Tuesday, 25 October 2005 22:25
How to stay standing with Equip Auto and the Globalizing Automotive Industry
Coordinated for more than 30 years, with the slogan "From Design to Service", Equip Auto 2005 was staged in Paris between 13-18 October. More than 2000 participants, ¾ of which where from outside of France, offered professional visitors over one million products within an allocated space of 200 000 m2.
The effort made to prevent fake parts from being displayed at Equip Auto 2005 was remarkable because the battle against fraud, which is widespread in the automotive industry, carries a huge amount of importance. Fraudulent companies easily reproduce and sell inventions, which have taken companies years to design and test in order to ensure buyers security and driving comfort. Even though every country has their individual laws to prevent fake parts from being manufactured due to the loopholes the necessary precutions cannot be undertaken.
Since 1985 companies that have produced innovative engineering and advanced technology, spare parts and post-sales services have been given Grands Prix awards at Equip Auto. The owners of the Grands Prix awards in 2005 were determined by a jury formed of 75 people from 21 countries. The winners are as follows:
• Engineering and Advanced Technology
Gold Cup : BERU EYQUEM, for pressure sensored heater plug
Silver Cup : VALEO, for power line communication
• Spare parts and post-sales
Gold Cup: PPG INDUSTRIES, for CeramiClear D8105 (clearcoat)
Silver Cup : AUTOSOCK, for rubber cover that prevents skidding on ice
• Service
Gold Cup: FROG`S, air process- for hood repair process
Silver Cup : BOSCH, KDS optical front – axis valve clearance
Silver Cup: SPANESI, TOUCH WHEELS – Body repair and control system for technical tests
The realization that the world no longer had borders, while I roamed around Equip Auto 2005 I could see the growing influence of eastern civilizations, in the automotive industry, as well as Europe and Japan. The globalization of the automotive industry initially started after The Second World War with American companies outsourcing manufacturing to companies of different origins or companies whose origins were not even known in order to benefit from cost reductions. The point we are at today is,
1. Multinational corporations now manufacture or have outsourced their manufacturing to emerging countries such as China, Taiwan and South Korea who are currently the head of the list,
2. Vehicle manufacturers are able to manufacture their competitors’ spare parts and sell them to unauthorized dealers,
3. Based on their agreements with the original equipment manufacturers a number of distribution companies are able to procure spare parts for more than one brand,
4. Franchising service systems consisting of unathorized dealers who guarantee high quality service are more widespread,
5. Companies who manufacture special testing equipment which can intervene in any vehicle have increased in numbers.
In otherwords, participants of the automotive industry are now concentrating on ways to increase customer satisfaction in order to minimize their profit erosion and make a difference within an extremely competitive market. The only way for companies to stay standing within such a competitve industry, which no longer has any boundries, is to ensure that their customers are totally loyal to them. In order to create customers extremely loyal to companies, in summary, things to do are:
1. deciding on what to do,
2. listening and understanding the demands of the customers
3. going one step further beyond what the customer wants
It is not hard to predict that companies who manage to do the above stated will stay standing in a globalizing automotive industry, which is becoming more competitive by the day, whereas companies who fail to do so will disappear in due course.
The effort made to prevent fake parts from being displayed at Equip Auto 2005 was remarkable because the battle against fraud, which is widespread in the automotive industry, carries a huge amount of importance. Fraudulent companies easily reproduce and sell inventions, which have taken companies years to design and test in order to ensure buyers security and driving comfort. Even though every country has their individual laws to prevent fake parts from being manufactured due to the loopholes the necessary precutions cannot be undertaken.
Since 1985 companies that have produced innovative engineering and advanced technology, spare parts and post-sales services have been given Grands Prix awards at Equip Auto. The owners of the Grands Prix awards in 2005 were determined by a jury formed of 75 people from 21 countries. The winners are as follows:
• Engineering and Advanced Technology
Gold Cup : BERU EYQUEM, for pressure sensored heater plug
Silver Cup : VALEO, for power line communication
• Spare parts and post-sales
Gold Cup: PPG INDUSTRIES, for CeramiClear D8105 (clearcoat)
Silver Cup : AUTOSOCK, for rubber cover that prevents skidding on ice
• Service
Gold Cup: FROG`S, air process- for hood repair process
Silver Cup : BOSCH, KDS optical front – axis valve clearance
Silver Cup: SPANESI, TOUCH WHEELS – Body repair and control system for technical tests
The realization that the world no longer had borders, while I roamed around Equip Auto 2005 I could see the growing influence of eastern civilizations, in the automotive industry, as well as Europe and Japan. The globalization of the automotive industry initially started after The Second World War with American companies outsourcing manufacturing to companies of different origins or companies whose origins were not even known in order to benefit from cost reductions. The point we are at today is,
1. Multinational corporations now manufacture or have outsourced their manufacturing to emerging countries such as China, Taiwan and South Korea who are currently the head of the list,
2. Vehicle manufacturers are able to manufacture their competitors’ spare parts and sell them to unauthorized dealers,
3. Based on their agreements with the original equipment manufacturers a number of distribution companies are able to procure spare parts for more than one brand,
4. Franchising service systems consisting of unathorized dealers who guarantee high quality service are more widespread,
5. Companies who manufacture special testing equipment which can intervene in any vehicle have increased in numbers.
In otherwords, participants of the automotive industry are now concentrating on ways to increase customer satisfaction in order to minimize their profit erosion and make a difference within an extremely competitive market. The only way for companies to stay standing within such a competitve industry, which no longer has any boundries, is to ensure that their customers are totally loyal to them. In order to create customers extremely loyal to companies, in summary, things to do are:
1. deciding on what to do,
2. listening and understanding the demands of the customers
3. going one step further beyond what the customer wants
It is not hard to predict that companies who manage to do the above stated will stay standing in a globalizing automotive industry, which is becoming more competitive by the day, whereas companies who fail to do so will disappear in due course.
