MHW Magazine News and stories from the Materials Handling Industry
Bolgers, Ireland's largest exporter for fabricated sheet metal has become the first European fabrication company to receive Silver Certificate for Caterpillar's Supplier Quality Excellence Process (SQEP).
Caterpillar introduced this standard in response to realising that warranty costs were running at an unacceptable level. As a result, the company introduced the SQEP standard for all international suppliers to ensure that quality sits at the heart of all relationships. Currently, Bolgers is the only European fabrication supplier to be recognised by Caterpillar with its 'silver' level certification, which is a tremendous achievement due to the hard selection criteria in place. To achieve this status, Bolgers had to demonstrate best in class quality assurance, ensuring a rejection rate of less than 200 parts per million (PPM).
Bolgers believe it met this standard through its strong values and ethical principles in conducting business and commitment to collaborate with the Caterpillar objective to implement a culture of “zero-defects”.
To celebrate this highly acclaimed certificate a presentation was held on 18th March at Bolgers' Smithstown Business Park plant. Presenting the award to the Bolger board and employees was Steve Ellis, Caterpillar Global Purchasing, and among the invited dignitaries included Willie O'Dea TD, Minster of Defence. In addition, a special commemorative plaque was also handed over to Bolgers in recognition of this outstanding achievement.
Ian Bolger Joint Managing Director of Bolgers comments: “The Caterpillar Certified Supplier Award is only given to manufacturers who adhere to stringent production and quality guidelines set forth by Caterpillar. With this in mind – our silver certificate – the very first by a European fabrication supplier is an outstanding achievement that we're extremely proud of. We deliver world class fabrication solutions and this certificate is rightly in recognition to our great team and work with Caterpillar where we consistently achieve 98%+ On-Time Delivery (OTD).”
