DAIMLER SUPPLIER MAGAZINE 01|2010 – A MAGAZINE FOR SUPPLIERS AND ASSOCIATES OF DAIMLER AG Daimler SUPPLIERMAGAZINE 01 l10

“The Best or Nothing” During the second Daimler Key Supplier Meeting at the Mercedes-Benz Center in Stuttgart Daimler AG’s top management paid tribute to the supplier performance in the past business year. The highlight of the event was the presentation of the Daimler Supplier Awards to the best suppliers. Read more starting from page 4.

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“The Best or Nothing”

During the second Daimler Key Supplier Meeting at the Mercedes-Benz Center in Stuttgart Daimler AG’s top management paid tribute to the supplier performance in the past business year. The highlight of the event was the presentation of the Daimler Supplier Awards to the best suppliers.

Photography Daimler Key Supplier Meeting: KD Busch

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Daimler Trucks & Buses

Global Partners Five supply partners from three countries are being awarded the Daimler Supplier Awards 2009 from Daimler Trucks & Buses.

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AWARD WINNERS Polyplex AG Takata-Petri AG Daimler Supplier Award 2009 Plastic offers safety, functionality and attractive The Daimler Supplier Award 2009 from Daimler EXTERIOR design. It is a mat erial that sho ws resistance Trucks & Buses in the “Interior” category goes Polyplex AG and q uality but mus t also under go cons tant to Takata-Petri AG. Founded in 1933 as a textile Headquarters: Neunkirch, Switzerland development par ticularly in aut omotive manu- manufacturer, road saf ety came in creasingly Employees: approx. 40 facturing, which is precisely where the expertise into the company’s f ocus dur ing t he 1 960s. Product program: Fiber-reinforced formed parts, of P olyplex AG lies. The product range of t he Over the years, the company has e xpanded duro- and thermoplastics, small and large components medium sized com pany covers small t o lar ge its por tfolio and has developed activ e and component series, individual s tructural com- passive safety sy stems f or pr otecting v ehicle INTERIOR ponents t hrough to assembly-ready complete occupants, including , child seats and Takata-Petri AG solutions. steering wheels. Along wit h i ts pr oduct r ange, Headquarters: Tokyo, Japan For more than a decade, P olyplex AG has been the Japanese com pany also e xpanded its Employees: approx. 28,000 providing exterior parts for the Mercedes-Benz global pr oduction t o a t otal of 46 f actories in Product program: Seat belts, airbags, Citaro city bus. T he Swiss supplier pr oduces 16 countries, including Ger many, the USA and steering wheels, child seats front panels, bumpers and corner bumpers for China. the Top Class 400 and Mer cedes-Benz These t wo aspects – development e xpertise MECHATRONICS Travego coaches. The sheet molding compound and a w orldwide presence – ar e a s ignificant Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. (SMC) com posite material sy stem en ables a success f actor in t he cooper ation be tween Headquarters: Tokyo and Yokohama, Japan lightweight construction solution whic h can Daimler AG and T akata-Petri AG. For e xample, Employees: approx. 33,000 withstand e xtreme mechanical, c hemical and the supplier ac hieved crucial s ynergies i n Product program (automotive): Engines and thermal stresses. On the basis of this material the development and pr oduction of t he “global transmissions, vehicle climate control, production technology, it was also possible to replace metal steering wheel” f or Mer cedes-Benz T rucks and testing systems, intelligent transport systems components by SMC components. In addition, Europe, Mercedes-Benz do Br asil and Daimler Polyplex AG has decisively optimized the manu- Trucks North America. Takata-Petri pla ys an CHASSIS facture of t ools and t hus t he cos ts com pared active role in t he w orldwide implementation Kirchhoff Automotive GmbH with standard tool-intensive processes. of common par ts strategies in the Commercial Headquarters: Iserlohn, The Daimler Supplier Award 2009 from Daimler Vehicles Division of Daimler AG. The su pplier Employees: approx. 3,500 Trucks & Buses in the “Exterior” category was has proved to be everything one could wish for Product program: Chassis and suspension accepted by Managing Dir ector Rolf Sut haus in a par tner in ne w pr oduct pr ojects as w ell: components, frames and detachable frame components on behal f o f his em ployees. “Las t y ear pos ed dedicated, competent and reliable. considerable challenges for us all, which is why “We are dr iven by the vision of pr otecting POWERTRAIN this award means a great deal to us. It is a token human lif e and har ness our pioneer ing spir it ElringKlinger AG of g enuine ap preciation of ou r dail y w ork and into developing inno vative products,” e xplains Headquarters: Dettingen/Erms, Germany will mo tivate us to become e ven better in t he Dr.HeinrichBinder, Chairman of Takata-PetriAG. Employees: approx. 4,100 future.” “In our cooper ation wit h Daimler AG, we are Product program: Cylinder head gaskets, speciality coming ever closer to this vision. That is why we gaskets, plastic housing modules and shielding systems are all t he mor e delighted to be honor ed with for the engine, transmissions and exhaust gas systems this year’s Daimler Supplier Award.”

01 Rolf Suthaus, Managing Director of Polyplex AG, receives the award from Stefan Buchner, Head of Procurement Trucks and Buses, and Andreas 02 Stefan Buchner and Andreas Renschler share Renschler, Member of the Board of Management happiness with Dr. Heinrich Binder, Chairman of of Daimler AG and Head of Daimler Trucks. Takata-Petri AG.

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