“This award recognizes more than 10 years of collaboration between our companies,” says Eric van der Linden. “In addition to the quality of SOURIAU’s products, we appreciate how well SOURIAU’s teams listen to and understand our needs. We hold strategic meetings together several times a year to touch base and map out our operations together. Our relationship with Souriau is much more than a simple customer/supplier relationship. For example, we work together to improve existing connectors for aircraft engines and we are working on developing EN 4165 compliant connectors.” 

Thierry Quillet – COO Esterline Connection Technologies
Michael Van den Hout – Key Account Manager – Esterline Connection Technologies
Ronald Voeten – Commodity Buyer – Fokker
Eric van der Linden – Purchasing Director – Fokker
François-Xavier Marchais – BU Sarthe and Tangier Director – Esterline Connection Technologies
Anne-Sophie Hebert – VP Marketing and Sales EMEAR Director – Esterline Connection Technologies
Patrice Cavelier-Bros – President – Esterline Connection Technologies
Patrick Kalukin – Sales Director Key Accounts EMEAR – Esterline Connection Technologies

Eric van der Linden is also closely watching SOURIAU’s commitment to complying with the European REACH regulation. “The REACH Regulation affects us because it reflects what our European customers want. Although it doesn’t apply to the U.S.A., which dominates the market, or to China, we think that REACH will ultimately become a global requirement, and SOURIAU’s advances in this area are important to us. Our collaboration with Souriau has grown stronger with each passing year, and I’m confident that this will continue in the years to come.”

“We deliver tens of thousands of connectors to Fokker every year,” says François-Xavier Marchais, director of SOURIAU Sarthe and Tangier BU. “In 2016, we had a service level of 98% and a PPM of 68. These are excellent results, especially considering that we supply an enormous variety of connectors. Our products are sent to a distribution center located in Amsterdam, and Fokker then distributes them to their production units. However, if a quality issue crops up in China, we act directly with our Chinese counterparts at Fokker to quickly get a handle on the problem. Our collaboration has continued to grow over the past 10 years. We have embarked on new programs, with new products, and are continually making innovations to our logistics and supply chain.”

Patrice Cavelier-Bros, President of Esterline Connection Technologies SOURIAU – SUNBANK, was extremely honored to receive the top connector supplier award for 2016. He closed the ceremony by saying “Receiving this award here at the Paris Air Show and in this centennial year of Souriau is a source of great pride for me. I share this sense of pride with all of SOURIAU’s teams because it is together that we strive each day to achieve the highest level of performance in producing, managing, and delivering top-quality products. Our excellent relationship with Fokker is part of our success. If a quality issue ever arises, we don’t look for excuses. We reach out to our partner to understand their problem and work out a solution. It’s in SOURIAU’s DNA and it’s what makes us innovate. We have been registering double-digit growth with Fokker over the past few years, and we count on doing everything possible to increase this growth even further.”