive Board members Holger P. Härter and Michael Macht.
The second photo shows (from left): Holger P. Härter (Porsche’s Chief Financial Officer), Helmut Läpple (Managing Partner of August Läpple GmbH & Co. KG), Jochen Kuhlmann (Managing Director Commercial of August Läpple GmbH & Co. KG), Michael Macht (Porsche’s Executive Vice President Production) and Master of Ceremony, Petra Sanchez.
24.03.2004