Somic America, a supplier of suspension and steering components was recognized with an Excellent Recognition award from Toyota Motor North America, Inc. at its Annual Supplier Business Meeting on March 21 in Detroit.

BREWER – Somic America, a supplier of suspension and steering components was recognized with an Excellent Recognition award from Toyota Motor North America, Inc. at its Annual Supplier Business Meeting on March 21. Held at the COBO Center in Detroit, ABM brings together approximately 850 supplier representatives from across North America.

Currently celebrating 21 years, ABM allows TMNA to discuss business objectives with direct and indirect suppliers in preparation for its upcoming fiscal year. Each year, TMNA recognizes suppliers who exceeded the company’s expectations in several categories.

“Toyota collaborates with each of our supplier partners in order to build vehicles with the high safety, quality and reliability standards to meet and exceed our customer’s expectation,” said Robert Young, Group Vice President, TMNA R&D Purchasing and Supplier Engineering Development. “We are pleased to recognize those in our supply base who exceed our high performance targets. We thank them and their team members for their tremendous support, partnership and commitment to continuous improvement and collaboration to build ‘ever better cars’ in North America.”

City of Brewer Mayor Kevin O’Connell said “We are very excited to congratulate Somic America for achieving this wonderful recognition from Toyota yet again! I’m told that although less than 5% of Toyota’s suppliers perform at this level, Somic has managed to do it consistently every year since 2012. This says something very significant about the high quality of the employees at Somic!”

D’arcy Main-Boyington, economic development director for the City of Brewer, added “Somic employs more than 100 people with wages and benefits that are well above average for our region. They are a very important part of our business community and we hope that they will remain in Brewer for many years to come, and that they will continue to exceed the expectations of Toyota and the rest of their customers!”

For more than 25 years, Somic America has produced quality components for the North American and South American automotive markets, providing manufacturers with local sourcing and a connection to the exceptional capabilities and performance commitment of Somic Ishikawa. Somic America employs 115 employees in Brewer and has a 5 year trend of outstanding quality performance here in Maine, with Maine employees, receiving an Excellent Quality Awards from Toyota every year since 2012. This is a ranking that is shared by less than 5% of their total supply base of over 1700 suppliers. Somic America’s vertically integrated processes include manufacturing, machining, and assembly, as well as capabilities for rapid design changes.

the-weekly • May 15, 2017