The industry organization FKG (The Scandinavian Association for Suppliers to the Automotive Industry)  awards National Sweden the ”Supplier of the Year Award 2023

National Sweden - manufacturer and supplier of fiber, plastic and rubber products - is awarded Supplier of the Year Award 2023
Above all, it is the National Group's sustainability work that is awarded by the industry organization for the Swedish supplier industry, FKG.

”We are overwhelmed and extremely happy about this honourable award! In fact - we were proud just to be nominated!", explained Johan Rössel, Sales Account Manager and part owner of National Sweden, as he received the award together with Joakim Fritz, VP and Business Development Director, at the Annual Suppliers Day in Gothenburg.

The jury's reasoning reads as follows: ”Using the earth's resources in a more efficient way is a decisive effort to reach the necessary climate goals. In the future, acting sustainably will not only be a competitive advantage in the supply chain, but a necessity. National Sweden's investment in research and proprietary materials, circular processes and energy-efficient solutions in production is a role model in the industry. The progress and results from the investments made are communicated in an inspiring way and encourage more suppliers to sharpen their sustainability work. For their positive impact on supplier-level development, National Sweden is awarded the Supplier of the Year Award.”.

Together with six other companies, National Sweden was nominated for the Supplier of the Year Award 2023. The jury fell for the long-term sustainability work that the company has been running for the past 5-6 years. A job that is growing in importance for the automotive industry's suppliers when the entire mobility and transport sector implements the green transition.

”We started with an overhaul of our rubber side, where we have now developed a whole family of materials (Rubust® EPDM) with a significantly reduced CO2 footprint. Today, we also have several sustainable materials in fiber and plastic that we work with strategically, for example in the form of so-called "One Polymer Solutions" and the creation of closed circular material loops. Investments in buildings and production equipment have been made with clear sustainability aspects which enable future measurement of CO2 impact down to item level. We have also run an energy efficiency project together with the Swedish Energy Agency and Siemens, which resulted in an energy saving of 40 percent, says Joakim Fritz, adding that sustainability work not only permeates the entire business and is important for the future, but also constitutes a competitive advantage.

The Supplier of the Year Award is awarded annually to the individual or organization that has benefited the industry's development in Sweden. Areas assessed by the jury are design, entrepreneurship, environment, internationalization and research & development. Last year, the award went to the workshop company AGES Industri, for the work in taking the metal industry's sustainability work to new heights and generously sharing it with other Swedish suppliers.

The award committee for the Supplier of the Year Award 2023 consisted of FKG chairman Martin Lidén, deputy chairman Christina Holgerson, CEO Peter Bryntesson, the winners from the last two years - Anders Magnusson, AGES Industri, and Clas Tengström, Bror Tonsjö AB, as well as Göran Björklund, senior advisor at  the communications agency Newsroom.