Fut2 10 Eng New

1 Jaguar Land Rover focus on cars1 C.M. Hammar lifesavers are buoyant 1 Go green with eco-design

1 MAN succeeds on a tough path

These nine are better than you Focus on what you do best– and let someone else do the rest

a magazine about engineering, services & product information # 2 2010

CONTENTS #2.2010ARTICLES IN THIS ISSUE OF FUTURE BY SEMCON

2 future by semcon 2.2010

future by semcon 2.2010 3

EDITORIAL

Towards better times

Website: www.semcon.com Letters: future by semcon, semcon ab, 417 80 göteborg, sweden.Change of Address: [email protected] Editor: björn strömberg. Semcon Project Manager: anders atterling.Phone: +46 (0)70-447 28 19, e-mail: [email protected] production: tidningskompaniet, göteborg. Project Manager: peter mohlin. Editor: suzanne Kordon.Designer: charlotte sundberg. Website: www.tidningskompaniet.se Reproduction: tidningskompaniet, göteborg. Printing: trydells tryckeri, Laholm. ISSN: 1650-9072. Translation: cannon språkkonsult, Kungsbacka.

30 Eco-dEsign – a challEngE for producT dEvElopErsFor a product to be as eco-friendly as possible, you must think of the environment when the product is developed. Tim McAloone has written an eco-design guide for product developers.

16 Two parTnErs, onE parTnErshipJaguar Land Rover outsourced all the production and delivery of information to dealers and car owners to Semcon. A decision that proved to be a good one for both parties. Semcon takes care of the information while Jaguar Land Rover can focus on what they do best - developing and manufacturing cars.

34 MEET sEMcon’s bEsT MindsIn Semcon Brains you’ll meet people with excit-ing skills and assignments. Mats Gustavsson, Peter Mohlin and Peter Nagy create excellent sound en-vironments, Katalin Tisoczki writes and coordinates technical information and Nayyar Rahman designs dashboard technology.

A fter a tough start to the year, positive winds are starting to sweep slowly into the market again. In Semcon’s business ar-

eas, advanced engineering skills and project-based delivery are most in demand. Semcon has a solid base here with our expertise and experience of leading industries. We also have the size and strength needed to ensure that what we have to offer is at a top inter-national standard, today and tomorrow.

Specialist skills are one of the keys behind the concept of outsourcing, and we’ll be looking at this concept in Future by Semcon. We visited Jaguar Land Rover in the UK, who can now focus on making cars after Semcon took over the production and delivery of information to dealers and car owners. The fact that companies are concentrating on their core business and letting other experts take care of the rest can make for a succes-sful mutual cooperation. It’s about working together towards a common goal, which is the foundation for successful outsourcing.

In this issue, you can also read about how Semcon in Brazil has become one of the truck manufacturer MAN Latin America’s leading providers of engineering services and how the maritime safety company C.M. Hammar built a new production line for its main product, with help from Semcon.

KjELL NILSSON semcon ceo

6 let someone else do the workProduct development and innovation are be-coming increasingly frequently outsourced. Outsourcing is a strategic decision that requires more than just recognizing your company’s own limitations and others’ competencies. Future by Semcon investigates the concept.


PEOPLE #2.2010PEOPLE IN THIS ISSUE OF FUTURE BY SEMCON

Outsourcing has created opportunities for people across the world at the top of their game to do what they do best. Meet some of these people in Future by Semcon, talking about outsourcing.

13page

nayyar rahman,product designer engineer,

semcon indiaWhat can India offer when it comes to outsourcing

jobs from different parts of the world? ”You can summarize it as follows: high quality with

flawless delivery and low operating costs, which provide cost-efficiency.”

37page

peter mohlin,senior consultant acoustics,semcon göteborgWho are the world leaders in acoustics?”It varies from industry to industry. The automotive industry is doing well in Ger-many, for example, where they have large resources devoted to sound and vibra-tion. If you’re talking about mobile telephony Finland and the United States, for example, are a long way ahead. ”

ingvar gillgren,aftersales manager,semcon trollhättanWhat is the greatest advantage of outsourcing?”You can proceed a lot faster than is pos-sible in a larger organization. Partly because it is more cost-effective, and partly because it does not require the approval of material on so many levels, which is common in larg-er organizations. The benefits of outsourc-ing can be summarized by the higher speed of processes and decision-making.”

34page


katalin tisoczki, technical writer and coordinator,

semcon hungaryWhat benefits are there for companies in outsourcing their

technical information production? ”In addition to the high level of language skills and great under-

standing of the product, it’s worth it to outsource, as specialist tools are used, and more technology. Different amounts of data should be used in a project, so a smaller but more flexible com-

pany can manage the workload better.”

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34page

mats gustavsson, acoustics specialist,semcon lundIs there any country which stands out in particular in terms of acoustics?”Belgium. They have companies that make the world’s best-known measurement systems for sound and vibration. They also have the famous University of Leuven, as well as many reputable companies making calculation software for sound and vibration.”

tim mcaloone, lecturer in product development,technical university of denmark, copenhagenHow does outsourcing product development affect eco-design?”If product development is given to the right partner, outsourcing can lead to better and more specialized solutions. But of course it’s important to remember to be very careful to give exact specifications for the desired product, even in terms of environmental improvements.”

36page

text johan andreasson and suzanne kordonILLUStratIon james montgomery Flagg, charlotte sundberg


foCus:OUTSOURCING

STOp DOINgWHaT YOU’Re DOINg, aND LeT SOMeONe eLSe DO IT BeTTeRaND CHeapeR


foCus:OUTSOURCING

he year is 2003.The Indian businessman Sunil Mit-tal, CEO and founder of India’s leading mobile carrier, is brooding over how he should keep up with the fast-paced mobile

phone market. The number of subscribers is doubling every year and to maintain its lead-ing position, the company needs to expand sharply, from managing 3 million subscribers to about 25 million in only a couple of years.

“I was sitting in a meeting with people from Vodafone, Orange and T-Mobile and realized that these were big companies with huge re-sources. It struck me: we need to be like them. But could we afford to be like them? We would need to recruit 10 000 people, maybe 20 000, within two years. Did we have the resources? And were we the right company to attract the skills?

“The answer was obviously no,” said Sunil Mittal, in an interview with Fortune magazine. Three years later, Bharti Airtel, as the com-pany is now called, had more than 30 mil-

lion subscribers. By 2010, the company has established operations in 19 countries, has over 100 million subscribers and now ranks as the world’s fifth best technology company according to Business Week, and Sunil Mittal is one of India’s richest people.

how did This happEn? Well, the road to this incredible growth was made possible by going down a typical Indian path: outsourcing - del-egating parts of their business to other firms.

Today, Bharti Airtel outsources many of its most critical processes and functions to outside companies. Their IT management has been outsourced to IBM, Nortel and Wipro, the telephone network to Ericsson and Nokia Siemens Networks and customer manage-ment systems to Nortel and Wipro.

Because of this, Sunil Mittal can now focus on what the company does best: marketing and business development.

Releasing resources enabled the company to take on around 32 million new custom-ers in just one year, 2008. They say that they have the capacity to grow by 100 million cus-tomers within a few years.

And Bharti Airtel is not alone in choosing outsourcing as a strategic tool to achieve their vision. Outsourcing is growing as more and more companies outsource more of their activ-ities to subcontractors and consultancy firms.

Let someone else do the job - it can be the recipe for a successful business. This especially applies to product development and innovation, which is increasingly common to assign to an external party, known as outsourcing. But it’s not enough to recognize your own limitations and the skills of others to succeed. Future in-vestigates the concept of outsourcing and what it can mean if everyone does what they do best.


Arie Lewin is a professor of economics and sociology at Fuqua School of Business at Duke University, USA. He leads the research project International Offshoring Network (ORN), which collects data on outsourcing and offshoring from companies all over the world. Data shows that offshoring - a company del-egating part of its business to an outside party in another country - is common in virtually every sector.

“ORN data points to a sharp increase in off-shoring in the innovation field,” he says.

iT sTarTEd in ThE 1960s and 1970s when sim-pler support functions such as cleaning and reception were farmed out to stand-alone companies.

Nowadays it’s also common to contract out strategically important functions to external partners. Purchasing, logistics, information, every kind of administration, financial and hu-man resources departments, customer service,

accounting, marketing and internal audit are some examples. The internet breakthrough of the 1990s and the development of distance-spanning technology has paved the way so that even advanced features such as product de-velopment and innovation can be outsourced effectively.

Video conferencing and sophisticated solu-tions to address common presentations and working papers mean that important meetings can be conducted without time-consuming and expensive air travel. The IT sector was the first case in point. Work on setting require-ments, project management and specifications was kept in-house while programming and systems design were outsourced to compa-nies in other countries. India still dominates, but China and countries in Eastern Europe are taking market share in the offshoring of IT services.

The outsourcing of product development has been one of the major global trends in

product development for some time. Stephen Eppinger, professor at the Massachusetts In-stitute of Technology (MIT), USA, argues this in his book Product Design and Development.

“What I found is that it sometimes reduces the cost, perhaps not to such a great extent, but more important is that companies use the global product development network, espe-cially in order to gain access to new markets in places in the world where they want to be active and sell their products, but also to be able to gain access to unique expertise avail-able in various places in the world,” writes Stephen Eppinger.

Many coMpaniEs rEcognizE that they can-not be best at everything. When lead times shorten and the capacity for innovation has to increase, it is not infrequent that strate-gically important innovation and product development are also outsourced to a separate company.

Sunil Bharti Mittal was a rela-tively small player who needed the help of specialized exper-

tise from much larger compa-nies. It made his company

reach new heights and helped him become

one of India’s rich-est people.


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The pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly & Co let suppliers in China take care of part of the development of new products, writes Busi-ness Week. And Cisco, who in the early 1990s realized that they could not rely on internal re-sources to meet their growth plans, is building long-term relationships with several producers and opening up their systems and processes.

Today, Cisco’s partners are responsible for many innovations within components, soft-ware and hardware.

The car manufacturer Toyota claims that price has become less important when part-ners and suppliers are chosen. Instead, the Japanese car manufacturer looks at the sup-plier’s ability to innovate.

Many people associate outsourcing with companies contracting out a smaller single project - with a start and an end. However, it usually means that companies outsource parts or functions of the product chain, such as all testing operations, or the production of prod-uct information, or perhaps methodological developments.

Within product information, it is becoming more common to outsource, especially among

the automotive and telecom industries, who choose to let experts take responsibility for developing and translating everything from the development of service and diagnostics information to installation and configuration instructions, as well as the development of training material for service organizations.

It is within areas that a company does not define as their core business and has not cho-sen to increase their own skills that external partners are chosen. One example is product information, where companies in the automo-tive, telecom and pharmaceutical sectors have outsourced all or part of their activities to Semcon.

However, in its extreme form, a company’s entire product development could of course be outsourced, the company’s core business concentrating instead on market knowledge, distribution and sales.

ThE facT ThaT ouTsourcing is an increasingly important tool for businesses is clear in the regular survey conducted by IAOP, an interna-tional interest group consisting of hundreds of thousands of experts working in outsourc-

ing. The study was presented last spring, and shows that the number of companies plan-ning to increase in scope or to outsource more activities to external parties is increasing.

The approach to outsourcing is changing. Previously there was a feeling that outsourc-ing was purely about cost-cutting, with companies going from country to country depending on the cost of labour. Today, out-sourcing is becoming increasingly strategic and even includes complex and critical ele-ments of a company.

“Outsourcing programmes are not only expanding but becoming more strategic. This increase in the strategic importance of outsourcing is reflected in both a change in motivation for companies using outsourcing and the level of senior management commit-ment,” write IAOP in their report.

Naturally, short-term cost savings are al-ways an important factor, but money is not the most important factor when making a decision, even in times of recession.

“Even if companies increase their out-sourcing programs across the board - as dis-cussed earlier - the trend is to outsource the

5 ADvANTAGES AND OPPORTUNITIES wITh OUTSOURCING:

Lessens risk of getting

caught up in your own practices and missing oppor-tunities.

can give more flex-

ibility - you only need to pay for what is needed at the moment.

specialist knowledge

can be used to improve the quality of service and products.

it enables companies

to concentrate on their core competencies.

outsourc-ing can

lead to lower costs and save time.

4321 5


more highly skilled, knowledge-based activi-ties,” reports IAOP.

Today’s leaner organizations often use outsourcing as a tool for cutting back. The cost aspects are important but not crucial. One important reason for the outsourcing of product development is increased innovation. Companies need access to the knowledge that people such as component suppliers, research institutions and specialist consultants have. But if the aim is to reduce costs, companies gain most from outsourcing with more stand-

ardized products and peripherals, and this happens through increased cooperation with component suppliers.

Another impetus may be to get close to a par-ticular market, finding suppliers who have the ability to customize products for that market.

Outsourcing deals, which are badly thought-out, are more likely to fail. Bad planning and short-term planning are often the causes. But if the company is careful and works in a struc-tured and methodical way, it can overcome these risks.

The white goods manufacturer Electrolux has its manufacturing and product development across the world in different forms - direct la-bour, outsourcing contracts, joint ventures - and is, of course, also a buyer of consultancy services.

björn dEllås is rEsponsiblE for the develop-ment of Electrolux dishwashers. Of course, there are times when he contracts out product development, primarily when special skills are required or when there are insufficient re-sources.

Often, it is about more unusual projects, where new methods or technologies have to be used. Recently, a new development project was completed, where an external company in India had broad responsibility for the develop-ment of a new dishwasher mechanism.

“The project was very successful. The cus-tomer had its own development team in their own environment and was responsible for developing the models,” says Björn. The choice of the company in India was due to a combina-tion of price, expertise and that the firm was also established in Europe.

“In the case of ‘offshoring’ - when the ex-

5 DISADvANTAGES AND RISkS Of OUTSOURCING:

depend-ence on

others can lead to less flexibility.

the com-pany may

lose the abil-ity to deliver when skills are transferred.

can cause loss of

goodwill and financial loss if the quality is substandard.

shortcom-ings of the

client organi-zation can lead to delivery problems.

can lead to a loss of

skills that take time to get back.

4321 5

Björn Dellås, Development Manager, Electrolux

“ In the case of offshoring, other challenges arise, such as language and cultural differences.”


foCus:OUTSOURCING

“It is built on trust and respect for each other. Both parties must of course gain from the cooperation,” he says.

Mutual respect is a factor in any successes.“In Scania’s case there have been frequent

visits. Not just at management level but also at operational level - it’s important,” says Mattias.

jonas rundquisT is a researcher at Halm-stad University in Sweden, and has studied outsourcing and innovation. His focus is on Swedish small and medium-sized businesses. Studies show that in the case of the slightly smaller companies, things don’t really go ac-cording to the rulebook.

Instead of first identifying what should be put in the outsourcing contract and then selecting the best suitable partners, many smaller compa-nies do quite the opposite. First, the company will find a partner it feels comfortable with and then select an activ-ity that suits its partner.

“My research shows that it is very much about the companies fitting togeth-er,” says Jonas. World-class

quality is not the most important thing.Rundquist’s research shows ‘Good enough’ is

enough, as long as the contractor has a cultur-al, geographical or social proximity that allows for a smooth and predictable cooperation.

“Ten years ago the talk was almost exclu-sively about price. Now there is talk of trust and intimacy,” says Jonas.

Another risk with outsourcing produc-tion or product development to an external party is that the ability to deliver may suffer. Of course, this is most noticeable in aspects previously regarded as ”core business”. The prevailing view that the outsourcing of pro-duction is mainly about simple production is untrue.

Data from the international research project ORN shows that outsourcing and

porter is in another country - other challenges arise, such as language and cultural differ-ences, in addition to the long distance. But we maintain our own development management. We never give that up. The same applies to activities where we have a technological ad-vantage,” he says. He points out the customer naturally has a great responsibility.

“It is always important to work on becom-ing a better client. Technicians are tradition-ally good at specifying a product, but we tend not to be so good at describing a service. What happens if there are changes? All this is im-portant if the cooperation is to succeed. How-ever, a competent consulting company will of course help us with this, and should flag it if there is an unclear mandate,” says Björn.

Mattias Johansson is a doctoral student at Linköping University in Sweden, and has studied the truck manufacturer Scania’s co-operation with the U.S. company Cummins, a manufacturer of fuel injection systems for Scania trucks.

The cooperation has been long and success-ful. An important factor is good communica-tion and the ability to care about their partner.

“It’s not enough that you can communicate and speak the same language. It is about dif-ferent cultures - the culture of the country and that of the company,” he says. It may not sound that difficult, but many examples demonstrate that it is precisely the lack of understanding of cultural differences that can trip up any such cooperation.

“ My research shows that it is very much about companies fitting together.”

Mattias Johansson, PhD student at Linköping University, Sweden

OutsOurcing is grOwing in size and scOpeiaop’s survey shows that companies believe that outsourcing will increase, both in the size of outsourcing contracts and their scope. the study also shows that despite the eco-nomic downturn has cost aspect has not become more important in terms of reasons for outsourcing. instead, the survey shows a clear trend for outsourcing to include increas-ingly complex operations and that the decision to outsource is taken on ever higher levels within companies.

the international association of outsourcing professionals, iaop, is an international as-sociation for outsourcing professionals, with over 100 000 members, from outsourcers to customers and advisory consultants. the association conducts regular surveys among its members to identify trends in the industry.

S even years ago Ingvar Gillgren left his job at Saab Automobiles after sales department. Instead, he joined

Semcon, who he himself had previously hired, when they took over the business.

“When I look back on it, it still feels exciting. Between one Friday and the following Monday, I changed sides. I went from being the customer to becoming the supplier. “

ingvar gillgren becamepart of the company he hired

The work was the same as at Saab, but a new organization called for new approaches.

“Of course, it took a while to settle down, but I finally stabilized. In the absence of a formal interface to relate to, we had to create a brand new one on its own. It was a challenge, not least be-cause so much was very new and there were many things to take in. But it was

also a process we learned a lot from. The day-to-day work is about taking

care of the entire customer informa-tion chain. Often, Semcon takes over the entire product information area. This was the case in outsourcing deals with both Volvo Cars and Jaguar Land Rover.

“We produce products used primarily in dealer workshops. These may include manuals, owner’s information, wiring

diagrams, diagnostics and repair meth-ods. In short, any information needed in order to be able to repair cars.”

Much of Ingvar’s work depends on the confidence of the customer, something that Semcon has managed to instill in their clients.

“As a customer, it is important to be aware that outsourcing can sometimes be tricky to start with. You have to be sensitive to unique requirements when making products together. I usually say that it takes courage and maturity to take part in an outsourcing deal. As a customer, you must have the courage to delegate responsibility and you must be brave enough to hand over control.

Flexibility and short decision-making processes are advantages a smaller com-pany has over larger companies.

“Saab is, for example, a relatively large organization, and there I was in a position where I worked mostly on the cost side of the business. Now I work on the big pic-ture and have full responsibility for both the costs and the revenues of projects. It’s about everything from hiring consultants to translation costs.

“You can proceed a lot faster than what is possible in a larger organization. Partly because it is more cost effective, and partly because it does not require the approval on so many levels, which is com-mon in larger organizations. The benefits of outsourcing can be summarized by the higher speed of processes and decision-making. 1

Ingvar Gillgren switched sides. One day, he changed from being a customer to being a supplier. Now he works for Semcon in aftermarket information.text marcus olsson photo nicke johansson


age: 45Title: Head of aftermarket informationoffice: semcon trollhättan

Ingvar GillgrenfACTS


There are pitfalls. Risks that parties in an outsourcing business must take into account. Short-sightedness

caused by stress is one example.“The decision to outsource is not

operational, but strategic. Therefore, you shouldn’t say ‘we’re doing this for six months and then we’ll change it again.’ That’s not strategic,” says Joakim.

successful outsourcingbegins with a simple question

Outsourcing should therefore never be an emergency solution.

Another important detail is common goals. It may sound like a truism, but half-way into a collaboration, it is absolutely critical that everyone agrees on where we are actually going.

“Everyone must have long-term, clearly-defined objectives to achieve.

Because if you don’t share the same vision from the start, there will be more discussion later.”

“It’s not enough to say ‘we want to re-duce costs and improve quality’. How will you reduce costs? And in what way does quality need to be improved? What are the short- and long-term priorities?”

A lot depends on a seemingly simple

thing: long initial discussions. This is where you work out the shared vision. And it is here that customers and part-ners try to find a way to combine their two corporate cultures. These ‘soft’ issues are difficult to codify in a written contract.

“This part is important, and difficult to put into print. It is more to do with the parties sitting down and talking to one another, so that everyone is on the same platform when working together. You must be able to trust each other,” says Joakim.

These formal (or informal) talks will hopefully lead to a functional client organization, clear lists of requirements and sustainable methods of cooperation. However the customer must first think through and clearly answer what may well be the key question: is the chosen field part of our core business or not?

This is very much the question that determines whether it is realistic and effective to outsource. If the answer is yes - if what you’re looking to outsource is a core competence within your company - then according to Joakim Zetterlund it is probably a bad idea that another com-pany takes over. If the answer is no, there is every possibility of improvment.

“This is really where it starts. The customer has to have thought through this question. Is this a core competency or not? If you haven’t done your homework, then everything becomes difficult,” he says.

“The customer should always choose a partner who has extensive experience in outsourcing, and has a proven methodol-ogy for implementation as well as long-term development.” 1

What is our core business? This is the first question relating to successful outsourcing. “After that it is important to develop a shared vision about what you want to achieve,” says Joakim Zetterlund, Vice President of Semcon Informatic.text simon bynert photo nicke johansson

Long-term and well-defined objectives create a healthy environment for successful outsourcing.

age: 45Title: vice president, semcon informaticoffice: semcon, göteborg

joakim ZetterlundfACTS


foCus:OUTSOURCING

offshoring are common in all sectors and that development are outsourced to independent companies.

Jonas Rundquist argues that if the assign-ment is not primarily to benefit the contrac-tor, companies need to work hard on devel-oping methods that enable the integration of knowledge, a particular market, customers, or approach, to improve their own innovation process.

As outsourcing is increasingly becoming a tool for the management of strategic plan-ning, commissioning skills are becoming a growing priority in the industry.

sTaTisTics froM iaop show a sharp increase in businesses planning, through various measures, to improve their competence in the specific con-text of outsourcing.

However, work does not just disappear because a certain function is outsourced. Com-panies need to build a different kind of organization, albeit on a smaller scale.

“It is not unusual for many companies to base their deci-sions on an incomplete cost

model, where they have not included any new costs incurred in integrating suppliers into organizations,” says Nicolette Lakemond, a doctor of outsourcing and product develop-ment at Linköping University in Sweden.

“There still have to be people within the organization who ’solve problems’ that always arise,” says Nicolette.

Outsourcing also places new demands on the organization when a function is out-sourced to another company. What role should the employees then have? Should they be administrators, and keep in contact with the outsourcing company?

“There can be issues with roles. This is something that the company must take into account. They suddenly become a coordina-tor, a role that they might not be accustomed to,” she says.

The Indian telecom giant Bharti Airtel is an example of a company who has embraced out-sourcing and built a large network of partners who are engaged in everything from IT to the operation of the mobile network.

whEn cEo sunil MiTTal took the decision to outsource their networks, many raised their eyebrows. But for the CEO, it was no big deal.

He had never really felt that he had control over the telephone network.

“If something happened or went wrong with the net-work, there was no-one from Bharti who could do any-thing about it. Someone from Ericsson would come to fix it. I didn’t build it, couldn’t take care of maintenance and I couldn’t do any upgrades. So I didn’t feel as if it belonged to me. Better to hand it over to someone else,” said Sunil Mittal to Fortune. 1

one of the most prevalent trends in offshoring is the hir-ing of highly-skilled engineers working in offices in india and china, for example. ibm is the multinational company with the most employees in india. the company opened a branch there in 1998 and today, twelve years later, ibm has more than 80 000 employees in india. in march 2010, ibm announced that they will open a new branch in brazil.

Offshoring - helping companies expand

changes in companies’ future plans with regard to outsourcing, 2009-2010.percentage of companies planning to increase the scope and size of their outsourcing contracts.

OutsOurcing is grOwing in size and scOpe

january 2009 36 pEr cEnT

sEpTEMbEr 2009 47 pEr cEnT

january 2010 56 pEr cEnT

Source: International Association of Outsourcing Professionals, IAOP


A RelAtionship Built on infoRmAtion

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Outsourcing the production and delivery of its information for dealers and car owners to Semcon proved beneficial to Jaguar Land Rover. Now, the British automotive manufacturer can concentrate on its core business – to develop and produce new vehicles, whilst its specialist partner takes care of the information.text gittan cedervall photo sam lee, jaguar land rover


OuTsourcing can be tricky and finding the right partner is es-sential for a suc-cessful working relationship. However, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) seems to have

found their perfect match when the com-pany turned to Semcon. Following a tende-ring process in 2007, Semcon was chosen as JLR’s partner for the production and delivery of technical dealer and owner information. During the past three years, this outsourcing relationship has strengthened into a success-ful partnership, praised by everyone involved.

Before JLR decided to outsource the produc-tion and delivery of information for dealers and owners, the company was in a situation where their Service Development and Com-munications Department had grown into an organisation made up of some 70 different suppliers and service providers at several dif-ferent locations.

To manage all these suppliers was a major task and the communication chain was often broken. Simply keeping all contracts up to date had become a full-time management task. The company felt that too much time, effort and

resources were spent on managing and delive-ring the information. The work was in need of some serious rationalisation.

The automotive company also realised that, for some time, customer focus had received too little attention. The company’s technical and owner information needed to be updated and modernised in order to become more user friendly.

JLR concluded that this needed to be continuously monitored by specialists in the field. And as an automotive manu-facturer, JLR isn’t, and doesn’t want to be, an informa-tion specialist.

“Therefore, from the outset of the tendering process, we were looking for so-mebody to work with, rather than somebody who could work for us,” states Chris Roberts, Technical

Communications & Diagnostics Manager at JLR.

Chris Roberts was part of the JLR mana-gement team that went on the lookout for a suitable outsourcing partner, and it was his responsibility to get the partnership up and running. He is now in daily contact with the team at Semcon and spends one and a half days a week at the information specialist’s

Every car comes supplied with a comprehensive manual containing everything the driver needs to know about their car. The manual should always be in the car and therefore jLR has also posted it on the internet so that the owner can access it even when not in the car.

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“ Our main challenge during this initial phase was to establish Internet connections of the right specifications and performance.”

Torsten Sundin, manager Semcon Informatic Production Ltd.

problem – not as many JLR employees as the management had hoped made the move over to Semcon.

“Some of our staff hesitated to transfer to the new and unknown company, which is un-derstandable. This led to a short-term shortage of people who were capable of handling the work. But I don’t think anyone who then or since has made the move has any regrets, as their chances to further their careers in techni-cal information are better within Semcon than if they had stayed with JLR,” he explains.

TorsTEn sundin viEws the outsourcing of after-market services such as technical and

owner information as the natural progression of a process that the automotive industry em-barked on decades ago.

“During the 1980s car manufacturers started to focus more on efficient production and they began to outsource development of certain parts to system providers such as for instance Bosch. Now, this development has reached the after-market side of the automo-tive industry as well,” he says.

With five current Land Rover models and four current Jaguar models, the work Semcon is undertaking on behalf of JLR is substantial. Apart from owner handbooks including ma-nuals and information regarding accessories,

premises in Kineton, Warwickshire, UK, a few miles down the road from JLR’s main develop-ment centre at Gaydon.

“Semcon stood out among the companies we had discussions with during the tendering process. They are very proactive in their ap-proach. They tell us what they are providing in units of work, for instance a workshop manual, rather than telling us how many people they assign for a job. That way we know exactly what we are paying for and what we are get-ting,” he continues.

When Semcon was awarded the outsour-cing contract with JLR, their first step was to set up an office in close proximity to their new partner. During a hectic period in the spring of 2007, Semcon took over the production of in-formation while still busy installing themselves in their new premises. In the transition phase the company took over some JLR personnel, sub-contractors and supplier contracts in order to quickly form an efficient organisation.

“Our main challenge during this initial phase was to establish Internet connections of the right specifications and performance,” says Torsten Sundin, Manager of Semcon Informa-tic Production Ltd, the new arm of Semcom Informatic set up to serve JLR.

With a background as manager of the Swedish car manufacturer Saab Automobiles technical communication and owner informa-tion, Torsten Sundin was headhunted for the job as manager of the new unit. He still lives in Sweden and commutes weekly to work in the UK.

“The partnership worked smoothly from the outset. We’ve had no disagreements and cultural differences have had no impact at all,” he says.

However, his close JLR working partner Chris Roberts remembers another initial


Chris RobertsAge: 45

Title: manager, technical communications & diagnostics

Office: Jaguar Land rover technical academy in Leamington spa, uK

Semcon produces technical information for dealers and technicians including operational descriptions, repair methods, schematics, di-agnostic information and fault finding proces-ses, as well as technical training information.

Semcon also handles queries regarding re-pairs. Here, several targets have been set. For instance, queries should be answered within 24 hours, and the number of queries relating to any one specific repair method should not exceed a certain amount each month.

Monthly reports from Semcon provide JLR with useful quality metrics, which can identify potential problems or highlight a need to im-prove or update information.

“Whereas JLR is responsible for the techno-logy, it is our task to make it easy to under-stand,” says Torsten Sundin.

Semcon’s workload varies considerably and can become particularly intense during the latter stages of the development of a new vehicle model, when late engineering chan-

ges can lead to alterations in all manuals and handbooks, which are produced in some 20 different languages.

“But as a specialist company we are able to respond and adjust quicker than a large cor-poration to such variations in workload,” says Torsten Sundin.

boTh chris robErTs and Torsten Sundin agree that trust is the key to a successful outsour-cing partnership. But as Chris Roberts stres-ses, trust needs to be established throughout the organisation, not just at the top manage-rial level.

“For the partnership to work, everyone within JLR needed to know who Semcon were and to learn to trust them. For instance, our engineering staff mustn’t be suspicious and reluctant to answer questions posed by staff from Semcon,” he says.

However, with trust firmly in place, the relationship is working smoothly.

Torsten Sundinage: 54Title: manager, semcon informatic production Ltdoffice: Kineton, Warwick, uK

“ For the partnership to work, everyone at JLR needed to know who Semcon were.”

Chris Roberts, Technical Communications & Diagnostics

foCus:OUTSOURCING


Kevin Phelpsage: 50Title: director of service operationsoffice: Jaguar Land rover in gaydon, uK


“The main reason it has worked so well is that JLR has used the partnership in the right way. They realised that they needed to trust us. And we have delivered and proved to them that they can trust us. The fact that we have never had to refer to what was set out in the contract we signed three years ago is proof that our part-nership is working,” says Torsten Sundin.

Chris Roberts agrees, calling it “a relation-ship to be admired”. And his manager, Kevin Phelps, Director of Service Operations, JLR, is equally enthusiastic, preferring to refer to the JLR/Semcon relationship as a strategic part-nership rather than outsourcing.

“Semcon has become part of the family, and there is a very high level of trust between us. I feel the relationship has now reached seam-lessness. The partnership with Semcon has filled gaps in our expertise. But it has also brought innovation to the informatics sec-tion,” he says.

As an example of such innovation, Kevin

Phelps mentions the development of new symptoms driven diagnostics equipment, a project managed by Semcon and involving several other partners. Chris Roberts points to other examples of innovative work using animations to describe particularly difficult processes in workshop manuals.

“We now have a few working examples that we will start to use in manuals during the next month or so. Apart from being easier to understand it brings cost benefits as the infor-mation doesn’t have to be translated,” he says.

sEMcon is also helping JLR to gradually move away from posted delivery of manuals to a web based solution. Although a web delivery servi-ce is acceptable for the majority of the market, there are still areas where Internet connection speeds make it non-viable.

To overcome this, a drip feeding solution of smaller packages of information has been adopted.

The current web delivery service, the GTR (Global Technical Reference) is also being re-placed by TOPIX, a service based around the vehicle identification number (VIN), which delivers more detailed and vehicle specific information.

“The TOPIX software is delivered by an-other company, but Semcon is responsible for the data migration relating to some 60,000 documents, ensuring that the right informa-tion ends up in the right place. A huge and very important task that we trust and expect Semcon to handle,” Chris Roberts explains.

Johan Ekener, President Semcon Informa-tic, based in Gothenburg, Sweden, views the outsourcing partnership with JLR as a model for work within other sectors apart from the automotive industry.

“Since 2007 we have gained valuable ex-periences which we can apply to outsourcing contracts within any sector of our business,” he says. 1

An owner of a new car may not necessarily look at the manual straight away. Therefore, jLR has also created a quick guide for the impatient.

If the manual disappears for some reason, you just order a new one. jLR has, for example, manuals for virtually every jaguar model over the last 20 years.


ThE SOLUTIONHOW SEMCON SOLVED THE CUSTOMER’S PROBLEM

the assignment: Elos Fixturlaser AB develops, manufactures and markets laser-based measuring instruments for various industries and sectors. Semcon was commissioned to develop the concept, design, manage and carry out engineering design for a new ergonomic arm- carried computing device designed for service and maintenance in areas such as the wind power industry. The unit is part of a shaft alignment system, which uses laser-targeting axles to reduce friction and energy loss in the connections.

the solution: UPAD XA is based on touchscreen technology and designed for use in harsh environments. The unit is both waterproof and shockproof. The software can handle both geometric measurements and advanced shaft alignment. Using colour-coded, clear symbols, the user is taken through the measurement and alignment process. Semcon led the product development from the initial concept work to the delivery of production data to the manufacturer.

the result: Since its launch last autumn, the UPAD XA has been demonstrated and praised at several trade shows around the world. The media, competitors and customers have been interested in and impressed with the final product.

FReeHaNDpReCISION

text marcus olsson photo johan ekstam


the files from the device can be transferred quickly and easily to a hard drive. With the help of a usb port, the device can be connected di-rectly to a computer or another external storage device.

usb transFer

a moulded, rubber-like plastic material makes the device both waterproof and shockproof, and it is especially suitable for use in changing environments. the unit is also designed for use in harsh weather conditions.

tPe coating

the 3.5-inch screen is a tft screen in a small package. the user interface contains all the necessary data in clear menus, and the information is only ever a few taps away on the touchscreen. the angled display, with Led backlighting, provides an instant overview.

disPlay

the user can attach the device to his/her arm, leaving both hands free to work. the light-weight and ergonomically-designed unit offers great flexibility and simplifies the measurement and alignment process.

Portability

thanks to bluetooth technology, no cables are needed between the transmitters, detectors and the display. this allows the user to move about, choosing to take measurements in one place and then adjust the alignment in another.

Wireless communication


the entire alignment process is shown on the screen with 3d animation in flash, which is easy to understand and helps the user get started quickly. symbols and arrows show the results and alignment requirements. it’s easy to interpret the results quickly.

3d animations


When their machine supplier went bankrupt, the maritime safety company C.M. Hammar was suddenly left with a half-finished production line for its flagship

product, a hydrostatic release for life rafts. They con-tacted Semcon, and a year later the new production line is operational, more reliable and easily serviced

than they could have hoped for from the start.text Florence oPPenheim photo nicke johansson, c.m. hammar

SMaLL BUT IMpORTaNT LIFeSaVeRS

cM. haMMar ab develops and manufactures mari-time lifesaving prod-ucts. The company was founded in 1856 and was originally a tin plate works. It produced

lanterns and eventu-ally compasses, among other things.

Today, C.M. Hammar’s two main products are releases for liferafts and triggers for life jackets. Their main product is the Hammar H20, a hydrostatic release that is integrated into the lifeboat mooring up on the ship’s deck.

The release is a mechanism to automatically release a life raft from the deck or its cradle at a predetermined water pressure, i.e. if the boat

70 million per year. But within the industry the company is a major player, with approxi-mately 80 per cent of the worldwide market for their main product, H20.

“A few years ago we noticed that we had reached our limit in terms of capacity and felt the need to increase the reliability of our supply by building two lines for our main products,” explains production manager Stig Malkolmsson.

wiTh only onE producTion line per product and a maximum delivery time to the cus-tomer of three days, the company was very vulnerable to disruption. The old machines were also quite improvised and maintenance staff were forced to disassemble many parts in order to service them.

begins to sink. The pressure activates a sharp knife. Without such a release the raft would remain in position unless there was time to release it manually.

If the ship is sinking, the release activates a sharp knife to cut the rope, separating the raft from the vessel. As the ship continues to sink, the liferaft’s painter extends and the lifeboat begins to inflate.

Part of the design is a purposely-weak link that detaches the rope from the ship when the liferaft comes to the surface so that survivors can board the raft. Everything happens auto-matically.

More than 95 per cent of the company’s production is exported, to over 70 countries worldwide. It is a small company, with 35 em-ployees and annual sales of approximately SEK


“ C.M. Hammar sees any deviation as a potential security risk and they have very strict requirements for their products.”

Bertil Nelson, Automation Engineer, Semcon Göteborg

A seemingly small detail that can save your life. With Semcon’s help C.M. Hammar now has a more reli-able production line.

Stig Malkolmsson invited bids for two new special purpose machines and ordered one to start with. Some of his requirements were improvements in service, maintenance and reliability. Fairly soon they experienced prob-lems, because the company that supplied the machine did not have sufficient programming skills. They quickly had to get the help of an engineer with experience in automation and who had worked with the building and main-tenance of machinery. It was then that Semcon and Bertil Nelson came into the picture.

“We began with our flagship product - the Hammar H20. When the company that had supplied the machine went bankrupt before the machine was ready, we turned to Bertil Nel-son. He has now been here full-time for a year and has helped us rebuild and customize the

machine and production line according to our needs. In addition, we have better documen-tation about how the machine is built, which makes future maintenance easier,” says Stig.

Bertil Nelson is an automation engineer with extensive experience in packaging ma-chine maintenance and programming control systems. He has also worked with buying-in machinery.

Together with production technician Johnny Rydberg he started from the beginning to change and rebuild the half-finished machine and production line. The collaboration has worked well, largely thanks to the fact that their special skills overlap and complement each other.

Both agree that a ready-made machine would never have worked as well.

“We had a plan and we knew we would need to rebuild just about everything,” says Johnny. “We have collaborated with each other, taking one aspect at a time and made changes and improvements over time. And we have built in a lot of smart features that probably would not have existed with a ready-made machine.”

johnny rydbErg has worked on repairing ma-chines, custom manufacturing machine parts and service for many years. He designs and draws himself and knows what is needed to make servicing and maintenance easier.

“We have avoided all the potential secu-rity risks that existed in the old machine, or moved them backwards in the process. We have better control over every element now and discover any errors much earlier in

johnny Rydbergage: 41Title: production engineeroffice: c.m. Hammar ab, västra frölunda

Bertil Nelsonage: 31 Title: automation engineer office: semcon, göteborg

Stig Malkolmssonage: 64 Title: production manageroffice: c.m. Hammar ab, västra frölunda



the chain. We have done most of the work ourselves, but we also employed other skills where necessary,” he explains.

The new H20 line is certainly better than the old one but is made up of smarter modules, making service and maintenance easier. The goal has always been to make production safer, both in terms of products and operations.

“We have tried to ensure that you can-not continue the assembly in the process if something is incorrectly mounted,” says Bertil Nelson.

He shows an example, a plastic back cover. To ensure that the casting of the plastic has worked, a small camera is installed that checks the contour of all backs before mounting.

“A defective back could be mounted without anyone noticing until afterwards, when the whole product is finished. Then the whole

product must be discarded because it is an absolute must that all the details supplied to the customer are correct. Now the error is spotted much earlier in the process instead,” says Bertil.

producTion has bEEn up and running for about six months, and together they have continued to pursue im-provements. They have not had a deadline - the most important thing has been the end result.

In the autumn of 2010 Bertil Nelson will move on to a new assignment. C.M. Hammar has hired a new member of staff

to be in charge of the new machine, but who does not have the same skills as Bertil Nelson. Therefore, he will be available as a consultant for some time if any more questions should arise.

“C.M. Hammar sees any deviation as a po-tential security risk and they have very strict

C.M. Hammar - going way back in timethe blacksmith carl mauritz Hammar came to göteborg on may 9, 1856. the same day, he received written permission from the King to start Hammar, a sheet metal shop and company. the company specialized in ship lanterns and received an award at the World exhibition in Liverpool in 1886.

at the turn of the century Hammar started to make compasses, and by 1978 had sold over 7000. in the ‘30s, they began to focus on better solutions for mari-time safety. Hammar has manufactured both sonar and radar. Hammar launched inflatable life rafts in 1956, which have saved hundreds of lives at sea over the years. today, Hammar’s leading product is the hydrostatic release.

The new H20 line is bigger than the old one but has a

smarter module design, making it easier to maintain.

Although C.M. Hammar isa relatively small companyit has 80 per cent of theworld market with itsmain product, the H20.


1 2

43

h20 - a DeSIGn that SaVeS LIVeS

1 ropE and sliphooKhammar’s h20 is secured to the deck and connected to the life-raft’s lashing with a sliphook. The liferaft’s painter is shackled to the “red weak link”.

2 waTEr prEssurE and KnifEif the ship sinks, the water pres-sure, within four meters, activates the sharp knife that cuts the rope, and the liferaft floats free.

3 painTEr sTrETchEswhen the painter is stretched the lifeboat starts inflating.

4 linK brEaKsThe weak red link breaks, the ship continues to sink, and survivors can board the inflated liferaft.

“ They didn’t have time to raise the alarm but all of our life rafts were released and 30 hours after sinking, all 64 passengers were rescued.”

Henrik Pålsson, CEO, C.M. Hammar AB

whenever an accident should occur and they are needed to save lives. The temperature can be anything from +40°C to -40°C, coping with sun, salt and wind on deck for several years.

If the release unit doesn’t work in an emer-gency, there is a great risk that people will die. Therefore, quality and safety are incred-

requirements for their products. The assign-ment has taken time but on the other hand, we have ensured that people in-house have knowledge of the machines,” says Bertil.

C.M. Hammar’s products are used for life-saving at sea. The strains on such liferafts are huge and they have to work perfectly

ibly important in the production process.“Between 300 and 400 ships sink every

year. This means that our products are used somewhere in the world every day,” says Hen-rik Pålsson, CEO of C.M. Hammar AB. “Our product is very reliable, and we have not had any real problems with the product in ‘emer-gency situations’ over the years.”

hE MEnTions ThE S/S Concordia, a school ship built in 1992, which encountered a microburst (similar to a tornado) off the coast of Brazil and sank unusually quickly in February 2010.

“They didn’t have time to raise the alarm but all of our life rafts were released and 30 hours after sinking, all 64 passengers were rescued. It feels good to be able to contribute to such a positive outcome,” says Henrik Påls-son with pride. 1


Q&A Tim mCAlooneECO-DESIGNER

Low-energy lights, sunlight-powered mobile phone chargers and car engines that stop at a red light. In recent years, eco-design has made a huge breakthrough in product development. “The trick is to let the environment take centre-stage from the very beginning,” says Tim McAloone, who has written an eco-design guide for product developers.

co-design is an approach where the entire lifecycle of a product is examined. At each stage, method, materi-als and usage are taken into consideration so as to be the most beneficial for the en-vironment. Tim McAloone, senior lecturer in product development at the Techni-cal University of Denmark, believes that this approach

is about to revolutionize product develop-ment. His own interest in eco-design started when he worked on product life for a telecoms company. He then realized that there is much to be done to reduce the environmental impact of products, especially in his own electronics industry. This interest led to Tim McAloone writing his thesis on eco-design at Cranford University. There he followed some of the first companies to work with lifecycle assessment and eco-design of their products. In the late

text karl-johan nylén

photo ulrik jantzen

1990s, he left the UK for Denmark. He works closely with Danish industry and has helped many Danish companies to speed up their work on eco-design.

Tim McAloone thinks we are heading to-wards a new industrial revolution where the environment is central. And there product developers will have a central role.

how did you come to write a guide for prod-uct developers?

“Many companies were interested in eco-design, but didn’t know how to go about it. I received an assignment from the Danish Min-istry of the Environment to develop a simple guide so that businesses of all sizes could get started in this area. The aim of this guide was to write something that was easy to under-stand which could help companies’ product developers make sure that they were on track.”

what role do product developers play in eco-design?

“They have a very important role. I usually say that it is product developers who control

E


how big the environmental impact is, whether they are aware of it or not. By choosing the materials, shape and energy usage, they are the ones who decide. Product developers there-fore have a great responsibility to ensure that the goods are as environmentally friendly as possible.”

what advice would you give to product de-velopers who want to try eco-design?

“The most important thing is to look at the whole lifecycle and remember that things live on even when the company no longer owns them. It is also important to note that the products do not necessarily have an environ-mental impact by themselves. It is the users who govern how the product affects the en-vironment. Therefore it is essential to think of the users when designing. For example, I recently bought a car that will minimize en-ergy use when stationary. In the past, I just held down the clutch and let the engine idle when waiting for a green light. With my new car I put the handbrake on at a red light and

the car switches itself off. When I release the handbrake it starts again. This allows devel-opers to influence users’ habits and make the product more eco-friendly. Another important aspect is to look at estimated useful life. Is it what the customer expects? Any deviation, no matter which way, is bad. If you design some-thing to last for 18 years and it is only used for 18 months, you devote too many resources to sustainability. If you produce something with a life span of 18 months and the consumer ex-pects it to last for 18 years, you need to invest more resources in developing the product. For the product developer it’s about first identify-ing users’ habits and then designing the object so that its use will be as eco-friendly as pos-sible.”

how important is lifecycle analysis to eco-design?

“Lifecycle analysis is central to eco-design work. It is through this that we find out which part of a product’s lifespan has the greatest environmental impact. You can go a long way

with eco-design without using figures, but at a certain level you have to start calculating to compare two sources or two different materi-als. Then you have to have as many facts as possible. If we make too many guesses, we can’t rely on the results. Lifecycle analysis is a great way to get an overview of environmental data, but you can’t capture every detail with this method.”

is it important to be involved early in the process?

“Yes, it is. The sooner you study the envi-ronmental impact a product has, the better results you get. The first 20 per cent of the development process determines 8 per cent of the environmental characteristics of the product. Of course, eco-design can be applied to existing products, but then a lot has al-ready been decided, and is difficult to change. It is therefore important to be involved early in the process.”

are there products that cannot be eco-de-signed?

Q&A Tim mCAlooneECO-DESIGNER

age: 39home: Just north of Copenhagen.family: Wife and two children.Education: Mechanical engineering at Manchester Metropolitan University, Eng-land. Ph.D. with a dissertation on eco-design at Cranford University, England.interests: ”I like to be outdoors. I used to do rock climbing, but not so much now that I live in Denmark.”reads: ”Mainly scientific journals connected with my job. Fiction-wise, there has to be a scientific theme in some way.”listens to: ”I love all types of music. Leonard Cohen is a favourite.”number of books published: Five. Most of them are about eco-design.favourite eco-design gadget at home: A machine that produces combustible bri-quettes from old newspapers.

Tim McAlooneAbOUT


gives a company a completely different type of contact with the customer and it also gives the company a greater opportunity to optimize the aircraft’s engine, thus reducing the environ-mental impact.”

how can companies use eco-design in their marketing?

“There are several different approaches. Some companies have used eco-design as an important part of their marketing. Others have been more cautious and used eco-design without making a fuss about it. A third group has done so because they have been forced to maintain their eco-friendly image. I think this is the case for many companies today. They know that environmental organizations like Greenpeace will be knocking on their door if they are not performing well. Regarding those who make environmental progress without using it in their marketing, I think many are afraid that they will say something that may prove to be wrong.”

would you like to see a labeling system for eco-designed products?

“No. There are already so many different labeling systems for different products. I also believe it would be difficult to develop such a system .I think we should rather draw up eco-design guidelines for companies, a project which is under development right now.”

can you see any problems with eco-design?

”There can of course be prob-lems if you make the wrong calculations in lifecycle analysis and get the wrong results. It is also important to consider where to devote re-sources. You can, for example, devote a lot energy producing a product that is completely recyclable, but if the user still throws it in the bin, all the work is wasted.

what do you think about the future?

“I think interest in eco-de-sign will continue to increase as it is important to develop energy-smart products. Whether you believe in cli-mate change or not, the fact is that oil reserves will not last forever. Alternative energy sources are key to the future. A lot will be about making products and systems more energy efficient. I believe in a new industrial revolution, where energy efficiency will be the focus.” 1

“No, I don’t think so. I’m looking around my office right now to try to find something, but I can’t.”

when did companies start talking about eco-design?

“The big impetus came in the early ‘90s when environmental awareness grew due to the Brundtland Report and the Rio Confer-ence. Many companies, particularly in Europe, started to consider environmental aspects as part of their work. Then there was a decline in interest in these issues around the turn of the millennium, when world trade and the in-ternet was the main focus, but it gained fresh momentum with the publication of the Stern report and concerns about climate change. To-day we are riding this wave.

can you give some examples of companies who were among the first to look at eco-design?

“Philips has long focused on what they call their ”green flagship”. This may include a TV that uses a fraction of energy compared to others. The Danish company Bang & Oluf-sen reduced energy consumption in standby mode early on, something they have not made much fuss about. Siemens was one of the first to systematically go through the produc-tion process to minimize material and energy consumption. Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Electrolux are also among the pioneers.”

how come many of the companies are in the electronics industry?

“Because many of these products, such as white goods, televisions and computers, have the biggest user environmental impact. These companies therefore have the most to gain from eco-design, where the entire lifecycle is taken into account.”

what’s happening in the area today?“Today, companies have a much more ma-

ture way of approaching these topics. Envi-ronmental awareness has grown incredibly in the last 20 years. Today, all companies with over 500 employees have at least one person responsible for environmental issues. That wasn’t the case 20 years ago. Some compa-nies have tried eco-design, but far from all.

“ The most important thing is to look at the whole lifecycle and remember that things live on.” Tim McAloone, eco-designer

1 PumPs“Humanity uses so much energy in moving liquids that this category should be under constant attention in terms of ef-

ficiency and eco-design.”

2 HVAC systems“There is great demand for these systems in buildings all over the world, and most of them consume large amounts

of energy. There are environmentally friendly alternatives available and there are many problems awaiting solutions.”

3 trAnsPort systems”“We spend colossal amounts of non-human energy in moving from A to B, either by road, rail, sea or air. Efficient

transport and integrated transport systems are technically possible today - someone just needs to design and implement them.”

4 exerCise equiPment“If we harnessed the energy generated on every treadmill, exercise bike and machine, gyms would be self-sufficient in

electricity.”

Four areas that could be improved with eco-design, according to Tim McAloone4

Others want to try but don’t know where to start. What I often do now is to make it easier for developers to use eco-design. For example, I worked with Grundfos, a Danish company that makes pumps. If you look at the lifespan of a pump in a block of flats, it has to be able to work around the clock, year in and year out. This makes the pump’s durability paramount. If the pump is energy-efficient and lasts for a long time the property owner is naturally more inclined to buy a more expensive pump. This goes hand in hand with business needs. It’s not just about creating a product but also about be-ing able to provide service. Take a company that manufactures jet engines. Instead of just selling an engine to an aeroplane manufacturer, the selling point becomes ”power by the hour”. It

text tobias hammar & david Wiles

photoS mikael göthage, oleg borisuk, kiran nama

semcon brains


BEHIND THE SCENESAT SEMCON BRAINSrobert nagy likes physics and mu-sic. combining these interests led to acoustics. see robert nagy talk about what he does at work and what it’s like to work at semcon at www.semcon.com.


the sound experts

Have you ever considered that your dishwasher makes very lit-tle noise? Or that the sound quality of your mobile phone and your car stereo is so high? Then you’ve come across some of the areas where Semcon’s experts are at the cutting edge. The group work on acoustic product development and deal with everything from mobile phones and hearing aids to aircraft and trucks. The work mainly consists of two tasks: to minimize noise and vibration in various products and to provide prod-ucts with desirable properties by developing their sound qual-ity and thereby enhancing their image.

“We work as a specialist group. Our job is to improve prod-ucts, in terms of sound and vibration. We do this by calculating, measuring and analyzing sound or vibration in products,” says Robert Nagy.

He has just developed a set of requirements for noise and vibration levels in the engine and gearbox of an electric truck for a large, international vehicle manufacturer.

Semcon is also part of a major Swedish research project within the automotive industry, EFESOS, which is about im-proving the interaction between driver and car.

“Today’s cars are extremely complex. What we are working on is to optimize the audio and information flow so that cars will both be safer and feel more enjoyable,” says Peter Mohlin, Semcon project manager at DRIVI (Driver Information and Interaction - a sub-project of EFESOS).

Other work involves running courses and training in acous-tics for customers and producing and developing their own patents.

“I’ve worked extensively for years on innovations in the sound and vibration field. This has resulted in seven patents being accepted. It’s stimulating,” says Mats Gustafsson, who normally also works on developing calculation methods to simulate and reduce noise in the aviation industry.

semcon AcoustIcs GrouP A2ZounDrobert nAGy, 42, senIor AcoustIcs consuLtAnt,semcon GÖteborGmAts GustAVsson, 45, AcoustIcs sPecIALIst,semcon LunDPeter moHLIn, 32, senIor AcoustIcs consuLtAnt,semcon GÖteborG

semcon brains


Imagine working for not one leading international company, but two – at the same time. That’s what working life is like for Katalin Tisoczki, a technical writer and coordinator based in Budapest, Hungary. While employed by Semcon, Katalin is work-ing for a major Swedish telecoms company. “Working like this means I get a view of another company, their culture and their working style,” she says.

After getting a university degree in English and IT, Katalin joined Semcon three years ago and is currently involved in a ma-jor project writing documentation for a telecom server platform. Together with colleagues in Sweden and Russia, she is helping to produce up to 800 documents.

“I wanted to use my English and to choose a field which is technical without being too technical,” she says. “The job really fits me because I can do both. I get a view of how the program-mers work but without having to do the programming itself.”

Katalin started at Semcon as a technical writer and is now both writing for and coordinating the project.

Katalin enjoys being able to work flexitime which gives her a good work-life balance, and appreciates having supportive management. “My contribution is appreciated and I can turn to my bosses anytime,” she says. “There are more projects to come here in Hungary, so it’s great to work in a growing company.”

KAtALIn tIsocZKI, 27, tecHnIcAL wrIter AnD coorDInAtor, semcon HunGAry

the language technician


Being a product design engineer in the automotive industry requires a careful balancing act. Aesthetic, ergonomic and technology demands must be continually weighed against each other, as must quality, cost and assembly time requirements.

Semcon product design engineer Nayyar Rahman has walked these fine

lines time and again for customers in-cluding Volvo, Scania and most recently for Reva Electric Car Company, currently the world’s biggest manufacturer of zero-emission vehicles, in his home city of Bangalore, India. In that assignment, for the exciting battery-powered Reva NXR, Nayyar worked at Reva’s interiors department, designing the instrument

panel and centre stack for a vehicle which is expected to sell in large num-bers both on the Indian market and the rest of the world.

One of his tasks was to simulate the assembly – in CAD Software – of the different parts of the instrument panel while ensuring that this assembly, when carried out on the shop floor, will not

take more than 20 minutes.“But the biggest challenge was to

design the interior of the car with the highest quality at the least possible cost as they wanted to cater to the Indian market,” says Nayyar. “This demand alone pushed us to innovate our design so that we could deliver the highest quality keeping the cost to a minimum.”

nAyyAr rAHmAn, 32, ProDuct DesIGn enGIneer, semcon InDIA

the interiors innovator

Tropical heat, bandits, overloaded trailers, and lots and lots of potholes; by producing vehicles that can handle the worst that Brazil’s roads have to offer, MAN Latin America, through its brand Volkswagen Trucks and Buses, has grown to domi-nate the South American nation’s heavy vehicle market in the face of tough competition from the likes of Volvo, Scania and Mercedes Benz. Semcon Brazil is one of its key engine-ering services suppliers.


text david Wiles photo man, Paulo Fridman

2009 is continuing, although it is now much faster than we had anticipated. At that time we were describing some recovery scenarios – whether we would have a U-shaped recovery or V-shaped recovery. Now we are having what we call a tick-shaped recovery, where today we are selling much more than we sold before the crisis, which was the best year ever.”

so in ThE sEcond quarter of this year MAN Latin America raised the production capa-city at its Resende plant by 50 per cent. “We went from 50,000 trucks and buses per year to 77,000,” says Cortes. “We are utilising 100 per cent of the third shift already, much earlier than we anticipated.”

The company has gone from 12 per cent market share 13 years ago to 31 per cent – and the position of market leader – today.

Roberto Cortes puts this success down to five factors: its factory, with its unique Modu-

lar Consortium set-up; its expansive dealer network; the company’s exclusive focus on heavy vehicles; its motivated workforce; and having the right products for the Brazilian market. “Because of our history we are pretty much a double-citizenship company,” says Roberto Cortes. “We are based in Brazil but with a German mother company which used to be Volkswagen and is now MAN. By being a Brazilian-based company from the beginning we know what our customer wants, much more than other multinational companies with affiliates in Brazil do. We have been able to develop the right product together with partners like Semcon because we have our engineering locally.”

This approach has given the Volkswagen brand’s Brazilian-made trucks unique features such as step protectors to stop bandits getting access to the cab when the vehicle is parked up or moving slowly, and ensured that they

As a truck-maker, if you don’t have the right products then you won’t succeed,” says Roberto Cortes, president of MAN Latin America, which bought Volkswagen’s heavy

vehicle operations in Brazil last year. “Our competitors also have products, but I believe that we are the only ones that have the right ones for Brazilian conditions.”

A customer-focused approach has helped MAN Latin America become an automotive success story at a time when many manufac-turers around the world continue to struggle with poor demand as cash- and credit-strap-ped customers put off investing in new vehic-les. “When the crisis hit in 2008, like everyone

else we had a reduction of 50 per cent in terms of new orders,” says Roberto

Cortes. “The recovery that we saw starting in the middle of

ANfuture by semcon 2.2010 39

are tough enough to handle Brazil’s notori-ous roads. As the world’s fifth largest country, Brazil has more than 1.7 million kilometres of roads, but less than a tenth of that, 160,000 kilometres, is paved. And just half of that, just 80,000 kilometres, is in good condition. The dusty, potholed tracks that make up a signifi-cant amount of the road infrastructure clearly put totally different strains on road-going vehicles than, for instance, the autobahns of Germany or the US freeways. “We improve the materials, improve the equipment and make the vehicles bullet-proof to these conditions,” says Roberto Cortes. “The result is greater dealer satisfaction, lower warranty costs and essentially no downtime for the trucks.”

Making products meet expectations means having a close dialogue with fleet owners and drivers. Paulo Alleo, MAN Latin America’s engineering director, explains that key custo-mers and potential customers are interviewed

to find out their needs and their opinions on upcoming models. “Before we launched our first bus in 1993, for instance, we bought the best bus made by the competition for benchmarking purposes. A prototype was made and the most important fleet owners in Brazil were invited for a workshop,” he says. “We showed them the prototype to get their inputs.

as a rEsulT sEvEral technical recommenda-tions were identified. So the product was mo-dified according to their needs and expecta-tions and before the launch they were invited back again and asked if this was what they were expecting. So this was an example of our close relationship with our customers during product development.”

MAN’s approach – summed up by the slogan “Less you don’t want; more you don’t need” – has not gone unnoticed by the com-

petition. When the company introduced its 18-310 Titan model in the 40-tonne class, it was up against more expensive and more high-tech vehicles from Scania, Volvo and Mercedes. “Customers soon realised the value for money of this new product, due to its reliability, robustness and simplicity of maintenance,” says Paulo Alleo. “Soon all our competitors had launched an entry-level trac-tor like ours.”

To develop such a heavy-duty vehicle from scratch would have been prohibitively ex-pensive for MAN in Latin America, but they used their customer-focused approach to get round this obstacle. “We did a survey of our customers to find out what would be the best compromise for them,” says Paulo Alleo. “So we basically modified our existing tractor by implementing all the modifications that the customers wanted, and this resulted in a huge success for us.”

in 1996 volKswagEn Truck and Bus, now MAN Latin America, built its Resende plant at a cost of some $250 million. Located about 150 kilometres from Rio de Janeiro and 250 kilometres from São Paulo, it covers an area of 1 million square metres and is one of the world’s most modern truck and bus produc-tion facilities. The plant, which employs more than 5,500 people, is also home to the MAN World Centre for Development of Trucks and Buses for emerging markets which carries out research and design of new models as well as development of new technologies to be used in the products. The results of its work are shared with the engineers of MAN Com-mercial Vehicles in Germany and applied to vehicles produced by the company in other regions.

The Resende plant operates a production system named the Modular Consortium, which involves external partners not only supplying components but also assemb-ling them, with Volkswagen responsible for overall product quality control. The results are reduced production costs, stock levels and production time, and increased flexibility in the production of specialised vehicles. But

Brazilian roads can be deman-ding. They stretch for more than

1.7 million kilometers but only 160 000 km are paved.

Semcon developed the inter-nal electronics for MAN’s best-selling Constellation range.

Facts MANman is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of commercial vehicles and the second largest truck manufacturer in europe. the company began in the mid-1700s. in the late 1800s rudolf diesel invented and developed the diesel engine in the german city of augsburg. part of man’s headquarters is still situa-ted there. today, man has about 47,700 employees worldwide and had annual sales in 2009 of nearly seK 12 billion. volkswagen owns nearly 30% of man.


“ We improve the materials, improve the equipment and make the vehicles bullet-proof to these conditions.”

Robert Cortes, president MAN Latin America

Paulo Alleoage: 58 Title: engineering director, man Latin america

Renato Perrottaage: 37 Title: country manager, semcon brazil

Roberto Cortesage: 54Title: president of man Latin america

this approach also allows MAN Latin America to focus on other aspects of its business, not least product development. “As our suppliers also produce our products on top of supplying their parts, it gives us more time to develop our own competence, which is understanding what the customer wants and providing the aftersales they demand,” says Roberto Cortes. “Because of our business model we don’t need to spend too much time on production. So while everyone has a truck plant now in Brazil, we are the only ones to have such a plant and production concept.”

alongsidE about 200 of its own engineers and technicians at Resende, MAN Latin America draws on the expertise of about 250 more who work for external suppliers, such as Semcon. “If we start hiring engineers to do this work we would have to train them and this would take a lot of time that we do not have,” says Paulo Alleo. “So we decided to buy in this work. By bringing in companies that have this know-how they can start working immedia-tely. They have the people with expertise to do the work and we just supervise or manage the work.”

Semcon developed the electrics and elec-tronics architecture for MAN Latin America’s bestselling Constellation range, and today has more than 70 engineers working on modi-fications to vehicles for special applications – such as refuse collection vehicles, military vehicles and cement mixers. Semcon has ex-tensive experience from Europe on the Euro 5 emissions standards which are in place in Eu-rope and which will come into effect in Brazil in 2012, and is also working on adapting the electronic architecture of MANS’s vehicles to the new emissions regulations.

“We cannot fail,” says Paulo Alleo about the need to bring MANS’s product portfolio into

line with the new regulations. “Starting in 2011 we are going to have at least two SOPs [start of production] per month for 12 months. All the work needs to be of the highest quality and we know that Semcon and our other engineering services suppliers provide this quality of engi-neering work.”

semCon wAs founded in Brazil in 2006 as a consequence of the company’s successful work in Germany on the electric and electro-nic architecture of the Constellation family of trucks. Today the company has 160 employees and is one of MAN Latin America’s main engi-neering suppliers, offering expertise within chassis, powertrain, styling and simulation, among other disciplines. Renato Perrotta, Semcon’s country manager for Brazil, says that hearing the customer’s voice has been one of the most important pillars of MAN Latin America’s market strategy. “By hearing its customers, MAN Latin America developed

its ‘Tailor Made’ strategy, fulfilling customer’s needs by delivering the right products, from a cost and robustness perspective.”

The development its own local engineering team, fully capable to develop and test its own products, has also been crucial. “This is the only way to meet customer expectations in a market with such particular characteristics,” says Renato Perrotta.

Both strategies, however, demand the kind of engineering support which only a global company like Semcon is able to provide. And that support will be crucial as new challenges await Brazil’s truck industry, from the new engine emission standards to new regulations regarding weight per axle, to the new demands on the country’s notorious road infrastructure with the upcoming FIFA World Cup in 2014 and the Summer Olympics two years later.

“I try to give MAN the feeling that whene-ver and whatever they need us, we are there to support them, we are ready to serve.” 1



SEmCON UPDATEWHAT’S HAPPENING IN SEMCON’S WORLD

Aiming for precisiondEsign EnginEEr Robert Andersson, at Semcon in Göteborg, is also Swedish champion in dynamic shooting. He has six gold medals and one bronze from national championships and one silver medal from the Nordic Championships on his CV. Robert Andersson has also taken part in three European Championships. In the latest one, which was in Serbia in the autumn of 2010, he finished in 12th place.

“I have been involved with practical shooting since 1998 and took part in my first Swedish cham-pionships the same year,” he says.

Practical shooting originated in the U.S. and came to Sweden in the late 70s.

In practical shooting, contestants must combine precision, speed and endurance. Participants shoot from different stations, and it is important to be

as fast and as accurate as possible. The targets are both fixed and moving, and anything from 9 to 32 shots are taken from each station.

Robert Andersson works as a mechanical en-gineer and is currently working on a life science project. The experience he has gained from his work has also benefited his sporting career.

“What I’ve taken from my job into my shooting is to be organized and to take care not to cut corners on the course and always do my best,” he says.

Semcon sponsors Robert Andersson and he will compete in the European Championships in a new kit bearing the Semcon logo.

“It feels terrific to have support from work and it feels great to be able to have Semcon on my jersey when I’m out there competing.” 1


XLPM (Excellence in Project Management) was launched by Semcon this autumn and is the new project methodology for project, programme and portfolio management.

“Not only does XLPM help to clarify how users shall achieve their goals, but it also shows them what to do and how they can provide IT support,” says Torben Grut, R&D manager for Semcon Project Management.

With XLPM businesses and organizations can take a holistic approach to their operations.

The new XLPM has a simple, clear, practical methodology for everyone, in both top-level and operational functions. The meth-odology is suitable for all sizes of projects and can also be adapted to particular needs.

“Of course, I think that XLPM is excellent and I’m very proud of the product,” says Torben Grut.

XLPM – a unique new project methodology

sEvEral criTically ill childrEn had their wishes fulfilled in June when they got to ride in a real racing car at the MinSto-raDag (MyBigDay) event. When the STCC City Race was held in Göteborg, the children got to ride with racing driver Micke Ohls-son in a Semcon Porsche.

“It feels great to be able to contribute to a positive experi-ence, and it adds another dimension to our STCC investment. Seeing how happy the kids were after they’d gone around the course was priceless,” says Anders Atterling, IR and PR manager at Semcon. 1

coMTEsT® is a measuring and control system used for auto-mated testing in test rigs. For over 25 years, Semcon has delivered hundreds of different ComTest solutions to testing departments at leading industrial companies. Now it’s time to release a new product onto the market - ComTest Express.

The system has been developed for functional testing and en-durance testing in industry. It ensures that real-world conditions can be tested in a supervised and controlled environment.

“You could say that ComTest Express is really ComTest lite, which means that customers’ investment costs are lower and the system can grow and expand,” says Lars-Olof Willquist,

Senior Software Engineer at Semcon Göteborg.ComTest Express is an entry-level system - a complete easy-

to-install testing package, so that planning time is short and decisions are taken quickly. With this smaller and cheaper system customers with smaller test rigs get the opportunity to use an advanced test system.

ComTest Express will launch in October 2010, and although it is new, the system has a solid base.

“There is stability and security because the system is based on our experience in supplying test systems to the industry,” says Lars-Olof Willquist. 1

A new way to effective testing

Semcon India is expanding and now has more than 60 employees. Together with customers such as AB Volvo, BMW and Reva, Semcon is continuing to grow in India.

They have extended their coop-eration with Semcon in Germany and have three consultants onsite in Munich. Semcon India has also started working with Semcon’s office in Rhein-Main, Germany.

“The outlook is very good and we will continue to expand as fast as we can in CAD, CAE and Elec-tronics, while preserving quality and focusing on long-term profit-ability,” says David Orth, head of Semcon India.

Semcon started out in Västerås in 1980, very much on a local level. Since then, development has been exciting. Today - 30 years later - Semcon is a global technol-ogy company with operations in 45 locations on three continents. Its customers include many of the world’s most attractive brands. Today, Semcon has nearly 3 000 employees and had sales of around SEK 2.3 billion last year. Who would have thought that 30 years ago?

Growth in India

30 years of Semcon

Anton Gellebring thought it was great fun to go in a

Porsche on a racetrack.

Semcon’s Porsche made the kids really happy at MinStoraDag.

An action-packed day

Your global partner in engineering services and product information www.semcon.com

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Fut2 10 Eng New

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