Akebono plant wins GM quality award

ELIZABETHTOWN, Ky. (Oct. 29, 2014) — Brake and friction material manufacturer Akebono Brake Corp.'s plant  in Elizabethtown has picked up a 2014 Supplier Quality Excellence Award from General Motors Co.

Akebono said it was among 1,506 suppliers worldwide cited for supplying “the highest levels of quality performance over the past 12 months.” The award ceremony was held at Cobo Center in Detroit Sept. 24.

Accepting the award on behalf of the company was Ted Saito, Akebono's president and CEO of North American operations, and Lisa Vollmert, director of original equipment sales, North American operations.

 The award is given to specific manufacturing locations and, according to Akebono, “only the top performing suppliers are eligible to receive it. Suppliers who receive this award have met or exceeded a very stringent set of quality performance criteria and have achieved the cross-functional support of the entire GM organization.”

Doug Morgan, plant manager at the Akebono Elizabethtown factory, credited the “hard work and dedication to quality” of the company's associates as the “key to our success in everything we do.”

Founded in 1929 as Akebono Brake Industry Co. Ltd., the Akebono Group operates R&D centers in Japan, the U.S., France, United Kingdom, China and ASEAN, and recently established a new one in Reims, France. The company has wholly owned or affiliated manufacturing facilities worldwide, employing more than 9,000 on a consolidated basis.

 As a technology partner to the McLaren Mercedes Formula 1 team, Akebono has been supplying and jointly developing brake systems since 2007.

More information about the company is available on its website.