Valeo: Multi Application Alternator to improve availability for Roadside repairs

Equip Auto Trade Show, Paris, France, October 16 -- Valeo Service today announced at the Equip'Auto in Paris that its new Multi Application Alternator is set to further improve the Aftermarket availability of replacement alternators. The launch will enhance levels of customer service by reducing the time, cost and inconvenience associated with "Vehicle off Road" events, often caused by the limited availability of a compatible standard exchange alternator.

Valeo is a leading original equipment supplier of alternators, ranked number two in the world, and this strength is reflected in the aftermarket operations of Valeo Service. Through implementing its marketing and engineering strategy for the Electrical Energy Management domain, engineers based at Valeo Electrical Systems have designed and developed the Multi Application Alternator to meet the specific needs of Aftermarket distributors and Roadside Assistance organisations.

The new Multi Application Alternator is a 90 amp Valeo SG (Second Generation) alternator using a "generic" body designed and manufactured in a Valeo OE plant to OE standards and specifications. In order to facilitate installation of the Multi Application Alternator to the widest possible range of vehicles, Valeo engineers have custom-designed a range of 30 alternator mounting brackets, accompanied by pulleys and electrical connections. By adopting this flexible and innovative design approach, Valeo Service has achieved the widest possible vehicle applications coverage with availability ensured through the company's Aftermarket distribution network.

Valeo intends to supply the Multi Application Alternator in two configurations, pre-assembled for Aftermarket distributors or as a self-assembly kit targeted specifically to meet the demands of Roadside Assistance organisations.

For distributors, the availability of the Multi Application Alternator is set to further strengthen Valeo's existing Standard Exchange Program. Currently, distributors return alternator cores to Valeo for renovation prior to re-sale. Since alternators and mountings are vehicle specific, any imbalance in the supply and demand for standard exchange units can result in shortages leading to inconvenient delays for vehicle owners.

In future, when distributors encounter difficulty in obtaining a service exchange alternator because the original unit is obsolete or a slow moving item, Valeo will supply, direct from its manufacturing facility, a Multi Application Alternator with pre-assembled pulley, mounting bracket and electrical connections fully compatible with the vehicle application and ready to install. Valeo believes that a major benefit of this arrangement is that distributors will significantly enhance their standards of customer service by the ability to quickly offer a replacement for the customer's original alternator when no standard exchange units are available.

At the same time, Valeo anticipates that obsolete and slow moving alternator designs, based on old technology, could be progressively recovered from the market and replaced by the high efficiency Multi Application Alternator employing the very latest OE technology with the highest levels of reliability.

At the beginning of 2003, Valeo Service launched pre-assembled alternators within its Standard Exchange Programme in most major European territories.

The self-assembly kit will be the next step in the deployment of the Multi Application Alternator, and is ideally suited to the needs of Roadside Assistance organisations. When an alternator fault is diagnosed, the roadside repairer will be able to assemble on site the correct pulley and mounting bracket onto the body of the Multi Application Alternator prior to installation. The fitting of the appropriate connector to the vehicle wiring will complete the roadside installation. This ability to customize the alternator to match the vehicle application will provide a great customer benefit as it eliminates the time, expense and inconvenience of being towed to a garage for a replacement alternator to be ordered and fitted.

As one of the world's leading OE suppliers of alternators, all components of the Multi Application Alternator comply with the most stringent OE specifications to ensure high reliability and optimal performance and are manufactured in OE facilities certified to ISO/TS 16949 and ISO 14001.

Valeo is an independent industrial Group fully focused on the design, production and sale of components, integrated systems and modules for cars and trucks. Valeo ranks among the world's top automotive suppliers. The Group has 130 plants, 54 R&D centres, nine distribution centres and employs 69,000 people in 25 countries worldwide.