Automotive suppliers and original equipment manufacturers from across the South met at the end of January in Alabama to trade ideas and best practices on environmental sustainability.
The first quarterly meeting of 2020 for the Suppliers Partnership for the Environment was held in Lincoln, Alabama at the Honda AIDT Training Center on Jan. 30.
Members viewed presentations on environmental sustainability programs and strategies, along with guest speaker presentations on emerging environmental issues impacting the automotive industry.
“A Supplier Partnership conference really allows OEMs and all tiers of suppliers to communicate,” said Kevin Butt, the 2020 chair of SP’s Executive Committee and director of environmental sustainability for Toyota Motor North America Inc.
“We in the industry don’t want to reinvent the wheel, and the Suppliers Partnership has the benefit of membership that have dived deep into practices that really can make a change on the big scale, and those are the things that get people excited.”
Hosted by the Alabama Automotive Manufacturers Association, this meeting included updates on member-led SP work group initiatives addressing shared environmental sustainability issues from member representatives such as Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, General Motors, Honda, Toyota, Lear, Waste Management and others.
“We had a lot of people, and some new folks that wanted to get a first-hand look at what goes on at our Supplier Partnership meetings, and we hope that the regional people will travel to the Q2 meeting in Dearborn, Michigan and continue the dialogue,” said Butt.
