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Autoneum Annual Report 2016
Business Year at a Glance
uas
Operational excellence as a competitive
advantage
As a prerequisite for profitable growth, opera-
tional excellence was key to corporate activities
in 2016. One way of increasing profitability is
to standardize processes through the associated
use of synergy effects. As a global company,
Autoneum is particularly affected by cyclical
developments in the markets in which it is
active. In order to be able to respond quickly
and flexibly to a changed market environment
and factors such as cyclical fluctuations,
recessions and significant falls in demand
brought about by these, the Company in
2016 defined criteria and measures at Group,
Business Group and plant level to take effect
in the event of corresponding external develop-
ments. This means that the consequences of
events potentially impacting Autoneum’s course
of business can be minimized as far as possible.
Process standardization in the reporting
year was not limited to business processes:
As a globally producing company, Autoneum
continuously standardizes its production
processes and procedures. In 2016, Autoneum
developed and implemented a modular-based
carpet conversion system that facilitates a wide
range of processes. Not only do the efficiency
enhancements achieved by process standardiza-
tion significantly contribute to improving the
Company’s profitability, but standardizations
also increase work safety in production.
Autoneum launched two leadership training
programs dedicated to work safety in 2016.
One training program introduced as a pilot
project in Europe aims to enhance leadership
expertise, to show how to set an example in
terms of appropriate behavior with regard to
work safety. In doing so the program contributes
to changing the behavior of employees. The
“SafeStart” training program implemented in
North America is also explicitly aimed at
production staff. The focus here is on certain
types of at-risk behaviors and core types of
safe behavior that decisively influence work
safety in production. As part of the program,
employees learn to become consciously aware
of these types of behavior and in doing so to
channel appropriate reflex actions. Both training
programs are to be gradually introduced at all
the Company’s locations in 2017.
A further measure launched in 2016 for
increasing work safety comprises the implemen-
tation of safety boxes in production. The
boxes include occupational safety utensils such
as gloves, safety belts and protective goggles
and also a PC terminal that employees can use
to find out about production-specific require-
ments and risks in specially designed e-learning
programs. Every Autoneum plant is to be
equipped with appropriate safety boxes in 2017.