PORTLAND, Ore. — Freightliner LLC has recognized 26 suppliers and 36 individual facilities with the company’s Masters of Quality award.

The annual awards go to companies who meet the highest standards of quality in providing parts and components for Freightliner, Sterling, Western Star, American LaFrance and Thomas Built Buses vehicles.

“The winners of the Masters of Quality award represent the ‘best of the best’ among suppliers providing parts and components to Freightliner LLC businesses,” said Freightliner LLC Chief Operating Officer Roger Nielsen, who addressed the recipients at an awards banquet in Portland. “At Freightliner, quality is not just the job of the quality assurance department. We make quality the benchmark in everything we do.”

The Masters of Quality supplier award, in its 17th year, is the highest recognition that Freightliner LLC gives to its suppliers.

Friedrich Baumann, Freightliner LLC General Manager of Procurement and Supply, also addressed the audience at the April awards banquet. “We’re proud of the suppliers gathered in this room,” Baumann said. “You are the experts in what you do.”

The 2004 awards went to companies in the United States with operations in 13 states and to three suppliers in Mexico and two in Canada.

The 2004 Masters of Quality award recipients are as follows:

Fourteenth-Year Recipient Consolidated Metco Inc., Monroe, N.C.
Thirteenth-Year Recipient Paramount Bedding Inc., Damascus, Ore.
Twelfth-Year Recipient Consolidated Metco Inc., Clackamas, Ore.
Tenth-Year Recipient Marine Plastics Ltd., Langley, B.C., Canada
Ninth-Year Recipients Consolidated Metco Inc., Portland, Ore.; Flexalloy Inc., St. Thomas, Ont., Canada; Julian Electric Inc., Westmont, Ill.
Eighth-Year Recipient Flexalloy Inc., Charlotte, N.C.
Sixth-Year Recipients Behr Climate Systems Inc., Fort Worth, Tex.; East Penn Manufacturing Co. Inc., Lyon Station, Pa.
Fifth-Year Recipient Gates Rubber, Denver, Colo.
Fourth-Year Recipients Bostrom Seating Inc., Piedmont, Ala.; Gunite Corporation, Rockford, Ill.
Third-Year Recipients Boyd Corporation, Portland, Ore.; Eaton Clutch Division, Auburn, Ind.; Flexalloy Inc., Toluca, Mexico; Hendrickson International, Kendallville, Ind.; Molded Fiber Glass Company, Ashtabula, Ohio
Second-Year Recipients Bendix Corporation Heavy Vehicle Systems, Del Rio, Tex.; Bendix Corporation Heavy Vehicle Systems, Urbana, Ohio; Flambeau Southeast Corporation, Madison, Ga.; Fontaine Fifth Wheel Company, Birmingham, Ala.; Fontaine Fifth Wheel Company, Irondale, Ala.; Inmagusa SA de CV, Monclova, Coahuila, Mexico; Kalas Manufacturing Company, Denver, Pa.; Molded Fiber Glass Company, Morganton, N.C.; Molded Fiber Glass Company, Stevenson, Wash.; Progressive Metals Manufacturing, Ferndale, Mich.; Sure Fit Metals Products Inc., Livonia, Mich.
First-Year Recipients Bendix Corporation Heavy Vehicle Systems, Frankfort, Ky.; Eaton Vorad, Galesburg, Mich.; GDX Automotive, New Haven, Mich.; Hendrickson International, Piedras Negras, Mexico; Hurd Corporation, Greeneville, Tenn.; McCoy Bolt, Fort Wayne, Ind.; Tenneco, Monroe, Mich.

For more information, visit www.freightliner.com