Christian Streiff appointed chairman of PSA Peugeot Citroën
On February 6 the Peugeot SA supervisory board appointed the new PSA Peugeot Citroën managing board.The five managing board members, appointed for a four-year term, are: Christian Streiff, chairman; Frédéric Saint-Geours, Peugeot marque; Gilles Michel,...
On February 6 the Peugeot SA supervisory board appointed the new PSA Peugeot Citroën managing board.
The five managing board members, appointed for a four-year term, are: Christian Streiff, chairman; Frédéric Saint-Geours, Peugeot marque; Gilles Michel, Citroën marque; Grégoire Olivier, programmes; and Roland Vardanega, operations.
The managing board in its new configuration comprises representatives of all the functions responsible for the future of the Peugeot and Citroën model line-ups, their marketing and the group's vehicle development and manufacturing capabilities.
During the meeting, the supervisory board paid tribute to outgoing chairman Jean-Martin Folz for his outstanding contribution to the group's development since 1997 and, with Claude Satinet's retirement, expressed its appreciation of Citroën's performance in recent years.
Lastly, the supervisory board appointed Robert Peugeot to the board. Peugeot is chairman and chief executive officer of Société Foncière, Financière et de Participations-FFP, the main holding company for the Peugeot family's interests.
New senior management set-up
Streiff immediately announced the set-up of a new executive committee, made up of the five managing board members and five vice-presidents reporting directly to him: Isabelle Marey-Semper, strategy and innovation; Sylvie Rucar, finance and information systems; Jean-Luc Vergne, human resources; Jean-Claude Hanus, legal affairs, institutional relations and internal audit; and Liliane Lacourt, corporate communications.
In addition to the executive committee, four operating units (China, Mercosur, purchasing and replacement parts) and the senior executives department will also report directly to Streiff.
As he took up his responsibilities, Streiff noted: "This new streamlined, efficient organisation will ensure that the necessary decisions are taken without delay to swiftly restore our group to profitable growth."
First priorities
Streiff, in his analysis of the group's situation, emphasised how it has changed in size and scope over the past ten years and paid tribute to Folz. Highlights of his decade as chairman include a 60% increase in unit sales and the launch of such highly successful models as the Peugeot 206 and 307, the Citroën Xsara Picasso, and the Citroën Berlingo and Peugeot Partner, which helped to shape their markets and create new trends in automotive design.
In addition, sales outside Western Europe tripled over the period, the group developed the three shared platforms on which nearly 70% of Peugeot and Citroën vehicles are now built, and the co-operation strategy was upgraded.
Growth in Europe, however, has been flat and, over the past three years, the group has lost 1.5 points of market share. The reasons have been clearly identified.
They include the difficulty in managing quality levels at a time of fast growth, an aging model line-up, an increase in competitive pressures and a sharp fall in profitability due to factors that are both internal (decline in capacity utilisation, over-staffing) and external (raw materials prices).
To quickly return to growth and profitability, Streiff defined four operating priorities that must be urgently addressed.
The first priority is quality, where the new chairman called on the company to redouble its efforts. The objective is to rapidly position Peugeot and Citroën among the market leaders in both product and service quality by stepping up the programmes already underway in automotive design, the production plants, with suppliers and with dealers.
The second priority is to reduce costs. The group prepared for sustainable growth, but when growth slowed, costs spun out of control. Costs will have to be reduced at a quicker pace in the short term, through measures implemented in the coming months to manage headcount, cut overheads, quickly improve plant and office productivity across the group and streamline the organisation.
The third priority concerns product strategy. The product plan will be stepped up and broadened to improve response to changing customer expectations and more aggressive competition in the global marketplace. In particular, with the market increasingly driven by new models and features, the group will have to refocus on shortening time-to-market for future projects.
The fourth priority concerns international operations, with three bridgeheads that need to be rapidly expanded. The group's short-term objectives are to get bigger in China, become a major car industry player in the Mercosur region and continue to expand in Eastern Europe.
Key points
To manage these priorities and lead the strategy, a simple, highly operational organisation has been put into place. Streiff discussed its key points.
1. To bring new models to market more quickly, a Programmes Department has been created to bring together, in a single organisation led by a single executive, all the responsibility for product plans, programmes and vehicle projects.
2. To reduce production costs and improve the speed of productivity, an Operations Department has been created, comprising engineering, production, plant scheduling and logistics.
3. The heads of these two new departments, along with the chief executives of the Peugeot and Citroën marques, will sit on the five-member managing board. They will therefore be part of a close-knit team, capable of quickly making all the decisions concerning a given model.
4. A Strategy and Innovation Department has been created to consolidate all of the processes that enable the group to anticipate and prepare for its growth, including market forecasting, sustainable development, research and innovation and co-operative ventures. The objective is to make the group's research more customer-focused and ensure that corporate strategy and research are seamlessly linked.
5. Three business units have been created, reporting to Streiff and enjoying a broad range of delegated responsibilities, to drive faster growth in operations in China, the Mercosur region and the replacement parts business.
6. In addition, the Purchasing Department will report directly to Streiff, in a commitment to stepping up global sourcing and actively develop win/win solutions with preferred partners.
Concerning the implementation process, Strieff called on the entire organisation to deploy enthusiastically a new action plan, called CAP 2010 (for customers, acceleration, products).
From now until May, ten cross-functional teams will prepare clearly defined projects in the four priority areas of quality, costs, products and international operations.
The teams will comprise 100 people and will have 100 days to prepare the projects, which will be implemented by 1,000 managers across the group. This turnaround programme will then be embraced by the entire organisation in a commitment to moving the group forward to clearly defined objectives
The teams will be fully backed by senior management, which is focusing on defining four strategic projects: the 2010-2013 product plan, international development, technological development and the co-operation and alliance strategy.
All these projects and programmes will form the basis of a new corporate mission project that Streiff will present in September.
The five managing board members, appointed for a four-year term, are: Christian Streiff, chairman; Frédéric Saint-Geours, Peugeot marque; Gilles Michel, Citroën marque; Grégoire Olivier, programmes; and Roland Vardanega, operations.
The managing board in its new configuration comprises representatives of all the functions responsible for the future of the Peugeot and Citroën model line-ups, their marketing and the group's vehicle development and manufacturing capabilities.
During the meeting, the supervisory board paid tribute to outgoing chairman Jean-Martin Folz for his outstanding contribution to the group's development since 1997 and, with Claude Satinet's retirement, expressed its appreciation of Citroën's performance in recent years.
Lastly, the supervisory board appointed Robert Peugeot to the board. Peugeot is chairman and chief executive officer of Société Foncière, Financière et de Participations-FFP, the main holding company for the Peugeot family's interests.
New senior management set-up
Streiff immediately announced the set-up of a new executive committee, made up of the five managing board members and five vice-presidents reporting directly to him: Isabelle Marey-Semper, strategy and innovation; Sylvie Rucar, finance and information systems; Jean-Luc Vergne, human resources; Jean-Claude Hanus, legal affairs, institutional relations and internal audit; and Liliane Lacourt, corporate communications.
In addition to the executive committee, four operating units (China, Mercosur, purchasing and replacement parts) and the senior executives department will also report directly to Streiff.
As he took up his responsibilities, Streiff noted: "This new streamlined, efficient organisation will ensure that the necessary decisions are taken without delay to swiftly restore our group to profitable growth."
First priorities
Streiff, in his analysis of the group's situation, emphasised how it has changed in size and scope over the past ten years and paid tribute to Folz. Highlights of his decade as chairman include a 60% increase in unit sales and the launch of such highly successful models as the Peugeot 206 and 307, the Citroën Xsara Picasso, and the Citroën Berlingo and Peugeot Partner, which helped to shape their markets and create new trends in automotive design.
In addition, sales outside Western Europe tripled over the period, the group developed the three shared platforms on which nearly 70% of Peugeot and Citroën vehicles are now built, and the co-operation strategy was upgraded.
Growth in Europe, however, has been flat and, over the past three years, the group has lost 1.5 points of market share. The reasons have been clearly identified.
They include the difficulty in managing quality levels at a time of fast growth, an aging model line-up, an increase in competitive pressures and a sharp fall in profitability due to factors that are both internal (decline in capacity utilisation, over-staffing) and external (raw materials prices).
To quickly return to growth and profitability, Streiff defined four operating priorities that must be urgently addressed.
The first priority is quality, where the new chairman called on the company to redouble its efforts. The objective is to rapidly position Peugeot and Citroën among the market leaders in both product and service quality by stepping up the programmes already underway in automotive design, the production plants, with suppliers and with dealers.
The second priority is to reduce costs. The group prepared for sustainable growth, but when growth slowed, costs spun out of control. Costs will have to be reduced at a quicker pace in the short term, through measures implemented in the coming months to manage headcount, cut overheads, quickly improve plant and office productivity across the group and streamline the organisation.
The third priority concerns product strategy. The product plan will be stepped up and broadened to improve response to changing customer expectations and more aggressive competition in the global marketplace. In particular, with the market increasingly driven by new models and features, the group will have to refocus on shortening time-to-market for future projects.
The fourth priority concerns international operations, with three bridgeheads that need to be rapidly expanded. The group's short-term objectives are to get bigger in China, become a major car industry player in the Mercosur region and continue to expand in Eastern Europe.
Key points
To manage these priorities and lead the strategy, a simple, highly operational organisation has been put into place. Streiff discussed its key points.
1. To bring new models to market more quickly, a Programmes Department has been created to bring together, in a single organisation led by a single executive, all the responsibility for product plans, programmes and vehicle projects.
2. To reduce production costs and improve the speed of productivity, an Operations Department has been created, comprising engineering, production, plant scheduling and logistics.
3. The heads of these two new departments, along with the chief executives of the Peugeot and Citroën marques, will sit on the five-member managing board. They will therefore be part of a close-knit team, capable of quickly making all the decisions concerning a given model.
4. A Strategy and Innovation Department has been created to consolidate all of the processes that enable the group to anticipate and prepare for its growth, including market forecasting, sustainable development, research and innovation and co-operative ventures. The objective is to make the group's research more customer-focused and ensure that corporate strategy and research are seamlessly linked.
5. Three business units have been created, reporting to Streiff and enjoying a broad range of delegated responsibilities, to drive faster growth in operations in China, the Mercosur region and the replacement parts business.
6. In addition, the Purchasing Department will report directly to Streiff, in a commitment to stepping up global sourcing and actively develop win/win solutions with preferred partners.
Concerning the implementation process, Strieff called on the entire organisation to deploy enthusiastically a new action plan, called CAP 2010 (for customers, acceleration, products).
From now until May, ten cross-functional teams will prepare clearly defined projects in the four priority areas of quality, costs, products and international operations.
The teams will comprise 100 people and will have 100 days to prepare the projects, which will be implemented by 1,000 managers across the group. This turnaround programme will then be embraced by the entire organisation in a commitment to moving the group forward to clearly defined objectives
The teams will be fully backed by senior management, which is focusing on defining four strategic projects: the 2010-2013 product plan, international development, technological development and the co-operation and alliance strategy.
All these projects and programmes will form the basis of a new corporate mission project that Streiff will present in September.