9th ACS Programme Council and AutoNet Regional Info Day

Ljubljana, 6 January 2011 - On the 10th December 2010, Mr. Christof Droste - CEO of Hella Saturnus Slovenia on behalf of the host, opened the 9th ACS Programme Council and AutoNet Regional Info Day. The event was attended by 38 participants, the directors of Slovenian automotive suppliers and supporting research organizations.

For the ninth in a row, ACS (Automotive Cluster of Slovenia) organized a Program Council, which aimed to review the work of ACS members in the current year and provide further direction. Program Council was focused on the presentation of joint development projects and activities of ACS members in the next year. Following opening and the presentation of Hella and Hella Saturnus Slovenia, together with external experts, there was the presentation of Mr. Thomas Jurejevčič PhD, on the topic of advanced development and technology solutions. This presentation was followed by a round table on “how to pass the requirements of the customers to suppliers”. Programme continued with speech from Mr. Manfred Niethammer, representative from CLEPA (the European Association of Automotive Suppliers) who presented the current state of the EU automotive supplier industry and the standard terms of business between vehicle manufacturers and suppliers, and current procurement strategy.

In the second part of Mr. Christof Droste presented an interesting way of successful introduction of project management systems. Mr. Dušan Bušen, managing director of ACS, presented an extensive work plan for ACS’ activities in 2011 in which the ACS will also ceremonially mark the 10 anniversary of its successful operation. The event was concluded with a guided tour of the production Hella Saturnus.

As a part of the 9th program council, ACS in framework of the project AutoNet, also organized “Regional Information Day”. Autonet project aims to promote the Central European region by developing sustainable and innovative environment that enables the development of new processes, materials and innovation in the automotive industry. With the creation of business networks and networking companies and other players in the automotive industry, the project will create new partnerships to continue creating new innovative solutions and products.