Vestas meets with its suppliers to strengthen cooperation and improve the level of professionalism
Press release from
Vestas Wind Systems A/S
Randers, 7 April 2008
Press release No. 3/2008
Vestas meets with its suppliers to strengthen cooperation and improve the level
of professionalism
Vestas Global Suppliers' Day 2008 will be a platform for communication between
Vestas and its business suppliers.
On 8 April, Vestas will hold Global Supplier's Day 2008 at the Renaissance
Tianjin TEDA Hotel & Convention Centre in Tianjin, China. The aim of the event
is to strengthen cooperation with suppliers in order to ensure a continuous
improvement of products and business processes.
Global Suppliers' Day, which takes place once a year since 2006, is an excellent
platform for sharing knowledge of how both Vestas and its suppliers must deal
with the latest wind industry challenges in terms of capacity, professionalism
and quality throughout the supply chain. More than 300 supplier representatives
from all over the world have confirmed their attendance.
At 8 a.m. (Beijing time), Ditlev Engel, President and CEO of Vestas Wind Systems
A/S, will open the event by welcoming all participants. During the day, a number
of presentations will be held by Vestas spokespeople and representatives from
the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the Chinese Wind
Energy Association. One of the main issues to be addressed will be the
sustainable development in the Chinese wind industry's supply chain.
Finn Strøm Madsen, President of Vestas Technology R&D, will talk about the
importance of Six Sigma based on the objective set of a 4 Six Sigma level by the
end of 2008. Six Sigma is the quality measurement system implemented by Vestas
last year aimed at supporting Vestas' goal of being a reliable collaboration
partner and manufacturer of reliable wind power plants by pursuing high quality
requirements for in-house and supplier production.
To strengthen cooperation with suppliers, Vestas has introduced the 'Supplier
Loyalty Concept' announced on Suppliers' Day 2007 held in April last year in
Billund, Denmark. The purpose of the 'Supplier Loyalty Concept' is to give
suppliers the opportunity to share their opinions of the partnership - and point
towards areas where Vestas can improve, thereby improving the collaboration with
suppliers. On 8 April, Søren Husted, President of Vestas Nacelles A/S, will
present the progress done in this area since April 2007.
Vestas also wants to reward its suppliers for their performance and for the
improvements done in 2007. For this purpose, a Vestas 'Supplier Award Programme'
has been developed. Each of Vestas' Production Business Units, that are Vestas
Nacelles, Vestas Towers, Vestas Blades and Vestas Control Systems, have selected
a 'Supplier of the Year' based on their performance in 2007. The selection has
been done based on parameters, such as delivery and quality performance,
innovation and product development ability,flexibility, continuous improvement
and extraordinary efforts. The 'Supplier of the Year Award 2008' will be handed
over to the winners during the event.
“The aim of Global Suppliers' Day 2008 is to align our business perspective with
our suppliers' and to strengthen our mutual understanding of the challenges we
are facing in the wind industry to ensure the achievement of the goals and
aspirations that we all have for the entire industry,” affirms Ditlev Engel. “It
is only through a two-way constructive dialogue with our suppliers and a mutual
cooperation that we will be able to reach our goals,” concludes Ditlev Engel.
Vestas Global Suppliers' Day 2008 will conclude with a Gala Dinner hosted by
Vestas at the Renaissance Tianjin TEDA Hotel & Convention Centre in Tianjin,
China.
Any questions on Global Suppliers' Day may be addressed to Søren Husted,
President of Vestas Nacelles A/S, to Finn Strøm Madsen, President of Vestas
Technology R&D, or to Peter Wenzel Kruse, Senior Vice President of Group
Communications at Vestas Wind Systems A/S, telephone +45 9730 0000.
Yours sincerely
Vestas Wind Systems A/S
Ditlev Engel
President and CEO
Vestas - No. 1 in Modern Energy
Wind power is a renewable, predictable and clean energy resource. It has a fast
ramp-up and offers the energy independence demanded by some of world's largest
and fastest growing economies. This is why Vestas calls wind power Modern
Energy.
With a 23 per cent market share in 2007, Vestas is the world leader in
delivering Modern Energy. Vestas has already installed over 35,000 wind turbines
in 63 countries on five continents and it is installing a new turbine every four
hours. In 2007, Vestas turbines generated more than 60 million MWh - or enough
electricity to supply millions of households. During the last 25 years, Vestas
has improved the output of its turbines 100 times and is still continuously
improving turbine effectiveness. This is why Vestas is No.1 in Modern Energy.
