PORT ELIZABETH-based clutch plate manufacturer LuK Africa has been named Supplier of the Year award by Toyota South Africa. It is LuK’s third success as supplier of the year. Len Terblanche, managing director of LuK Africa, received the Supplier of the Year award from Toyota South Africa’s president and chief executive, Dr Johan Van Zyl. Chairman of Toyota SA Elisabeth Bradley paid tribute to all the Prospecton-based manufacturer’s suppliers and highlighted the four financial factors that South Africa monitored very closely: GDP, interest rates, exchange rates and inflation. Bradley also forecast modest economic growth in South Africa this year and added that not many countries in the world could show positive growth patterns in the next 12 months. In congratulating LuK Africa, Alan Holmwood, Toyota SA’s senior general manager of purchasing, said: “LuK Africa performed exceptionally during 2002 and we can say that they are truly a world-class operation”. This is their third success as Supplier of the Year, their other wins having been in 1994 and 1997. The Chairman’s Achievement Award for small dealers went to Brian Mould of Kowie Toyota in Port Alfred.