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Valeo revs innovation to offset slowdown
By Lu Nengneng |
July 22, 2013, Monday
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Print Edition
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THE last two years of slower sales in China's car market haven't dented the zeal of major component makers' pursuit of cutting-edge technologies.
Valeo, a Paris-based auto-parts group specializing in powertrain, thermal, visibility and auto comfort and driving assistance systems, says it is intent on staying at the vanguard of this trend. The company makes 6 million automobile components a day.
Having doubled its annual sales in China to 10 billion yuan (US$1.62 billion) in the past four years, the company says it plans to maintain that pace every four years.
It is basing an important part of its growth strategy on developing systems for reducing emissions and improving smart-driving technologies - two industry facets well suited to addressing China's vehicle-clogged city streets.
Expansion of its transmission plant in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu Province - part of Valeo's 1 billion yuan investment plan in China this year - was completed this month. It is the company's first manufacturing site in the world for dual dry-clutch technology, which aims to cut carbon dioxide emissions by making the gear-shifting process seamless.
"The Nanjing plant extension is a further step accompanying our growth in China, alongside our 22 existing plants, the four new plants and two other expansion projects we are undertaking this year," said Jacques Aschenbroich, CEO of Valeo Group.
Jointly developed by Valeo's plant in Nanjing and its research facility in France, the company's double dry-clutch technology is a timely offering in a country that just experienced its worst winter of urban smog.
It's bold, as well, considering that the dust has barely settled on the scandal involving malfunctioning Volkswagen dual dry-clutch gearboxes in China. People are still wondering whether the Volkswagen situation was caused by quality control problems or by issues inherent in the technology.
Dual dry-clutch transmissions can get warm very easily and China's weather conditions are quite different from Europe's. Aschenbroich said his company is already addressing that issue, stressing that no technology is perfect.
"We just need to find the balance between negative and positive factors," he said. "The market itself hasn't decided between the double dry- and wet-clutch technologies because each is suited to different engines."
He said Valeo believes that the two technologies will coexist for some time. For now, the company is content to be the world's only transmission technology provider that is developing both.
In the field of emissions reduction and fuel savings research and development, Valeo is also investing in brake technologies and wants to take the lead in optimizing the internal combustion engine and improving the stop-start function, Aschenbroich said.
Another focus of the company is the smart car, though he admitted that the day when people can sit in their car reading a newspaper while the vehicle drives itself is still far off. A smart car requires exhaustive information on cars and pedestrians around a vehicle.
Valeo wants to take it step-by-step, he said. Developing and interconnecting ultrasonic sensors, cameras and laser devices has enabled the company to make products for cars to park themselves and even "interpret" what is around it.
For example, when a car's monitors detect a ball bouncing cross the street in front of the car, it can be smart enough to "look around" and see if a child might be following the ball, Aschenbroich said.
"But if you cannot develop smart devices in a cost-competitive way, you cannot have autonomous driving yet," Aschenbroich said.
Cost is always a significant factor in the development of industry game-changers. Speaking of 3D printing technology, Aschenbroich said it is still an extremely expensive idea and won't be applicable to the mass-production of auto parts for quite a few years.
Still, the company is investigating opportunities to reduce the cost of prototypes by "printing" them, he said.
Molding prototypes is an important part of the company's research and development costs, which are equal to 10 percent of its sales and will increase by 10 percent this year, he said.
Valeo, a Paris-based auto-parts group specializing in powertrain, thermal, visibility and auto comfort and driving assistance systems, says it is intent on staying at the vanguard of this trend. The company makes 6 million automobile components a day.
Having doubled its annual sales in China to 10 billion yuan (US$1.62 billion) in the past four years, the company says it plans to maintain that pace every four years.
It is basing an important part of its growth strategy on developing systems for reducing emissions and improving smart-driving technologies - two industry facets well suited to addressing China's vehicle-clogged city streets.
Expansion of its transmission plant in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu Province - part of Valeo's 1 billion yuan investment plan in China this year - was completed this month. It is the company's first manufacturing site in the world for dual dry-clutch technology, which aims to cut carbon dioxide emissions by making the gear-shifting process seamless.
"The Nanjing plant extension is a further step accompanying our growth in China, alongside our 22 existing plants, the four new plants and two other expansion projects we are undertaking this year," said Jacques Aschenbroich, CEO of Valeo Group.
Jointly developed by Valeo's plant in Nanjing and its research facility in France, the company's double dry-clutch technology is a timely offering in a country that just experienced its worst winter of urban smog.
It's bold, as well, considering that the dust has barely settled on the scandal involving malfunctioning Volkswagen dual dry-clutch gearboxes in China. People are still wondering whether the Volkswagen situation was caused by quality control problems or by issues inherent in the technology.
Dual dry-clutch transmissions can get warm very easily and China's weather conditions are quite different from Europe's. Aschenbroich said his company is already addressing that issue, stressing that no technology is perfect.
"We just need to find the balance between negative and positive factors," he said. "The market itself hasn't decided between the double dry- and wet-clutch technologies because each is suited to different engines."
He said Valeo believes that the two technologies will coexist for some time. For now, the company is content to be the world's only transmission technology provider that is developing both.
In the field of emissions reduction and fuel savings research and development, Valeo is also investing in brake technologies and wants to take the lead in optimizing the internal combustion engine and improving the stop-start function, Aschenbroich said.
Another focus of the company is the smart car, though he admitted that the day when people can sit in their car reading a newspaper while the vehicle drives itself is still far off. A smart car requires exhaustive information on cars and pedestrians around a vehicle.
Valeo wants to take it step-by-step, he said. Developing and interconnecting ultrasonic sensors, cameras and laser devices has enabled the company to make products for cars to park themselves and even "interpret" what is around it.
For example, when a car's monitors detect a ball bouncing cross the street in front of the car, it can be smart enough to "look around" and see if a child might be following the ball, Aschenbroich said.
"But if you cannot develop smart devices in a cost-competitive way, you cannot have autonomous driving yet," Aschenbroich said.
Cost is always a significant factor in the development of industry game-changers. Speaking of 3D printing technology, Aschenbroich said it is still an extremely expensive idea and won't be applicable to the mass-production of auto parts for quite a few years.
Still, the company is investigating opportunities to reduce the cost of prototypes by "printing" them, he said.
Molding prototypes is an important part of the company's research and development costs, which are equal to 10 percent of its sales and will increase by 10 percent this year, he said.
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