Top-Performing Suppliers Recognized at Chrysler Group Supplier Awards Ceremony

DETROIT, June 6, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

• Twelve awards presented for extraordinary performance in 2011
• Innovation, continued focus on product execution key themes for 2012 and beyond

Chrysler Group LLC recognized its top-performing suppliers during the Company's 2012 Annual Strategy Meeting and Supplier Awards Ceremony held Wednesday morning at the Fox Theatre in Detroit.

Approximately 1,400 global supplier executives attended the ceremony to review Chrysler Group and Fiat S.p.A. purchasing activities, strategy and expectations, while also taking time to celebrate successes from the 2011 calendar year. The event focused on technology innovations achieved through collaboration.

"This is a chance to thank our suppliers for putting their faith in us and to celebrate the strengthened partnership that has allowed us to achieve this extraordinary turnaround," said Sergio Marchionne, Chrysler Group Chairman and CEO. "Thanks to our suppliers, we have revitalized our product lineup, substantially improved quality, grown sales and market share, and returned to profitability, all at remarkable speed."

Top executives from Chrysler Group and Fiat S.p.A. also were in attendance. Presentations were delivered by Scott Kunselman, Senior Vice President of Purchasing and Supplier Quality, Chrysler Group; Reid Bigland, Dodge Brand President and CEO, Head of U.S. Sales, Chrysler Group and CEO of Chrysler Canada; and Vilmar Fistarol, Head of Group Purchasing, Fiat S.p.A.

"We want the most innovative, best performing suppliers on the Chrysler team," said Kunselman, host for the ceremony. "The suppliers we are honoring today have exhibited the kind of partnership that we will need to make the great cars and trucks that our customers have come to expect. Our success depends on a supply base that is motivated, capable and ready to meet our future needs."

The 2012 Chrysler Group Supplier of the Year award recipients are:

• AK Steel Corp.: Metallic
• Dong Yang Piston Co., LTD: Powertrain
• TRICO Products: Electrical
• Ultra Manufacturing Ltd.: Chemical
• TRICO Products: Mopar
• Century Plastics, Inc.: Quality
• ZF: Innovation
• Universal McCann: Services
• Walbridge: Capital Expenditure
• Union Pacific Distribution Services: Logistics
• Cummins Inc.: Sustainability
• Johnson Controls, Inc.: Diversity Supplier Development

Award recipients were determined based on an evaluation of each company's External Balanced Scorecard performance in 2011 – a rating system that evaluates supplier performance in areas such as quality, delivery, cost, warranty and partnership – and input from Chrysler Group senior leadership. For the first time, suppliers were able to nominate themselves to receive consideration for the Sustainability and Diversity Supplier Development award categories.

Chrysler Group's Purchasing and Supplier Quality organization has had a renewed focus on supplier relations since 2009. Activities such as monthly supplier town hall forums, focused supplier advisory councils and surveys of the supply base have helped the Company foster more positive, mutually beneficial supplier relationships. The Company has also instituted programs for encouraging supplier innovation, finding opportunities for cost reduction, and has executed more than 100 improvements to processes to help suppliers work with the Company more effectively. According to the annual Planning Perspectives survey, the Company has improved working relations with suppliers by an industry-best 53 percent since 2009.

About Chrysler Group

Chrysler Group LLC, formed in 2009 to establish a global strategic alliance with Fiat S.p.A., produces Chrysler, Jeep®, Dodge, Ram, Mopar, SRT and Fiat vehicles and products. With the resources, technology and worldwide distribution network required to compete on a global scale, the alliance builds on Chrysler Group's culture of innovation, first established by Walter P. Chrysler in 1925, and Fiat's complementary technology that dates back to its founding in 1899.

SOURCE Chrysler Group LLC