Platforming: Gain in competitiveness

Platforming is a design principle based on delayed differentiation.

Large automotive groups such as VW and PSA manufacture cars using the same technical platform but distributed under different brands (VW, Skoda, Peugeot, Citroën, etc.).

The trend towards platforming is far from over in the automotive sector (Volkswagen AG will introduce the modular MQB platform for Audi, Seat, Skoda and Volkswagen brands worldwide this year) and is developing more and more in other industrial sectors.

The last 2 collaborations of IAC with Groupe SEB, had the following objectives:

1. Define a robust and competitive industrial platform for the “mid-range” irons of 3 brands of the group: Rowenta, Calor and Tefal.IAC supported the Pont-Evêque (France) and Erbach (Germany) teams to take advantage of all possible synergies between the two industrial sites, their design histories and their associated performances.At the end of the project, the magazine “L’usine nouvelle” elected the CALOR site (Groupe SEB) of Pont-Evêque, pilot of the project, Factory of the Year.
2. Redesign the architecture of the steam generators to improve their industrial flexibility.The Pont-Evêque site is now able to deliver to its distributors a design, colour and performance evolution of its steam generators in less than 3 months, compared to 8 to 9 months at the beginning of the collaboration with IAC.

What input data…

3 IAC consultants for 6 months. The functions to be involved:

• Marketing
• Design office
• Purchases
• Industrialization

…for which results ?

• Time-To-Market lead times reduced by 20%.
• 10% to 15% revenue growth
• Investments reduced by 40%.
• Several hundred thousand euros not capitalised

The modular platform system has the advantage of offering, at identical performance levels, a great diversity in aesthetic designs, thus satisfying a wider spectrum of customers, and easily addressing several intercontinental markets.

A significant asset in this highly competitive sector, platforming offers Groupe SEB the opportunity to capture seasonal one-shot contracts by guaranteeing the availability of ultra-competitive products in the required design (Mother’s Day, Christmas, L’Oréal, etc. version) in a very short time, at (almost) anywhere on the planet.

Indeed, the customization of the product being carried out in the last stage and on the basis of a technical core already available, the development efforts are considerably reduced. For the irons market, this can represent a potential of around 10% additional turnover per year.

Your standard parts supply partners will also be delighted to see your order volume forecasts revised upwards.

This will also allow you to increase your negotiating power by globalizing your purchasing volumes.

The good definition of the platform also has for benefit an optimization of the stock management of the components of low diversity, those constituting the technical base (the famous platform). Indeed, transverse to one or more ranges, the supply chain is even simpler and inventory valuation is reduced. In our example on irons, we are talking about several hundred thousand euros not fixed.

The technical architecture of a product designed in a modular way allows you to offer a wide variety of designs / colors / performance, etc. to your customers and thus capture new ones.

The diversity generated is controlled by design, automatically reducing costs for your company by around 5%.

The pooling of technical bricks over several product ranges, or even several brands, makes it possible to reduce the necessary investments by reducing their number, reducing their amounts and amortising them over a wider range of products. Components are more often reused, standardized, and so are subassemblies and processes. As an example, the synergy defined by IAC for the Pont-Evêque / Erbach project has made it possible to reduce the amount of investments on the 3 brands by nearly 40%, compared to a duplication of expenses respectively on each industrial site.