OREANDA-NEWS. November 05, 2015. Ford was recently recognized as Corporation of the Year at the National Minority Supplier Development Council award banquet — the highest honor awarded at the event.

“We recognized that Ford had a social responsibility to provide business opportunities for minorities and communities that deserve a chance to compete, and thrive, with the rest of our stakeholders,” said Hau Thai-Tang, group vice president, Global Purchasing. “Our diversity program is built on a strong foundation of commitment, perseverance and integrity. And is something we are extremely proud of.”

Ford’s journey to ensure a diverse supply chain network began in 1978. The diversity program aims to source at least 10 percent of the company’s \\$80 billion U.S. Purchasing budget with diverse production and non-production suppliers annually.

Ford has exceeded its goals five years running and in 2014 purchased \\$6.75 billion in goods and services from minority-owned suppliers, \\$2 billion in goods and services from women-owned suppliers and \\$858 million in goods and services from veteran-owned companies.

“Ford currently is poised to accelerate our progress in all areas of our business, including our continued focus and commitment to supplier diversity,” Thai-Tang said.