116/11/2023 I ZF Friedrichshafen. As part of the group-wide Global Supplier Summit, a virtual conference that this year focused on sustainability, ZF honoured seven of their worldwide 36,000 suppliers for their excellent performance. Awards were presented once each in the categories Sustainability, Digitalisation as well as Operational & Functional Excellence and 4 times in the category Innovation. 

MAGNET-SCHULTZ was the only supplier nominated in two categories (Operational & Functional Excellence and Innovation). During the award ceremony, CEO Dr Albert W. Schultz received the Innovation Award for the Electric Mobility field virtually from Jorrit Kraus, Vice President, Head of Global Commodity Chemicals, ZF Group. Mr Kraus paid tribute to the long-standing partnership with MSM, highlighting operational performance, excellence and innovation: "They have been working very hard together with our engineering group to come up with an innovation that deviates from the main stream technical solutions for EVDs (electric vehicle drives). Using their extensive knowledge on hydraulic pressure regulation and leveraging existing investment and equipment, they have developed an EVD parking lock that takes advantage of the cooling and lubrication needs of EVDs to use existing hydraulic features such as pumps or oil. The solution is a cost competitive package with further potential with small modification to develop also into an axel disconnect unit. We are already planning to integrate this technical solution in our upcoming new e-axle. This is one of the nice examples where a supplier is managing the industry transformation from sunset to sunrise products through innovation to ensure re-use a trophic system investment and know-how and offering from day one a competitive solution in terms of technology, cost and upfront investment.”

In a short speech, Dr Albert W. Schultz expressed his thanks for the honour of receiving the award for a second time after receiving it in 2011. He emphasised the more than 50 years of cooperation and referred to the MSM mission "Make your customers successful" and explained the need for premium technology, cost competitiveness, delivery performance and quality. "I think two awards in 12 years show that MSM has been able to support  ZF’s and your end customers success on a long term base. We are proud of that, yet we do understand this award as a stimulus for continuous improvement and we are well aware of the challenges and even higher expectations for automotive applications in the future." Dr Schultz emphasised that MSM felt particularly honoured to receive an award for a hydraulic system in the field of electric mobility, highlighted its technical advantages such as the high power density in particular, and thanked ZF for its integration into the latest generation of its electric axles. In conclusion, he emphasised an aspect of the joint cooperation which has proven very successful in the past and which will also continue to apply in the future: the earlier MSM is involved as a supplier in the development of future products, the better the sometimes conflicting development goals can be integrated and the joint competitiveness secured. "Then we will best possibly support ZF’s and your end customer’s success also in the future - thank you!"

Source: ZF, Videocilp of Global Supplier Summit 2023