Vestas meets with its suppliers to strengthen cooperation and improve the level of professionalism

On 8 April, Vestas will hold Global Supplier's Day 2008 at the Renaissance Tianjin TEDA Hotel & Convention Centre in Tianjin, China. The aim of the event is to strengthen cooperation with suppliers in order to ensure a continuous improvement of products and business processes.

Global Suppliers' Day, which takes place once a year since 2006, is an excellent platform for sharing knowledge of how both Vestas and its suppliers must deal with the latest wind industry challenges in terms of capacity, professionalism and quality throughout the supply chain. More than 300 supplier representatives from all over the world have confirmed their attendance.

At 8 a.m. (Beijing time), Ditlev Engel, President and CEO of Vestas Wind Systems A/S, will open the event by welcoming all participants. During the day, a number of presentations will be held by Vestas spokespeople and representatives from the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the Chinese Wind Energy Association. One of the main issues to be addressed will be the sustainable development in the Chinese wind industry's supply chain.

Finn Strøm Madsen, President of Vestas Technology R&D, will talk about the importance of Six Sigma based on the objective set of a 4 Six Sigma level by the end of 2008. Six Sigma is the quality measurement system implemented by Vestas last year aimed at supporting Vestas' goal of being a reliable collaboration partner and manufacturer of reliable wind power plants by pursuing high quality requirements for in-house and supplier production.

To strengthen cooperation with suppliers, Vestas has introduced the 'Supplier Loyalty Concept' announced on Suppliers' Day 2007 held in April last year in Billund, Denmark. The purpose of the 'Supplier Loyalty Concept' is to give suppliers the opportunity to share their opinions of the partnership - and point towards areas where Vestas can improve, thereby improving the collaboration with suppliers. On 8 April, Søren Husted, President of Vestas Nacelles A/S, will present the progress done in this area since April 2007.

Vestas also wants to reward its suppliers for their performance and for the improvements done in 2007. For this purpose, a Vestas 'Supplier Award Programme' has been developed. Each of Vestas' Production Business Units, that are Vestas Nacelles, Vestas Towers, Vestas Blades and Vestas Control Systems, have selected a 'Supplier of the Year' based on their performance in 2007. The selection has been done based on parameters, such as delivery and quality performance, innovation and product development ability,flexibility, continuous improvement and extraordinary efforts. The 'Supplier of the Year Award 2008' will be handed over to the winners during the event.

“The aim of Global Suppliers' Day 2008 is to align our business perspective with our suppliers' and to strengthen our mutual understanding of the challenges we are facing in the wind industry to ensure the achievement of the goals and aspirations that we all have for the entire industry,” affirms Ditlev Engel. “It is only through a two-way constructive dialogue with our suppliers and a mutual cooperation that we will be able to reach our goals,” concludes Ditlev Engel.

Vestas Global Suppliers' Day 2008 will conclude with a Gala Dinner hosted by Vestas at the Renaissance Tianjin TEDA Hotel & Convention Centre in Tianjin, China.

Any questions on Global Suppliers' Day may be addressed to Søren Husted, President of Vestas Nacelles A/S, to Finn Strøm Madsen, President of Vestas Technology R&D, or to Peter Wenzel Kruse, Senior Vice President of Group Communications at Vestas Wind Systems A/S, telephone +45 9730 0000.