The "Transformation Road" of Parts Enterprises under the Epidemic Situation

In 2020, affected by the COVID-19 epidemic, the "chill" of the automobile market is becoming more and more urgent. Long before the outbreak of the domestic epidemic, many international mainstream parts companies released their first-quarter performance forecasts one after another, including Ambofo, Visteon, Tenneco, Sensata, Grama and other enterprises, all of which said that the epidemic would bring about a negative impact of about 1 billion US dollars in the first quarter. However, with the global spread of the epidemic, this is no longer a "disaster" that only belongs to China. In the face of the epidemic, the primary goal of more enterprises is to survive.

The auto market is under pressure, and parts companies can be said to be "in a hurry." On the one hand, they should do a good job in transformation and upgrading, on the other hand, they should also deal with the impact brought by the epidemic. What measures have they taken on the road of transformation?

Streamline the personnel structure, go into battle lightly, and prevent impact.

As early as the beginning of 20 19, Bosch said that the company had to lay off 600 employees in15,000 due to the decline in demand for diesel vehicles. Faced with the impact of the epidemic, Bosch recently stated in the 20 19 financial report that "Bosch is further considering the internal cost structure. When necessary, personnel optimization and adjustment will be carried out in the most reasonable way possible. "

According to the consistent practice of parts enterprises, the "personnel optimization and adjustment" mentioned by Bosch here is likely to be layoffs. Earlier this year, Bhattacharya, managing director of Bosch's Indian subsidiary, said that Bosch plans to lay off thousands of people in India in the next four years, including 65,438+00% white-collar jobs and slightly more than 65,438+00% blue-collar jobs, because India is experiencing the worst slowdown in automobile sales in decades.

Continental, another auto parts giant, is also making large-scale adjustments to its corporate structure. As early as 2065438+September 2009, Continental launched the global restructuring plan "Change 20 19-2029" to improve efficiency and productivity. The plan will affect about 20,000 jobs, of which 7,000 of the 62,000 jobs in Germany will be affected. In addition, during the 10 period when the restructuring plan is implemented, Continental hopes to reduce the total cost by 500 million euros every year from 2023.

In addition, considering that the current automotive instrumentation and human-computer interaction are accelerating the transformation from analog technology to digital technology, the competitive environment is becoming increasingly severe and the cost is rising sharply, Continental also plans to gradually stop the production of monitors and controllers in the German Babenhausen production base by the end of 2025, and transfer some R&D projects to other production bases by the end of 20021,which will affect more than 2,200 jobs in Continental.

Split company+cost control, careful calculation to avoid risks

In contrast, Valeo, Tenneco, Kostroun, etc. In a slightly different way. Among them, Valeo is also implementing strict cost control measures to increase free cash flow and operating profit margin, but unlike the above companies, Valeo has not heard of layoffs or factory closures recently. Some insiders speculate that one of the measures to reduce costs is to sell the loss-making jacking module business. Valeo has said that the company will withdraw from the jack module market segment. In addition, like other enterprises, they have gradually withdrawn from the diesel power generation market.

Tenneco was split into two listed companies. Among the two new companies, the company focusing on automotive powertrain technology retains the name "Tenneco", while the company focusing on aftermarket and driveability technology is named "DRiV", that is, Drewe. At the end of 20 19, DRiV Asia-Pacific headquarters officially opened in Shanghai and began to operate. According to Tenneco's previous plan, all the splitting work will be completed in mid-2020. In addition, Tenneco also said that the company is implementing a two-year cost reduction plan, which is expected to save $200 million in operating costs every year.

Kostron is also implementing a long-term project aimed at improving effectiveness and efficiency. The project was started in 20 18 and 10, which has helped the company to cut costs by about1500,000 euros in the last fiscal year. In 2020, Kostron plans to save 250 million euros through this project, and by the end of 20021,it is estimated that the accumulated savings for the whole year will be 350 million euros.

Each shows his magical powers, but his investment in future travel plans has never changed.

In the field of traditional automobile business, parts enterprises are facing the challenge of falling profits. In the longer term, autonomous driving and new energy vehicles are the future of the automobile industry. Despite the crisis, the pace of supply chain giants investing in the "future" seems to have never stopped.

According to the global market research institute IHS? Markit predicts that with the gradual landing of L4/5 autopilot promoted by 5G, the revenue scale of domestic autopilot travel service is expected to exceed one trillion in 2030. In addition to streamlining the existing main business, major parts companies are also making great strides towards intelligence and electrification.

Bosch's layout in emerging fields continues to increase. In 2020, Bosch will invest 500 million euros in electrified transportation including fuel cell technology, more than 600 million euros in autonomous driving and 654.38 billion euros in connected transportation solutions. From 20 13 to 2020, Bosch's total investment in new business growth will reach about 3 billion euros.

For the long-term profit growth, Continental has also made a clear plan, aiming at giving priority to profit growth in investment with the help of new high-performance computing units through brand-new automobile architecture and automobile networking, including assisted driving, autonomous driving and networked driving. Among them, in the future travel field, about 6.7 billion euros was invested in related research and development and fixed assets such as factories, equipment and software in fiscal year 20 19. Are there plans to add software and? It? Number of experts in this field. At present, the group * * * has exceeded? 5 1,000? Engineers are studying new trends and technologies, of which more than 20,000 are software experts and? It? According to experts, by the end of 2022, Continental Airlines plans to increase this number to? 22,000? Name.

In the field of electrification and smart cars, Schaeffler has not slowed down. 20 19 in may, Schaeffler announced the acquisition of XTRONIC co., ltd to help the company develop steering system and autonomous driving technology. 165438+ 10, Schaeffler confirmed that it would set up a wholly-owned company in Xiangjiang New District, Hunan Province to promote the core technologies and products of Schaeffler's intelligent driving, and entered the implementation stage from marketing in China. Based on the existing layout, Schaeffler recently revealed that the company plans to release the group's strategic plan for the next five years (road map? 2024) to achieve better development.

Summary: In the long automobile industry chain, no one is an island. The spread of the epidemic around the world is bound to have an impact on the global automobile industry chain, and upstream supply chain enterprises will also be spared. In this context, it seems that it will take time to determine the development direction of the world automobile supply chain.

This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.