Waupaca Foundry said it has earned one of the five available professional excellence awards from Toyota Industrial Equipment Manufacturing (TIEM), which builds forklifts in Indiana. The foundry said it is the first Tier 2 supplier to be recognized with the award.

The foundry has supplied iron castings to TIEM since 2002 including hubs, drums, brackets, wheels and sheaves. In 2017, it received a contract to produce 21 parts at its gray and ductile iron foundries in Waupaca and Marinette, Wis., and Tell City, Ind.

According to TIEM, supply chain partners are required to be customer centric, innovative and proactive, as well as agile and flexible. Waupaca Foundry said it launched iron casting parts while it maintained build schedules to support TIEM's production volume.

"We were able to flawlessly launch new parts for TIEM because at all levels within our organization our culture is focused on partnering with our customers to meet their goals," said John Wiesbrock, executive vice president of sales, marketing and supply chain management, Waupaca Foundry. "We are passionate about working collaboratively to provide the best iron casting solutions for our customers."

The award was presented at the Toyota Supplier Conference held in Columbus, Ind.