With one "Distinguished Supplier" and twelve "Supplier Excellence" winners in five sub-categories, YF evaluated its suppliers according to several criteria. The company’s vision of technology and innovation, as well as sustainability, were particularly important. Moreover, quality, cost, service and customer satisfaction were also assessed.

“With our annual award we recognize the outstanding performance of our best partners during the past year”, said James Bos, Vice President Global Procurement at YF. “Our suppliers play an important role in our success in delivering and exceeding our customers’ expectations. Therefore, we want to honor their performance with these awards – especially at this unique time in our industry.”

In 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic continued to impact supply chains. The major global challenges in the automotive business and the current industry environment remained unchanged.

“In light of all that is going on in the industry, sustainability continues to become increasingly important throughout the world. It has emerged as a key selection criterion for all global customers. Yanfeng’s focus is to develop sustainable products and processes to reduce our carbon footprint. Most importantly, we want to achieve our goal of carbon neutrality as fast as possible,” explained Gunnar Buechter, Vice President Sustainability at YF, who is also responsible for Procurement in Europe and South Africa.
The Supplier Awards event focused on the hard work and consistent efforts of companies across YF's supply base.

“There's no denying that our industry continues to face challenges, but after the year we've been through together, it's more important than ever that we take the time to show our appreciation to our suppliers,” Buechter added.

The award recipients from Europe were:

Distinguished Supplier Award:

• BASF Polyurethanes GmbH, Germany

Supplier Excellence Award – Quality:

• Industrias Alegre S.A., Spain

Supplier Excellence Award – Customer Satisfaction:

• DSSI International, LLC    Slovakia
• SIGIT d.o.o., Serbia

Supplier Excellence Award – Sustainability:

• HOFFMANN + VOSS GmbH, Germany

Supplier Excellence Award – Technology and Innovation:

• SemsoTec GmbH, Germany
• Lightworks GmbH, Germany

Supplier Excellence Award – Service:

• CTP, Czech Republic
• Milsped d.o.o., Serbia
• Prewave GmbH, Austria
• Schneider Electric SE, France
• SPARETECH GmbH, Germany
• Weber GmbH & Co. KG, Germany