When the world returns to a semblance of normalcy and manufacturing restarts in earnest companies will likely refocus on doing so with even greater efficiency and more cost-effectively than before this shutdown. Why? Because crises like we are living through are very hard on corporate and personal balance sheets. Only by making products cost-effective are companies able to implement their strategy – whether they are a low-price competitor or a luxury brand that requires higher gross margins.
Suppliers who hand their customers opportunities to achieve these objectives are really creating value for the world. By driving out waste and promoting efficiency companies are able to either lower prices for consumers, increasing their standard of living, keep prices high and reinvest in the growth of their business or pay dividends which can be spent or reinvested. All of which in turn helps the economy grow.
Ignoring these opportunities wastes resources which can all be converted into money. By staying with inefficient and wasteful methods of assembly companies incur higher cost structures and thus have lower margins or they need to have artificially higher prices to achieve the same margins than under a lower cost-of-assembly scenario. Whether lower margins or higher prices are the resolution of a higher cost structure, both leave the world worse off.
Many companies also now place great importance on their environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) performance. While the world has quickly jumped into action to combat the COVID 19 pandemic, there is a much slower, but albeit steady movement towards the potential climate crisis. As companies seek to improve both their image and actual processes, they are looking to become more environmentally responsible. In the same vein that maintaining a needlessly high cost structure makes society worse off, maintaining needlessly harmful assembly processes also make society worse off.
Fortunately, REMINC and CONTI licensees have solutions that can help end users lower both the financial and environmental cost of assembly.
Because our family of thread forming fastening solutions require fewer steps and fewer parts than conventional fastening into threaded nut members, they materially lower the financial and environmental costs of assembly. Additionally, our thread locking fasteners eliminate the need for additional parts, patches, adhesives, and processes, also reducing the cost and environmental impact of assembly. These all add up to better environmental, social and corporate governance at companies that adopt our licensed fastener solutions.
Further, as the global supply chain strains under factory closures in various geographies, the value of a globally integrated licensed supplier base has become more evident to many manufacturers.
Apart from the process and part cost reductions highlighted above, other ways manufacturers can add value to their businesses is by using genuine licensed parts from REMINC and CONTI licensees include:
- Streamlined fastener inventory – because TAPTITE® fasteners and our other licensed fasteners for metal can be used as both general use and grounding fasteners, they eliminate the need for distinct fasteners for these applications. Grounding is critical in internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, but even more of an issue in electric vehicles (EVs). This dual-purpose approach reduces stock keeping units (SKUs), simplifies supply chain management and allows interchangeability of parts to manage through inventory supply disruptions more elegantly than with a multitude of different parts.
- Global consistency – because REMINC and CONTI licensees operate according to global technical specifications end-users can source from any of our licensees around the world. When one region, or country, or company is shut down for one reason or another, the parts can be sourced from other licensees with confidence in the part being consistent and compatible with the application.
There are many additional ways that our licensed products make money for end-users. While making money is always in vogue in business, saving money and making more of it becomes increasingly critical when businesses are trying to repair their balance sheets.
Much like in stock market investing, the big money gets made by taking decisive action when the rest of the world is running scared. Companies that survive and thrive on the backend of a downturn generally use downturns to strengthen the business structurally while realizing that the payoff may be long tailed.
Compelling Fastening Solutions for Electric and Hybrid Vehicles
The electric vehicle platform shift underway globally creates a need for the automotive industry to rethink many systems within automobiles. Lightweight solutions are needed for increased range, pushing lighter weight materials and design elegance. Grounding issues, always important in ICE vehicles have taken on new importance in EV platforms.
TAPTITE® and POWERLOK® fasteners have long been the choice of leading OEMs and tier suppliers for grounding and general use applications. Recently Ford issued a standard, WD-957 calling out TAPTITE PRO® fasteners as the thread rolling fastener for grounding and general use. The ability to use one fastener for multiple applications can drive significant savings from SKU reduction, supplier rationalization, inventory and working capital management, as well as lower tooling costs, to name a few areas that can drive savings.
In the next few weeks we will release independent test data showing that TAPTITE PRO® and POWERLOK® II™ fasteners provide exceptional grounding performance. These tests have previously been done by automotive OEMs and tiers who now use these fasteners broadly. We are hoping to provide our licensees and end-users with enough data to help broaden the adoption at existing users and also convert non-users into users.
The value proposition for adopting our licensed products is very compelling for industry. Now that industry is faced with a harsher external environment, we believe it is an excellent time to make the case for the adoption of structural improvements that can materially impact quality, cost and sustainability.
Persistence
In the face of a steady stream of negative news it can be easy to adopt a “bunker” mentality and hide from the world. However, this does not do any good when the situation eventually reverses and customer demand returns.
Persistent and resilient organizations continue to find new and compelling reasons to engage with customers and business partners to create value. This helps both sides when normalcy returns. The customers have a better product with improved margins and the vendor has increasing volumes with customers who can see first-hand the impact the vendor can have on improving the customer’s business.
REMINC and CONTI Fasteners AG Founder Art Bancroft’s favorite quote seems particularly appropriate in light of the current global situation:
“Persistence…Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.” – Calvin Coolidge