FACE2FACE
driven by growing environmental awareness – in particular the requirements for emission reductions but also by rising energy costs generally and in very broad terms the cost pressures on all industries.”
“Out of these megatrends there were certain customer
requirements. Reduction of emissions I have already mentioned but also elimination of leakages, weight reduction, in-vehicle space reduction and assembly time reduction. In the case of distribution services we also needed to address availability of products and local presence.” “We adopted these specific requirements developing from these megatrends into our business model. We know that where we see one of these requirements and treat it as a driver for our business we will create a value – not only for us but also for the customers.” “We have always set our focus on future trends and what
requirements are coming. Look at emission standards – in Europe right now the Euro 6 standard is being developed and our engineering and product development has to anticipate its requirements. We also have to engineer our products to take account of the reduced space in the vehicle for the engine assembly, while still enhancing production efficiency. So with the addition of a pre-positioner to our Quick Connector the operator on the assembly line can very quickly get to the stage where he can install it virtually blindfold.” NORMA Group currently spends about four percent of its sales
on research and development. “We want to keep it at that level,” says Werner Deggim, “because we understand that innovation is driving our business response to the megatrends. For our own production we introduced lean manufacturing principles, recognising that we too had to achieve cost savings year over year.” “We like to say that we changed the DNA of the company from
very successful privately owned businesses and started to build a global market leader. Of course, that meant a lot of changes and that was one of the challenges. In hindsight, though, our people adapted very fast to the new mentality. You have to explain to people that they need to work as before but there are somewhat
different visions and targets. After a while they find out that being part of a globally growing and successful Group is also fun – and that is also important in being successful.”
Multiple brand strategy “One of our key philosophies,” outlines Werner Deggim, “is
to keep all our brands in the market. We rename the companies as part of NORMA Group but we recognise that people see and relate strongly to the brands. There are two global brands - ABA and NORMA – supported by a series of local brands, which is very important for the Distribution Services business.” “In Italy we have Serratub, in France Serflex, in the UK Terry
maintaining local brand loyalties that have been established over many years. The NORMA brand has a presence in Europe, North America and Asia. Elsewhere, if someone wants the NORMA brand we may well say yes but the buyer will need to import it, which means a higher price position or prefer to use the local Group brand.”
“ The emission reduction trend makes weight even higher priority so everyone tries to save it wherever they can.”
NORMA has revived one brand to achieve local penetration in China. Gemi was previously an ABA owned, direct competitor in Germany to NORMA in DIN standard hose clamps. “We took the Gemi brand off the market here in Germany but kept the equipment and shipped it to China, where we are now recreating Gemi as a local Chinese brand. The plant has semi automatic equipment appropriate to Chinese production.” “For us, brand management means to figure out what markets need and how to balance the brands, a current example is the Breeze penetration in Europe.”
Thermoplastic connecting technologies Quick Connector, the Group’s plastic connecting
technology, owes its existence to NORMA’s previous owner, who in the 1990s realised that an integrated assembly could replace a hose clamp. “He said, ‘OK, before someone else does it, let’s do it ourselves’,” smiles Werner Deggim. “He started from scratch to get into the necessary technologies. It proved very successful and today we are replacing elastomer hoses and saving a lot of weight as well as improving vehicle
assembly efficiency.” So successful in fact that NORMA has just announced it
56 Fastener + Fixing Magazine • Issue 72 November 2011
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