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32
FUNDAMENTALS
Serving our customers efficiently and taking their constraints into account is a key factor in the Group's
success. Our response to customer requirements begins well upstream from production and
materialises within at our factories and beyond, throughout the supply chain and after-sales service.
Anticipating and
optimising production for
greater responsiveness
Logistical issues and product availability in shops are a major
preoccupation for our customers which the growth in internet
sales has made even sharper. The Group therefore has implemented an
efficient and structured industrial and logistical policy, which aims to maintain
just the right balance between the requirements of our subsidiaries all over
the world, our customers' expectations and the strict control of our stocks.
The products manufactured at our own sites are complex and are subject to
various factors - procurement of parts and sub-assemblies from suppliers,
transit between production sites and consumer locations that are often
far away, the limited visibility of retailers. At an industrial level, these
constraints require accurate sales forecasts to enable precise production
planning. To achieve this, sales and marketing teams work closely together
to anticipate requirements upstream in the process. The effectiveness of the
value chain is also guaranteed by standardising components and optimising
the basic technical elements of products to boost responsiveness. The
flexibility of our industrial facilities enables the Group to share our production
capacities between several markets and to react rapidly to any changes
in demand.
Constructing an efficient logistics network
The Group has a structured network of warehouses, which
ensures unpredictable changes in demand can be dealt with more flexibly
and rapidly. The Group aims to pool stock for "similar" markets at joint
regional platforms. This centralisation allows us to manage considerable
stocks at a single location – instead of several smaller stocks spread out –
thereby increasing product availability, whilst also improving our flexibility
to deal with customer demands and reducing operating costs. This organisation
also encourages the late differentiation and personalisation of
products in the warehouses, by adding user manuals in the destination
language, samples or specific promotions, for example, at the last minute.
In 2012, the Group finalised the setting up of a single logistics platform in
Germany to serve the various countries in northern Europe.
The Group is also particularly attentive to the environmental impact of the
transport we use. The optimisation of lorry loads through the use of adapted
packaging and the increased use of more environmentally-friendly transport
options are part of the process for continuously reducing our carbon
footprint.
Between 2010 and 2012,
online sales of accessories
and spare parts
increased by 250%
2008
the average yearly inventory
ratio dropped by 15%
2012