Brose bags ‘Successful Practice’ award for its modular system management of seat systems

International automotive supplier Brose has been recognised for its modular system management of seat systems as part of an industry-wide benchmarking survey conducted by an industrial consortium of leading enterprises.

The mechatronics specialist received the ‘Successful Practice’ award during the official ceremony in Harsewinkel on December 18, 2014. The consortium praised the modular component concept, process stability and high quality standards during the development and production of Brose seat structures.

"The judges were particularly impressed by the fact that Brose managed to advance a modular component concept while meeting the specific requirements of the OEMs," said Elisabeth Schrey, responsible for innovation management at the Laboratory for Machine Tools at RWTH Aachen University, explaining the decision. The research facility conducts industry-wide surveys in collaboration with the Complexity Management Academy and representatives of industry and commerce. "These studies are an opportunity for us to find best-practice solutions for relevant problems together with internationally successful companies," said Schrey during the award ceremony.

Wolfgang Sczygiol, vice-president (Development), Brose Group, expressed his thanks for the award during the event, saying, "This award is an incentive for us to continue with our efforts to develop flexible solutions for our customers. This also helps us further strengthen our competitiveness. Thanks to the standardised component approach for seat systems, we can react faster, better and more cost-effectively to OEM inquiries."

Worldwide, Brose uses a system that has been tried and tested for many years: standardised components that are used for different customers are combined with parts that can be customised. As a result of the modular concept, the automotive supplier can reduce development times by almost 25 percent and offer its customers products that are tailored to their needs. OEMs can thus design visible adjuster elements according to their own ideas while using standard elements in the seat structure.

The benchmarking study analyzed the modular system management of 130 companies, focusing on modular concept, functionality, controlling, compliance with standards, organizational integration and change management. The Laboratory for Machine Tools of RWTH Aachen University collaborated with ABB, BSH, MAN, Bosch, Claas and Siemens Healthcare to conduct the study on modular system and variant management.