According to John Astbury, General Motors South Africa's vice president of Global Purchasing and Supply Chain, the award is given to specific supplier locations and only the top-performing suppliers are eligible to receive this award. GM recognises those suppliers who have demonstrated the highest levels of quality performance over the previous 12 months. The 2013 award horizon covers the period from 1 July 2012 through 30 June 30 2013.
Astbury says suppliers who receive this award have met or exceeded a stringent set of quality performance criteria and have achieved the cross-functional support of the entire GM organisation.
"Overall, GM is striving to move from good to great as a company and achieving this goal depends largely on the quality of our products. Product quality plays a major role in all of this and we view it as the foundation for the overall customer experience. We have made a lot of progress in recent years improving product quality and recently achieving the top spot in the J.D. Power Initial Quality Study. Our continued progress is directly related to your progress and a shared commitment to quality," says Astbury.
Produced at its factory in Port Elizabeth, CTSA supplies tyres to GM's locally manufactured vehicles at its Struandale plant a few kilometers away.
Wayne Brown, CTSA's general manager of Manufacturing, says quality is one of the cornerstones of the company's manufacturing processes. "We do not compromise on quality and engage with our customers regularly to ensure the standard set by them is met."
Ross Currie, National Key Accounts Manager for Original Equipment (OE) passenger and light commercial tyre business adds that Continental Tyre is driven to be the tyre company of choice, for which quality is an integral part of achieving this success. "We are very pleased to be receiving this award for a second time and would like to believe that this path of success will continue."
CTSA produces more than three million tyres per annum ranging from passenger and light commercial tyres to heavy commercial and specialty tyres for the agriculture and mining sectors. The brands manufactured locally include Continental, General Tyre, Matador and Barum.
