APC 2009 Annual Report Download - page 30

2009 REGISTRATION DOCUMENT SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC28
DESCRIPTION OFTHEGROUP, ITSMARKETS ANDITSBUSINESSES
1GROUP ORGANISATION
Worldwide redeployment
ofproduction and supply chain
resources
Schneider Electric has more than 200 production sites and 140
distribution centres around the world for whom customer satisfaction
is the top priority.
While working constantly to improve occupational health and safety
and environmental protection, the Group’s manufacturing policy aims
to fulfi ll fi ve key objectives (listed in order of importance):
1. deliver a level of quality and service that meets or exceeds
customer expectations;
2. achieve competitive delivered product costs and keep productivity
high;
3. optimise capital employed in manufacturing operations;
4. limit production sites’ exposure to currency, geopolitical and cost
factor risk;
5. enhance fl exibility and be able to continuously adapt to change.
A number of the production facilities and distribution centres are
dedicated to the global market. The other units are located as close
as possible to their end markets. Although design or esthetic features
may be adapted to meet local requirements, the Group standardizes
key components as much as possible to maximize economies of
scale. This global/local approach helps Schneider Electric optimise
profi tability and service quality. Drawing on its global scope, the
Group has re-balanced and optimised its manufacturing and supply
chain resources.
The Group launched a new stage in its industrial deployment in
2010. As part of Schneider Electric’s new organisation , the Power
Business’s production and supply chain resources have been
globalized and combined under a single organisation , with global
operating responsibility. Previously, these resources were organised
by region and reported to the various Operating Divisions.
In Western Europe, the United States, Japan and Australia, rightsizing
plans continued to be deployed with a focus on specializing
production and supply chain units and reducing the number of sites.
At the same time, an industrial excellence programme called
Schneider Production System (SPS) has been rolled out in all
plants to substantially and continuously improve service quality
Specialis ation mainly concerns sales and front-offi ce operations.
Mutualisation mainly covers local back-offi ce operations at the
country and regional level. Globalis ation concerns the six support
functions, now known as Global Functions:
•Finance;
•Information, Process & Organisation ;
•Human Resources;
•Strategy & Innovation;
•Marketing ;
• Supply Chain .
A substantial portion of the Global Functions’ costs is re-allocated
to the Businesses using distribution keys or application bases that
are generally defi ned annually.
The Country Presidents have been appointed and each Business’s
statement of income has been defined. The organisation ’s
infrastructure was gradually put into place in 2009. The new
organisation described above took effect on January 1, 2010.
Taken together, these changes are designed to accelerate the impact
of the One company programme . The new organisation will support
each of the three transformations mandated by the One programme :
•fi rst, to make Schneider Electric “One Solution Provider”. This
will be facilitated by the creation of fi ve Businesses with clear
responsibility for providing innovative solutions in key customer
segments under their watch and with specialized sales forces to
carry out their mission;
•second, to make Schneider Electric “One Leader in New
Economies”. This will be facilitated by the globalisation of
support functions and deployment of specifi c strategies for new
economies by each of the fi ve businesses ;
•third, to make Schneider Electric “One Global Company”. To a
great extent, this will be facilitated by the pooling of local back-
offi ce operations and deployment of Global Functions that
increase experience and generate economies of scale.
The legal organisation chart simplifi ed by Schneider Electric is as
follows :
Schneider Electric
Industries SAS Boissière Finance
Operational
companies
Schneider
Electric SA