It’s not easy being perfect. Try doing it five years in a row. 

Hitchiner Manufacturing has received Daimler’s top award for quality for supplying the international automobile manufacturer highly complex castings for its turbochargers without a single defect since 2014.

Quality is crucial because turbochargers and their parts must hold up to extreme demands daily.

Daimler, owner of Mercedes-Benz and several truck companies that include Freightliner and Western Star, presents its Supplier Award annually. In naming Hitchiner the 2018 winner in the Trucks and Buses category, Daimler said Hitchiner’s record was unparalleled.

Asked how Hitchiner has maintained a perfect record for five years straight, company CEO and Chairman John Morison told Daimler, “The easy answer is to follow the established process without deviation.” But there’s more to the company’s success.

“We are constantly working to develop a better understanding of each of the critical process steps in order to improve casting quality and to reduce and ultimately eliminate process variability,” Morison said.  

The turbochargers produced from Hitchiner’s castings are critical to the efficiency and reliability of Daimler Trucks. It’s the turbocharger that allows trucks to draw sufficient power from lower rpm ranges at all times and over the life of the engine.

“These high-precision turbochargers represent the right mix between maximum power gain and high running stability,” Daimler said. 

Hitchiner began its partnership with Daimler in 2013 with a goal of becoming Daimler’s supplier of choice for its turbocharger castings. “This award serves as recognition of our achievement,” Morison said.

Hitchiner, founded in 1946 and based in Milford, produces investment castings, finished parts and assemblies for the automotive, defense, aerospace and medical industries. Its exclusive counter-gravity casting techniques are considered among the most important advancements in casting technologies. The company has additional offices in the United States and in Mexico.