Arnold Umformtechnik: Sustainable Cost Optimisation in the Automotive Industry - a New Way of Thinking

FORCHTENBERG, Germany--Fastening solutions expert Arnold Umformtechnik has responded to the pressure of rising prices and increased quality requirements in the automotive industry by implementing a special ‘Effective Programme’. Based on the three pillars of ‘innovative technology’, ‘optimum quality’ and ‘intelligent logistics’ this new concept helps to make production processes in automotive manufacturing more cost-effective long-term.

In the automotive industry, simply reducing the cost of a part is not enough. A study carried out by the Fraunhofer- Gesellschaft, a leading German research institute, provides impressive evidence that the cost drivers reside not so much in the cost of materials as in the processes themselves. For component suppliers this is an opportunity to take a step back from the pressure on unit prices by implementing intelligent concepts and expanding their own service portfolios with a long-term and reliable cooperative partnership with the manufacturer.

Arnold’s ‘Effective Programme’ helps to reduce the project development cost by up to 70 per cent by applying ‘innovative technology’ starting at the design stage. A forward-looking assortment policy simplifies the number of different small parts needed. Here, ‘optimum quality’ is the lowest common denominator within the parts selection process, as is an ‘intelligent logistics’ system, tailored individually to each trading partner.

“The foundations for these pillars are formed by continuous engineering support, a process-oriented approach as early as the pre-design stage, as well as the outstanding quality of parts and services supplied,” said Michael Pult, marketing and communications manager at Arnold Umformtechnik. And the proof is in the company’s success. Automotive supplier Mahle recently reported overall cost reductions of up to 80 per cent simply by using intelligent fasteners and by including its suppliers into its own design processes at an early stage.

The Arnold Group is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Würth Group, which, with over 60,000 employees and with 382 companies world-wide operates on a global basis with earnings of over 7 billion euros.