Eleventh annual Global Supplier Conference focuses on moving forward together

Schwaebisch Hall, Germany, 18 July 2019 – Last week Recaro, global supplier of premium aircraft seats, hosted its eleventh Global Supplier Conference in Schwaebisch Hall. This year’s main theme for the conference – ‘Moving forward. Together’ – shows the importance Recaro adheres to good collaboration. At the same time the company highlighted its dedication to help make the aviation industry more sustainable by launching an environmental category as part of its supplier awards.

While one of the global leaders in the aircraft seating industry, Recaro is also a family-owned business that highly values close partnerships. That is why the company, each year, organizes a Global Supplier Conference. This year’s event attracted more than 160 participants from 70 companies from all over the world.

During the conference, Recaro experts as well as guest speakers shed their light on trends and expectations in the aviation market and how to best respond to these. Recaro upholds high standards of quality, innovation and on time delivery and expects nothing less from its suppliers. How to combine being lean, competitive and efficient with innovation, agility and remaining a supplier of choice, hence was a recurring topic throughout the presentations.

Sustainability also took center stage during the conference. Especially in Boet Kreiken’s presentation. As the Executive Vice President Customer Experience for KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Kreiken went into the 100-year history of the airline and the changes it has gone through. He particularly emphasized the need for sustainable solutions for customers and the aviation market in general.

“Sustainability is a key theme in society and in our industry,” says Joachim Ley, Executive Vice President Supply Chain at Recaro Aircraft Seating. “As Recaro and its suppliers want to be prepared for the future and remain a supplier of choice, we need to keep coming up with innovative, adaptable and flexible solutions to address this and other important issues.”

Environmental category award

With the increased focus on and importance of sustainability, Recaro added a brand-new environmental category to its list of supplier awards. The honor of winning the first Recaro Environmental Supplier Award went to Henkel GmbH (Germany). They were lauded for their contribution to sustainable production solutions as well as engagement in promoting these solutions to other companies.

Next to the environmental award, Recaro rewarded 6 other suppliers for outstanding achievements:

• Yantai Aikai Tianlong Moulding Plastics won the Newcomer Award. This Chinese company has been delivering to Recaro since 2016 and combines competitive pricing with excellent service levels.
• Dietrich Aldinger GmbH from Germany received the Production Material Award. The award jury emphasized their punctual delivery, quality as well as the outstanding degree of customer orientation and service level.

Other awards went to Transcal Polska, Alu Menziken Euromotive, Kalis Innovation and Artex.

Dr. Mark Hiller CEO and Shareholder of Recaro Aircraft Seating: “We congratulate all the winners of our supplier awards 2019. I also want to thank Boet Kreiken for being a guest speaker at this conference. Over the past years, our company achieved tremendous growth and has come up with great innovations. This would not have been possible without the continued support from trusted suppliers and long-standing partners like KLM.”

Photo – from left to right: Laurent Bersot (Director Purchasing), Qiu Shengfu (Aikai Tianlong Moulding Plastics), Arkadiusz Przadka (Transcal Polska), Achim Aldinger (Dietrich Aldinger GmbH), Alice Godderidge (Alu Menziken Automotive), Heinz Brazel (Kalis Innovation), Kristine Rudzite-Zogla (Artex), Dace Stungrevica (Artex), Joachim Ley (Executive Vice President Supply Chain)

About Recaro Aircraft Seating

Recaro Aircraft Seating sees itself as a solution provider for its customers. As a global supplier of premium aircraft seats for airlines and OEMs, the company reported a growth averaging 10% over the past 15 years. Recaro employs over 2600 people worldwide and neared €600 million in sales in 2018. It is the global market leader in the economy class seating. To secure its strategic expansion, Recaro is investing hundreds of millions in product innovation in business class seating. Over the next 5 years, it will also invest in significantly expanding its headquarters in Schwaebisch Hall as well as its sites in China, Poland and the USA. With this, Recaro consistently underpins its corporate vision of “Driving comfort in the sky”.

The aim: become market leader in economy and business class seating while maintaining a permanent customer focus. For more information, please visit www.recaro-as.com.

About Recaro Group

The Recaro Group comprises the independently operating divisions Recaro Aircraft Seating in Schwaebisch Hall and Recaro eGaming in Stuttgart as well as the Recaro Holding located in Stuttgart. The Group’s consolidated sales amounted to 600 million euros in 2018. Currently the Group employs more than 2,700 employees at its locations around the world. The automotive seating business as well as the child seat and stroller business are operated by licensees. For more information, please visit www.recaro.com.