Reinhard Bretthauer wins “Recaro Supplier Award 2013"

“The fact that Recaro Aircraft Seating has managed to grow so successfully in recent years despite difficult market conditions is due to our adherence to delivery dates and the excellent quality of our products,” explains Joachim Ley, Vice President Supply Chain at Recaro Aircraft Seating. In fact, as a result of the company’s excellent performance in these areas, aircraft manufacturer Airbus gave Recaro Aircraft Seating complete responsibility for the approval of long-haul seats this year. “Currently, we are the only aircraft seating supplier in the world that is authorized to approve seats on behalf of Airbus,” reports Ley.

And this is no coincidence. “We place high demands on ourselves. Our aim is to be the best supplier from our customers’ perspective – and we expect the same from our partners,” adds Christoph Schürhoff, Director Purchasing. The Reinhard Bretthauer company (Dillenburg, Germany) has thoroughly lived up to these expectations – and has therefore received the “Recaro Supplier Award 2013”. A specialized manufacturer of high-grade injection-molded plastic components, Reinhard Bretthauer supplies armrests, tray tables, endbays and cup holders. Due to the company’s excellent performance, they have been included by Recaro Aircraft Seating in numerous new development projects. “Reinhard Bretthauer has been an excellent performer for a long period of time. Quality cost have therefore been very low. In addition, the company has contributed innovative ideas even as early as the product development phase. These are the reasons why it has earned the award for the second time,” says Schürhoff. Reinhard Bretthauer was indeed the first recipient of the “Recaro Supplier Award” when it was started in 2010 in Hamburg, Germany.

The two other recipients of the “Recaro Supplier Award” this year were Rocket Air Supply (Arlington/Texas, USA) and Aida Development (Schwaebisch Hall, Germany). Meanwhile, Inter Groclin Auto based in Grodzisk Wielkopolski, Poland, was honored with the “Recaro Special Award”, which was presented this year for the first time. “Inter Groclin Auto, one of our new suppliers, managed to meet our standards quickly, due to their excellent proactive approach. For us, this was worthy of a special prize,” explains Schürhoff. These four companies were chosen from among the 100 most important Recaro suppliers around the world. The selection of the best suppliers was based on continuous assessments carried out by Recaro Aircraft Seating, which the company uses to regularly monitor the quality of supplied products, on-time delivery and overall efficiency.

The awards were presented as part of the 5th “Recaro Aircraft Seating Global Supplier Conference”, which was held at the Recaro site in Swiebodzin, Poland. The theme of the conference this year was “Globalization in Aviation”. More than 150 supplier representatives, including companies from Europe, South Africa, China and the United States, discussed the global growth of the international aviation business, and inherent challenges for local supply chains. Among the conference’s guest speakers was Alain Legros, Vice President Seat and Electronics Cabin Procurement at Airbus, who addressed globalization of aviation in his speech. Rounding out the conference program was a tour of the new Swiebodzin plant, which Recaro officially opened in 2012. “The conference is an integral part of our supplier network. It has gained importance in its role as a platform for constructive exchange and indepth discussion. The large number of participants this year, along with the positive feedback from suppliers, has emonstrated this once again,” says Joachim Ley.