Vestas needs to show flexibility, reliability, agility, bankability and be able to keep cost of energy (CoE) down to a minimum. This is more than just a request from customers if the company is to remain the leader in renewable energy in the future.

That was the main message from Vestas to its suppliers at the 2011 Supplier’s Day that took place in Billund, Denmark, on Tuesday. But what may have come as a bit of a surprise to some of the 200+ suppliers present was to what extent Vestas is dependent on the suppliers to reach the Triple15 goals.

Quality is the cornerstone for improving in all the above mentioned parameters.

“We’ve looked into the root causes of field failures and malfunctions. And roughly speaking, 30 per cent can be directed at Vestas, while the remaining 70 per cent some way or another stem from the suppliers,” says Wolfgang J. Schmitz, SVP Group Quality. “It just shows the strong need for Vestas to reach out to the suppliers and cooperate on improving quality. We need to integrate. We cannot do this alone.”

Quality-focus is not a new thing for Vestas. However, Schmitz thinks the market changes have made it more pivotal than ever.

“It is no longer a seller’s market out there. It is time for consolidation. And low cost must not jeopardize quality. What Vestas needs to do is to make sure we get a better ongoing exchange of knowledge from the suppliers all the way to the field and back,” he explains. “Our role today is to make sure the suppliers know why this is important and why we do it.”

Also, CEO Ditlev Engel, President Hans Jørn Rieks from Vestas Central Europe and SVP Supply Chain Management in Control Systems, Carsten Hedemann, addressed the crowd along with the two Technology R&D SVPs, Claus Stroeh  from the 2MW platform and Jorge Magalhaes from the V112 platform.

And Ditlev Engel underlined the invitation to the suppliers , ending his speech to the crowd:

“We really need ideas and input from you (suppliers) to reach our targets. Accept that Vestas may not be the best when it comes to listening. Help us to learn how to listen!”

Four suppliers awarded with Vestas prize

CS Wind Corporation, Leuna-Harze GmbH, Phoenix Contact GmbH and Walker Component Group were all honored with the Vestas Supplier of the Year 2011 Award.

Vestas Towers gave its award to CS Wind for extraordinary dedication to Vestas through the financial crisis, and at the same time spending tremendous resources on process and quality improvements.

Vestas Nacelles singled out American cable supplier Walker Component Group for its grand efforts toward making the right setup for cooperation, asking all the right questions, embracing PPAP and calling the Supplier Quality Engineer to mentor them through the process.

Leuna-Harze was given this year’s award by Vestas Blades, who has worked with the epoxy supplier since 2003. Not one single kilogram has ever been returned or scrapped due to poor quality. The extremely high standard earned Leuna-Harze the 2011 award.

Finally, Vestas Control Systems awarded component supplier Phoenix Components Supplier of the Year 2011 for being ‘easy to work with’ and for dedicating a special ‘Vestas staff’ who always responds fast to requests in a constructive, positive and proactive way.

Legal Disclaimer:

EIN Presswire provides this news content "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.