Summer 2006 · nº 46 Quality: Zero complaints History of car design in Spain What does my new car smell of? NEWS Published by Grupo Antolin Grupo Antolin is an international company at the cutting edge of design and production of components for car interiors for the automobile industry. Present in 21 countries, it has a workforce of more than 10, 400 employees. D. Legal: M-18594-2006 EDITORIAL BOARD Grupo Antolin Human Resources Department Carretera Madrid Irún, km. 244,8 E 09007 BURGOS - SPAIN Tel. 34 947 47 77 00 Fax: 34 947 47 79 48 www.grupoantolin.com EDITORIAL OFFICE Department of Human Resources Leticia Fernández · [email protected] DESIGN Germán Delgado · [email protected] PHOTOGRAPHY Rafa Sáiz PRINTED BY COIMAN C/ Marqués de Portugalete, 16 E 28027 MADRID - ESPAÑA Tel. 34 91 742 12 03 Fax: 34 91 742 67 81 Summary pag. 3 in first person pag. 4 cover Objective: Zero complaints pag. 8 designing the future History of car design in Spain pag. 12 report What does my new car smell of? pag. 15 special feature Are you secure? pag. 16 the photo CYD 2005 Report Presentation pag. 18 the major figures LEARNING: A mutual benefit pag. 20 in brief News in brief pag. 28 health Recommendations for avoiding food poisoning during the summer pag. 30 on the way Michigan 2 news grupo antolin · summer 2006 Go get ‘em! Thirty-two teams representing the whole planet and only one winner. The 2006 World Cup kicks off. The interest and social impact sparked off by a sporting event like football is unquestionable. Nerves, hopes, effort, tension, every kind of feeling comes to the fore the moment our side is about to score the winning goal. The winner’s success is due to their functioning as a real team. A real team is not only formed by the players and the technical group of physical trainers and coaches; behind them is an entire organisation, without whose good management it would be impossible to attain such a wonderful triumph. With this sporting reality in mind, there is no doubt that a work team, whatever the field or professional activity we are involved in, is managed in the same way as might be the case for a football club. Concepts such as leadership, motivation, team building, communication, planning,... are present in all our “moves”. Clients, suppliers, share-holders competitors... we all have a role to play, making us all players, whether we belong to the regular first team or not, and part of the game. Proposing innovative solutions to the clients in today’s market demands being surrounded by professionals specialising in different fields of knowledge. So over the years our company has been putting together a multicultural human resource team, in which several nationalities are working together on the same project. The sum of all this knowledge is what has provided us with constant help to always obtain the best response. Just like a coach, “business trainers” are involved in the permanent quest for the elements that will make each person discover ways within themselves to improve their work, and by extension, the performance of our organisation. For this reason, we have the task of offering them our support and conferring on them the importance they deserve in such a way that everybody - both technical team and players - can play to win. ...in first person Irrespective of the position we play on the field, we are all players forming part of a great team and can be passed the ball at any time. At that moment, concentrate, do your level best. And... go get ‘em! summer 2006 · news grupo antolin 3 COVER Quality of use: ZeroObjective Complaints Just like hundreds of millions of other people on the planet, we are car users but at the same time, in carrying out our professional activity in the sector, we are also generators of quality with respect to such items, through the components or systems we supply. 4 news grupo antolin · summer 2006 Our challenge is two-fold: on the one hand, the n our initial facet as consumers we affecting a total of 4,353,000 vehicles. The make use of the car, but there are cost of these campaigns is very high development I times when we suffer from the because, added to the replacement of the of sturdy problems that emerge with such use. part, we have to allow for costs in labour components We complain about parts that need to in the workshops plus managerial costs be replaced either during or outside the (written messages, logistics and transport, that satisfy all guarantee period, or else about flaws etc.). Just imagine the situation for a real conditions in performance, such as for instance, manufacturer of car components affected irritating noises, tiny problems involving by a campaign for a vehicle with a of use, and on aesthetics or adjustments, etc. production turnover of 1000 units per day the other with the period affected being 3 months Any of these instances can cause us for a part that costs 10 euros. The total hand, to avoid dissatisfaction, albeit on a different scale, amount of the guarantee could come to and detect any and this will probably evolve into a lack as much as 7 million euros, that is to say, of confidence in the vehicle and the the turnover for more than 3 years, or to lapses in make when the time comes to purchase put it another way, they would place the quality in time a new model. And, as far as Grupo product and the production plant in a Antolin is concerned, this may lead to a completely negative situation as far as that might loss of faith on the part of the customer profits were concerned. Vehicles have an arise during in those manufacturers of components estimated life of 10 years or 300,000 km. with a high rate of failure, or to a However, unfortunately, not all vehicles production potential loss of market share, which manage to reach this objective. According and have a basically amounts to the same thing. to figures in the US, after 3 years, a car has had an average of 2.37 breakdowns. negative Currently, for a manufacturer of effect on the components such as Grupo, the only If we project these figures beyond the information of any relevance is that of guarantee periods, they are substantially reliability of complaints made during the guarantee bigger. If anything, these failures the product. period because that is what our generate more dissatisfaction in the final customers tell us. And that is only one of customer because they are not covered the problems that our parts might have. by the guarantee period offered by the Car manufacturers are extending their manufacturer. The high sales turnover guarantee periods either because of the for spare parts should alert us to the fact demands of consumer legislation or as a that our parts are not responding as way of standing out amidst the might be expected. competition. This extension is automatically passed on to manufacturers of car Finally, during the life of the vehicle, flaws components, who are beginning to suffer appear in some of the parts that, while not from problems in their balance sheet that necessarily making them any less effective, are the result of changing the period will give rise to dissatisfaction and covered by the guarantee from one to three sometimes even mistrust on the part of the or even five years. user. Mechanical noises, materials that become worn out over time or because of Whenever there seems to be an acute use, certain parts becoming loose, etc - problem, ie. affecting over 20% of these are some of the examples that might production, the manufacturers launch occur and of which manufacturers of the campaigns to replace or repair the parts involved often have no knowledge. components affected even where these do not necessarily imply any safety With this in mind, some manufacturers problems. For instance, in the year 2004 in of vehicles ask their customers to fill in the USA, 462 campaigns were launched questionnaires on their satisfaction, summer 2006 · news grupo antolin 5 drawing attention to the weaknesses of supply of reliable components in the time each vehicle that might not be reflected allotted, our mission is two-fold: “Our Image for in guarantees but are nonetheless the Customer is unpopular with the vehicle owner. Design: the designs of our products and the Quality of our There are firms that specialise in market processes should be sturdy enough to studies related to : prevent there being any sign of a flaw or parts” wear and tear. For this reason, it is of · Market analysis paramount importance to learn from past mistakes (feedback on experiences - “The Quality of · Assessment of the competition lessons learned) and to work on our products is preventing these from happening again, · Quality studies and of course to provide a blanket created by us all validation to cover as many modes of working · Studies of customer satisfaction operation as possible beyond the specifications of the customer, as and together” · Studies of brand image, etc. when appropriate. Vehicle manufacturers pay very special Production: Our productive systems attention to such studies and invest their should guarantee that the product efforts in increasing their results for new obtained meets the established models. requirements. It is extremely important to make sure that our processes do not With respect to our responsibility for the slip in terms of quality and that we can 6 news grupo antolin · summer 2006 guarantee that our suppliers will likewise the parts and the manufacturers offer say, the absence of flaws during the life respect our demands concerning the longer periods of guarantee.