Driving ahead BENET Automotive

DRIVING AHEAD

BENET Automotive is a dynamic group of companies with years of experience in supplying the automotive industry, systematically pushing for growth and expansion. Romana Moares spoke to the company’s sales director, Aleš Kopal, about the group’s operation in the Czech Republic and its plans for the future.

The BENET Automotive group is a supplier of various high quality parts, such as exterior and interior parts of composite materials, plastic moulded parts, vacuum formed parts, roof rail systems and window frames.

Having been established in the early 2000s, BENET Automotive is a relatively young business. It was transformed from a trading company into a component manufacturer with its own product development in 2002 after selling a stake to a new strategic partner, which enabled the company to become a supplier to ŠKODA Auto, both for the latter’s mass production as well as production of accessories.

As a result of growing demand from ŠKODA Auto, the company increased production capacity in 2005 with a new warehouse and production hall, followed by a manual coating shop. A new production plant was then commissioned in 2009 under the company’s current name BENET Automotive, enhancing its position and cementing its strong footing. The former hall was reconstructed to house production of carbon parts using the most modern technologies.

This was not the end of the company’s growth: to extend its product portfolio, a joint venture was established to make injection moulded parts (VISCUMA PLASTIC), followed by an engineering and design entity (BENET ENGINEERING) and a new tooling shop. In 2013, the group acquired AAS, a producer of roof systems and accessories, extending its portfolio even further. In 2013, a new Design and Development Centre was opened in Mladá Boleslav, the hometown of ŠKODA Auto.

With about 360 employees across its production facilities, the company is set to generate a turnover of nearly €32 million in 2016, which represents a year-on-year increase of about 20 per cent.

Under one roof

The company has extensive production capability which includes injection technologies PUR RIM (Reaction Injection Moulding), slow injection of polyurethane, injection moulding of thermoplastics (PP, ABS, PA, etc.) and, last but not least, vacuum forming, automated and manual coating as well as gluing onto the completed car body. Another speciality is the production of composite components (fibreglass, carbon) using PREPREG technology. Covering the complete production process from product design and development to after sales support under one roof has been one of the company’s key competitive advantages. “From the very beginning, it has been the objective of BENET Automotive to provide customers with a top quality comprehensive service,” says Mr Kopal. “Using our design studio, prototype workshop, tooling, manufacturing plants, coating shop and assembly we can cover the whole process to fully meet the customers’ needs,” he explains.

The group’s core capability is the production of plastic parts for special vehicle models and accessories using the PUR/RIM technologies, as well as of top quality carbon components for the premium sector customers.

Moving forward

The company currently operates five production locations: as described earlier, Tthe Milotice plants make parts using the RIM and RTM technologies, followed by surface treatment as required by customers; the Čejetičky factory houses production of optical carbon components; the sister company AAS specialises in finalising special aluminium profiles to be used for roof systems; finally, VISCUMA PLASTIC focuses on the production of complex plastic moulded parts for various components used in passenger vehicles and trucks.

“Investment has been an integral part of the company’s development throughout its short history, in line with the owners’ strategy to push for growth and stay ahead of competitors,” says the sales director. “Each new challenge is thus supported by new investment in technologies, subsequently generating new needs and demands. The driving force behind this constant move forward is the famous Czech slogan ‘Pause for a while, and be left behind for good’,” says the sales director.

More than just parts

Competition in the automotive sector is famously tough, and customers’ requirements for quality, lead times and pressure for continuous cost reduction are merciless. “To survive in this environment, it is absolutely vital to continuously optimise all product development as well as production processes and seek alternatives to materials

and technologies currently used, in order to provide customers with final products that would bring them technical as well as financial advantages. Companies that are unable or unwilling to continuously invest in their development cannot succeed in the European and global marketplace in the long run,” says Mr Kopal.

He further explains that, given the limited size of the Czech market, further growth will be secured by increased sales abroad. “With regard to our top quality product and focus on the higher end of the market, we have been successful with companies such as BMW, AUDI, Mercedes Benz and OPEL, to name just a few. But we also intend to win other types of customers with perhaps simpler, but highly innovative solutions – i.e. customers from other sectors outside the passenger vehicle segment.” He stresses that the company is exporting not only parts for further assembly but, in particular, a wide range of services from product design to tailor-made, complete car delivery. New projects

And what are the management’s plans for the future? “We are facing a challenging year in 2017. We plan to launch several important and – in terms of financial benefits – key projects, in a very short timescale,” says Mr Kopal. “In this year, we have significantly boosted the capacity of our press shop, while for next year we are planning another major investment into a fully automated coating shop and a major capacity extension in the carbon components factory. These investment projects will be implemented towards the end of 2016 and in the course of 2017.” In the long term, BENET Automotive aims at increasing its customer base.

“We will continue to demonstrate to our existing customers that we are a dynamic and innovative company whose main objective is to fully meet their requirements and wishes,” he adds. Judging by the speed of growth in the course of its short history, it seems that BENET Automotive is well on track to meeting this objective. n