DaimlerChrysler Receives 2006 R. Gene Richter Award for Leadership and Innovation in Supply Management

Global Procurement & Supply's International Procurement Services honored in the Organization/Structure Category by the Institute for Supply Management

* Award recognizes Global Procurement & Supply's achievements in building a global procurement organization for DaimlerChrysler * Thomas W. Sidlik, Member of the Board of Management responsible for Global Procurement & Supply: "We are very proud to receive this prestigious award, which affirms the success of our global purchasing strategy."

MINNEAPOLIS and DETROIT, May 9 -- DaimlerChrysler AG's Global Procurement & Supply organization has received the 2006 R. Gene Richter Award for Leadership and Innovation from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM). The recognition in the category "Organization/Structure" was awarded to the company's International Procurement Services (IPS) during "ISM's 91st Annual International Supply Management Conference" in Minneapolis, Minnesota. IPS, responsible for the purchasing of non-production material and services, is one of four divisions of DaimlerChrysler's Global Procurement & Supply group.

The R. Gene Richter Award was created to recognize innovative supply organizations that, through strong leadership, have dramatically increased their contribution to organizational success. DaimlerChrysler's International Procurement Services was honored this year for the strategic development of a centralized, consolidated global procurement organization and the related increase in operational and cost efficiency.

"DaimlerChrysler is very proud to receive this prestigious award," said Thomas W. Sidlik, Member of the Board of Management responsible for Global Procurement & Supply. "This recognition affirms the success of our IPS organization as well as our global purchasing concepts."

DaimlerChrysler's Global Procurement & Supply organization is one of the largest OEM goods and services purchasing groups in the world, with responsibility for all of the company's production and non-production procurement activities worldwide. IPS is responsible for around 15 percent of DaimlerChrysler's annual purchasing volume.

"Our IPS organization established innovative processes and tools to achieve global infrastructure standardization, global supply base management and global volume bundling," said Thomas W. Sidlik. "These achievements have improved DaimlerChrysler's purchasing results and, at the same time, created additional opportunities for our top performing suppliers," he added.

The R. Gene Richter Award marks the second significant award IPS received recently: In November 2005, the group was also honored with the "BME Innovation Award" from the German Federal Association for Materials Management, Purchasing and Logistics.

Dr. Heinrich Reidelbach, Vice President and Head of International Procurement Services, recognized the team effort of his organization: "It is only with the commitment, the support and the active involvement of all employees that IPS was able to become the successful global organization that

it is today. We won this award because of the consistency and thoroughness of our vision and strategy and their continual implementation."

The Institute for Supply Management (ISM), which imparts the R. Gene Richter Award, was founded in 1915. The non-profit organization is the largest supply management association in the world. ISM's membership base includes more than 40,000 supply management professionals.

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