Lockheed Martin presents Elite Supplier Award to Global Tooling Systems

After the Elite Supplier award ceremony, visitors from Lockheed Martin, Michigan government, and local trade organizations toured the Global Tooling Systems facility and stopped for a photo with an F-35 work stand.

Global Tooling Systems, an Ascent Aerospace company and provider of smart assembly tooling, was honored by Lockheed Martin as a top performing supplier for 2016, based on wing assembly systems and work stands that Global produced to support the F-35 program. Elite Supplier status is awarded to the top 2% of Lockheed Martin’s supply base of 1,400 suppliers and recognizes suppliers holding a 98% on-time delivery rating with a 98% quality rating. 

Dan Pleshko, vice president of procurement and supply chain services at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, joined by five representatives from the company’s procurement team, officially presented the certificate and banner. The award was accepted by Al Kaufman, Jerome Palazzolo, Mike Campbel,l and John Lewis, on behalf of Global’s 300 employees, who were present at the ceremony. 

According to Chet Olekszyk, general manager of Global Tooling Systems, “This elite award for our performance during 2016 reflects the dedication of our employees. At every level, our team is committed to providing Lockheed Martin, and all of our customers, with industry-leading technologies and quality.”

Guests of honor at the ceremony were James Jackson, a representative from U.S. Senator Gary Peters’ office; Troy Hudson, a representative from U.S. Congressman Paul Mitchell’s office; and Mark Hackel, County Executive for Macomb County, Michigan.

Ascent also welcomed representatives from Macomb Regional Procurement Technical Assistance Center, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, and Automation Alley. Following the presentation of the award, all guests were invited on a tour of Ascent’s newly expanded Macomb campus, which is now home to Global Tooling Systems, Ascent Integration – North America, and Brown Aerospace. 

Across Michigan, Ascent Aerospace employs more than 600 aerospace professionals and operates almost 500,000ft² of production facilities.