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ZEN, the world's largest independent manufacturer of starter motors, has just received the Gold Magnet Award from BOSCH, a global leader in the supply of technologies and services, during the Supplier Meeting held in Campinas, São Paulo.

In its second edition and with the theme "60 years of history with the best partnerships", the award seeks to acknowledge the partners who have the best performance in terms of quality, competitiveness, delivery, social and environmental management, logistics, business partnership, project management, punctuality and innovation. 

ZEN was the winner in the "Highlight" category, the highest prize of the event, which acknowledges the supplier that has a differentiated posture, whether through proposals for technical improvements, logistical optimization, quickness to attend a special request, among others. "It's a very special award that acknowledges the contributions in terms of innovation, quality, excellence, competitiveness and partnership," said Gilberto Heinzelmann, CEO of ZEN.

According to Heinzelmann, the combination of actions and progress in all the cited issues led the company to be considered a prominent supplier for the Bosch Group. "It is a great acknowledgment, which proves that we are acting effectively and in the right way," he points out.

Other aspects also led to the receipt of the award: the partnership work carried out for the launch of the new BOSCH family of drivers, operational excellence using world-class manufacturing concepts and equipment, continuous investments to increase productivity, improvement of the manufacturing park and professional qualification. "Our innovation characteristic, which seeks new concepts to meet the needs of our customers in the automotive market, and our engineering capacity were also essential and contributed to winning the awards," adds Geraldo Coelho Neto, manager of Product Engineering and Processes Of ZEN.

Since 2005, ZEN has invested around 5% of its research and development revenues and created a dedicated team for new product development and new patents for the next five years. One of the products developed by this team is being released this month. This is a new family of OAD (Overrunning Alternator Decoupler) alternator pulleys, with a world-wide patent, which offers a superior performance, enabling the implementation of strategies to ensure greater engine efficiency.

In addition to innovation, ZEN also invests in business models that are aligned with the global automotive industry, so it is a cost-competitive company, which is one of the key features observed by global companies. "Major manufacturers are looking for world-class suppliers. In Brazil, there are still a few companies with this profile, so for us, this award is the acknowledgment of Zen as a prominent partner in providing to global customers, "concludes Coelho Neto.