Rhodia’s vision and approach to serving customer needs in the automotive market . . . customer intimacy at each step of the value-chain

Brussels, June 8 2004 – Rhodia’s approach to the automotive market can be summed up as follows: serve the customer’s needs intimately at each step of the value-chain. Today, Rhodia providies solutions to car manufacturers and tier-one suppliers in their quest for globalization, world-wide manufacturing, innovation and speed to market.

The first step of this approach consists on understanding and integrating both final customer needs with emerging regulations to bring concrete and efficient answers to car manufacturers and tier-one suppliers.

The company’s innovative approach comes from understanding its customers’ evolving needs, focusing on key functions such as weight and size reduction, function integration, safety and sensorial comfort, as opposed to focusing on single products or applications.

The Rhodia Group business model is a real advantage in creating forward-looking solutions and products, based on its ability to cross-fertilize the chemical and technological expertise available throughout the Group

The second step of this approach is to meet both car manufacturers themselves and tier one. With car manufacturers, their objective is to better understand the problems they’ll face over the next 10 years and bring solutions together to solve them. Rhodia’s automotive group already works with all major car manufacturers and regularly begins specific research programs on major technology areas.

The work with tier one suppliers and partners is done in intimate day-to-day partnership. Most applications are developed in close collaboration with designers, mold-producers and processors. Rhodia technical support teams participate in part design and tool development, contributing their product expertise and their in-depth application knowledge including technological approaches such as the acoustic performance of materials, as well as advanced processing techniques, including gas-assisted injection molding and water injection technology, which enables higher levels of productivity.

“Our sales in 2003 in automotive were well in excess of three-quarters of a billion dollars, and several of our businesses, particularly in engineering plastics and electronics and catalysis, hold global leadership positions. Our mission is to build on that position of strength and bring to bear all of Rhodia’s competencies and capabilities to solve our customers’ problems,” said Jean-Claude Steinmetz, Rhodia Executive for automotive industry programs.

“We are able to better understand the needs of our customers, to optimize new offerings for them and to reduce our time to market for our new solutions. That’s what our customers are looking for in the partnerships they’re forming with their key suppliers, and our strength is to cross-fertilize so many technologies and skills and capabilities within the Rhodia Group that we will bring solutions quickly,” he concluded.

Reader enquiries

Rhodia Automotive
Avenue Ramboz
F-69192 Saint-Fons Cedex
France

+33 4 72 89 27 53

www.rhodia.com