June 2005 · nº 42 New plant in CHINA Opening of Antolin Shanghai Autoparts On the road to Six Sigma The end of one stage and the beginning of another NEWS Published by Grupo Antolin Grupo Antolin is an international company,leader in the design and manufacture of interior components for the automotive industry It is present in 20 countries, and has more than 9,600 employees. EDITOR Grupo Antolin Human Resources Division 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 DIRECTION Human Resources Division Eva Romero · [email protected] DESIGN Germán Delgado · [email protected] PHOTOGRAPHY Rafa Sáiz PRINTED BY COIMAN C/ Marqués de Portugalete, 16 E 28027 MADRID - SPAIN Tel. 34 91 742 12 03 Fax: 34 91 742 67 81 Summary page. 3 in first person page. 4 on the cover Opening of Antolin Shanghai Autoparts page. 6 designing the future “Class A” Surfaces page. 8 special Latest trends, towards a new form of segmentation page. 12 in picture On the road towards Six Sigma page. 14 the history corner Volkswagen page. 16 short news News in brief page. 20 health Careful with the Sun! page. 22 on the way Prague 2 news grupo antolin · june 2005 José Manuel Temiño Chief Executive Officer Revitalising the improvement based on a new organisational model that focuses on two main aspects, product and customer, is an objective that we all pursue and whose fruits are essential to respond to the growing demands of our market. The changes are progressively taking place in the organisation and all of them must be fully operative after the summer break. Our managers are making a considerable effort to implement these changes and I wish take the opportunity to thank them for the extraordinary work they are doing. All changes represent the commencement of new improvement opportunities. If the changes are efficiently managed, we will be able to foreseen the difficulties to know how to overcome them, and we will become aware of the opportunities in order to take advantage of them. The greatest opportunities may come from improving the interfaces, which have been more problematic in the past Integrating our Commercial Development and Production Areas with common goals and responsibilities is a basic objective for the New Organisation and, to a great extent our ...in first person improvement will depend on them being fulfilled. To attain these goals and responsibilities we must act bravely and proactively, giving pow- ers and competences to those who, regardless of whether they belong to Central or Peripheral Departments or Production Plants, are, due to their knowledge, better equipped to respond to the work requirements. The only intelligent way of facing up to these challenges is to use the right resources, wherever they may be, and these must be used without any kind of restriction. I am convinced that this intelligent attitude is going to prevail in our acts and that the remodelling of the organisation is going to dynamise the integration of our creative and management potential, using the knowledge of our entire human team to overcome the important challenges that the automotive sector, and consequently our company, are submitted to. june 2005 · news grupo antolin 3 ON THE COVER Many of you are aware that the official opening recently took place on 25th May of our new industrial plant in China, Antolin Shanghai Autoparts. Present at the ceremony were Mr José Montilla, the Spanish Minister for Industry, Tourism and Trade, our Chairman, Mr José Antolin, along with other distinguished local authorities. The opening of this manufacturing plant is undoubtedly an important step in the strategy being followed by the Group to develop its presence on the Chinese market. Opening of Antolin Shanghai Autoparts From right to left: Mr. José Montilla, Spanish Minister for Industry, Tourism and Trade, Mr. José Antolin, Mr. Pablo Baroja and Mr. Rafael Martín on behalf of Grupo Antolin and Mr. Jorge Dajani, Chief Executive for the Spanish Department of Trade in Shanghai Briefly-speaking, Grupo Antolin started In 2001, an agreement was reached for its project for the future in China at the cooperation with a local firm supplying com- beginning of the new century, encour- ponents by means of a contract to transfer aged, doubtless to say, by the profound technology and know-how, which enabled changes that country was going through, us to approach the market from a privileged both in economic terms in general, with position, full of tremendous expectations, China's entry in the WTO, and also in the while at the same time being quite “unfa- automobile sector in particular, where an- miliar” with it. In this way, it has been pos- nual growth rates for the production of sible for us to be active witnesses of the spec- passenger vehicles were over 30%. In just tacular growth that has taken place over the The Spanish minister for Industry, a short while, China has gone from being last few years, and of the profound change Mr José Montilla,visited the installations the great unknown for the vast majority mentioned above that has occurred in the accompanied, amongst others, by Mr José Antolin, before the opening of people to appearing every day as front- automobile sector with the arrival of all the ceremony page news. main actors in this country. 4 news grupo antolin · june 2005 The staff is currently made up of 34 people, although this number is expected to rise to 200 people by the year 2008 Shanghai Autoparts Antolin More recently, the Group decided to build cal partner and trades under the name ture of seats for the Mercedes NCV2, a Technico-Commercial Department in of Chongqing Antolin Tuopu Overhead along with other agreements for manu- Shanghai for the purposes of strengthen- Systems. facturing seats for the railway. ing its presence in the country and hence develop a series of activities that will un- It is our firm intention to promote our re- We must not forget that it is important for doubtedly lead to a subsequent step that sources to the utmost in the area so as us to make the most of our presence in is noticeably more ambitious, such as the to take advantage of all the opportuni- China to increase the significant purchas- creation of our own industrial presence ties that might arise. In keeping with this ing opportunities that are around for ex- in such an active, dynamic market, which approach, we already have a new indus- porting components from China to oth- nowadays is considered to be a key fac- trial activity in the North of China that is in er centres run by the Group in the rest tor in the global market of the car industry. a very advanced stage of development and of the world. This task is obviously of para- close to becoming a reality, for produc- mount importance for us to be able to Today, this project has now become a real- ing electric windows and door modules maintain the competitive levels that are ity with Grupo Antolin opening an indus- over there. We are also concluding an constantly being demanded by our cus- trial plant, Antolin Shanghai Autoparts, agreement for the transfer of technolo- tomers. in the city of Jiading (known as the Auto- gy with a local company for the manufac- mobile City), where overhead systems are Nevertheless, we should also point out now currently being manufactured. The that there are serious problems to be had plant has a constructed area of 5,200 sq m, in entering this market. The obvious cul- erected on a site measuring 11,200 sq m, tural differences, the clear symptoms of with a production capacity for 1,000,000 overcapacity, provoking an extremely dif- roofs per year. It currently has a staff of 34 ficult price war and the significant weight people, although it is envisaged that this still given to personal relations in the number will rise to 200 by the year 2008. process of obtaining orders (Guang-Xi) all offer important challenges. We are Current projects are Ford C307 (China+Tai- fully aware of such problems and are con- wan), Mazda J48, Ford Galaxy, Nissan X11J vinced of the appropriateness of this chal- (China+Taiwan), Suzuki K5 and Isuzu Elf for lenge, and that we shall be able to carry Japan. Negotiations are also at a fairly ad- it off successfully. vanced stage for new projects with Ford (Mondeo and B-car), Mazda and the lo- We would not like to finish without ex- cal manufacturer, Cherry. pressing our sincerest thanks to all those people in our Group that, whether di- Furthermore, during the recent month rectly or indirectly, have contributed both of April, we formed a new company in in China and in Spain to making the dis- Chongqing for assembling modular roofs. tant dream of establishing our presence in This involves a mixed company with a lo- China come true. june 2005 · news grupo antolin 5 DESIGNING THE FUTURE Clase A Internal Project by the Dept. of Design Surfaces Industrial Design is a creative process, and as such uses various tools throughout the different stages. In moving from 2D (outlines, sketches) to 3D (modeling)it becomes a very important part of the process. During this phase, creativity and initial ideas are converted into stylish surfaces. Being able to guarantee the quality of such surfaces, and also meet feasibility requirements are thus factors of paramount importance. Héctor Gutiérrez / Silvia Pérez GRUPO ANTOLIN-INGENIERIA-DIM We are all aware of the fact that today's beforehand, and at the same time to products are not only designed to comply maximize the time available, this being a with functional factors, but that it is also crucial factor for achieving a greater becoming more and more important to degree of competitiveness on the market.