€2.7B
Total savings achieved
End-to-End Profitability Program for Global Automotive Supplier
A leading automotive supplier faced the challenge of developing drive components for multiple demanding OEMs. Together with its teams, EFESO established transparency across R&D, operations and procurement to tackle complexity. The four-year transformation program delivered billion € in savings across the global organization.
Industry: Automotive and Commercial Vehicles
Service: Cost and Value Engineering
Service: Manufacturing
Service: Operations Strategy and Transformation
Service: Procurement
Service: Product Profitability
Service: R&d and Product Development
Service: R&d and Product Profitability
Our Client
The client is one of the world’s largest automotive suppliers, serving both the automotive and industrial sectors with advanced mobility solutions. Its innovation-led portfolio includes components and systems supporting multiple OEMs globally. The organization operates across multiple continents, developing and manufacturing drive components that combine traditional combustion technology with emerging hybrid platforms for passenger vehicles.
The Challenge
The client needed to launch new powertrain technology while maintaining profitability across a complex, multi-customer program. Key constraints included:
- Technical integration complexity: Combining new technology with existing combustion platforms required capabilities the organization lacked, creating uncertainty around feasibility and costs
- Multi-OEM coordination: Managing simultaneous requirements from several major global OEMs, each demanding premium treatment and specific customizations while expecting volume-driven pricing
- Profitability visibility gaps: Lacking transparency into actual R&D costs, material expenses and operational complexity prevented fact-based decision-making and revealed widening profit margins across all areas
Real Results Achieved Together
Through structured workstreams spanning procurement, manufacturing, R&D and investment optimization, the partnership transformed a complex hybrid development program into a profitable venture. The multi-year collaboration established sustainable cost management capabilities while meeting demanding OEM requirements globally.
€20B
Sales volume managed
4
Years sustained engagement
Transformation Impact
- Established transparent cost reporting environment enabling real-time, fact-based decision-making across all business units
- Institutionalized structure savings approaches now embedded into regular management and project review processes
- Strengthened internal capabilities through knowledge transfer, empowering workstream leads as true partners in execution
Our Approach
The transformation unfolded through a structured transparency phase, establishing baselines for product costs, R&D spend and investment requirements. We deployed multiple parallel workstreams: material cost optimization through global sourcing events and supplier renegotiations; operational excellence via plant layout optimization and make-or-buy strategies; R&D efficiency through resource prioritization and modular development; and rigorous tooling and investment management.
Cross-functional steering committees met weekly and monthly, bringing together client stakeholders and our consulting teams with a relentless focus on execution. Each workstream had dedicated experts–product cost calculators, purchasing specialists, manufacturing consultants and R&D advisors. The team served as a single point of truth for both board level management and the global project organization teams, providing transparency dashboards and concrete action plans with clear owner accountability throughout the four-year journey.
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Facing Similar Automotive Profitability Challenges?
- Struggling to maintain margins while developing new technologies for demanding OEMs
- Seeking transparency across complex global operations and multi-customer programs
- Ready to transform operational complexity into sustainable profitability through partnership
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