VW Group honours Bridgestone with Best Supplier award

[caption id="attachment_692" align="alignnone" width="635"] Newly inaugurated Bridgestone Asia-Pacific Technical Centre[/caption]

Bridgestone Corporation has been awarded by Volkswagen Group Award to recognise the tyre maker's achievement for being the best supplier of the VW group. The VW Group honours small number of its international suppliers by giving them this award. The companies that are awarded are distinguished for being reliable and for their special innovative capabilities.

The award was presented on July 15, 2015 by Dr. Martin Winterkorn, Chairman of the Board of Management, Volkswagen AG and Dr. Francisco Javier Garcia Sanz, member of the Board of Management responsible for Procurement, at a special ceremony in Neuburg, Germany.

Franco Annunziato, President and CEO of Bridgestone Europe, received the award on behalf of Bridgestone Corporation and said, "Bridgestone receives this Volkswagen Group Award with enormous pleasure and pride. It is the result of great teamwork and effort across Bridgestone divisions and business units."

To justify, why Bridgestone deserved to be awarded, Annunziato said, "I believe there are two main success factors. Firstly, it represents strong endorsement of Bridgestone’s strategy to reorganize global operations to match Volkswagen Group’s expectations from a global supplier. Secondly, it is our commitment to develop state of the art technology to help Volkswagen Group meet reduced fuel consumption and CO2 emission targets."

It will be interesting to see what direction the company takes in future since Bridgestone appointed Kazuhisa Nishigai for the role of Chief Technology Officer starting from August 1, 2015. Nishigai will be taking over the responsibility of technology used within the company from the earlier CTO Nirumi Zaitsu. Nishigai will also retain the position of Chief Operating Officer and will continue as Vice Chairman of BIOC (Bridgestone International Organizing Committee).