Tata steel takes gold status as Caterpillar supplier

Posted on 24 Dec 2012 by Tim Brown

Tata Steel has rounded off an award-winning year by receiving a Gold and Silver certification in Caterpillar's prestigious Supplier Quality Excellence Programme (SQEP) for its processing and distribution operation in India and Skinningrove in the UK.

Designed to recognise the companies which deliver benchmark levels of service, the Caterpillar SQEPs have become a watchword for efficiency and effectiveness.

2012 is the third consecutive year that the Skinningrove facility has received a Silver award for its product, while Tata Steel Processing and Distribution (TSPDL) unit received its first SQEP at Bronze level in 2009. Subsequently, it was recertified as Bronze in 2010, Silver in 2011 and Gold, for the first time, in 2012.

Peter Gate, global account manager for Caterpillar at Tata Steel, said, “We are overjoyed to once again have received a high level recertification and it demonstrates Tata Steel’s ongoing commitment to working closely with our clients to achieve the best possible results. This is part of a never-ending commitment for us, and the company will be looking to build on these results in the future.”

Gaining certification means that Tata Steel has met prescribed criteria on quality and delivery performance as well as demonstrating ability to continuously improve processes.

The TSPDL is wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Steel, with 8 large processing units, 15 sales locations and a host of partners like external processing agencies, suppliers, retailers and other stakeholders. Today TSPDL is India’s largest steel service organisation.

The Trackshoe Longbar project in Skinningrove is an example of how Tata Steel’s close working relationship with a client brought about beneficial gains in supply chain efficiency.

Tata Steel is one of the world’s leading steel suppliers and boasts a wide range of products for the automotive, lifting and excavating, packaging, construction and other related industries.