Financial Report and Registration Document 2010 - Groupe Seb

1
GROUPE SEB IN 2010
INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY
INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY
The Group’s industrial strategy aims to continuously improve competitive
performance and quality over the long term. The French and international
production plan is deployed according to three major lines:
Europe-based manufacturing for products when economies of scale
are feasible and where the Group is a market leader, protecting its own
product concepts using specifi c technologies for products (enabling a
better product mix and justifying higher prices) or for processes (allowing
a decrease in the cost price);
use of its own plants outside Europe for economic mass-production where
the Group wishes to retain control of its specific technologies in products
and processes – these same factories also make products destined for
local markets;
sourcing of certain basic everyday products or articles in which the Group
cannot exploit economies of scale.
In Europe, the Group’s competitiveness involves expertise and technology
centres. Product expertise centres bring together the specifi c expertise
for a core activity or product category in research and development,
industrialization and production. Technological centres reinforce product
centres in key cross-disciplinary technologies such as materials, plastics,
heating elements or electronics. Also present in industrial sites, project
platforms comprise marketing, research and sourcing teams in charge of
creating product offers.
The Group’s industrial facility included a total of 24 industrial sites in
2010 (1) which produce 70% of products sold worldwide. The other 30%
are outsourced, in particular to China. More specifically, the 2010 breakdown
of production was as follows:
LOCATION OF SALES PRODUCTION
Europe 40%
In 2010, contrary to 2009, the operations of the Group’s European plants
benefited from low inventories in retail distribution and the good performance
and/or recovery of consumption in numerous countries, with a very
favourable impact on volumes. Barring a few exceptions, the plants were
in a rather good, or even very good position, in relation to absorption of
costs and targeted and specifi c actions were carried out in less loaded
sites (production transfers, in particular).
To ensure and optimise the competitiveness of its industrial capacity,
Groupe SEB constantly upgrades its plants, taking account of the economic
reality of markets: adjustment of volumes, refocusing of production and/
or reduction of operating costs if necessary, greater use of sourcing
according to needs, in addition to manufacturing capacity upgrades to meet
increasingly strong demand as is currently the case in China. For example,
the extension of buildings on the Wuhan (Supor) site dedicated to cookware
will allow the Group to double production capacity in 2011; the upgrade
process of the new Shaoxing plant, specialised in small electrical appliances,
was signifi cantly accelerated to meet booming demand in the Chinese
market. At the same time, the Group decided to reintegrate in a number of
Chinese plants part of the production that had been outsourced to Chinese
subcontractors (kettles, in particular). Productivity plans are first deployed
throughout plants in China in order to gradually reach Group standards.
Ultimately, the combination of sustained industrial operations and the
productivity actions implemented led to genuine improvement in the Group’s
industrial performance in 2010.
The Group has also introduced a global Supply Chain Management system
intended to rationalize stocks of fi nished products, optimize the quality
of these stocks and implement a process to improve customer service.
The actions undertaken resulted in significant improvements of all ratios in
the last three years with, in particular, a clear improvement in the inventories
of low turnover products, major reduction in supply chain costs (transports
and warehouses) and major progress in sales forecasts.
1
Sourced 30%
China 20%
South America 8%
USA 2%
(1) 26 in March 2011 (2 Imusa sites).
GROUPE SEB
FINANCIAL REPORT AND REGISTRATION DOCUMENT 2010
9