Background

• Elio engineering,Inc is a private company categorized under engineering services and manufactured automotives bodies vehicle bodies and trailers, automotive chassis, product and material trailers.

• Elio engineering is a company that designs the new technology of the seat in the automobiles which is called “No compromise” or “NC”

• NC seat is a part of All-Belt-To-Seat(ABTS)• The firm was founded by Pual Elio and Hari Sankara.

Timeline

• 1996, Pual Elio designed a revolutional bike which got a patent.

• 1998,Pual met Hari Sankara who was his mentor in Structural design and Analysis department of Johnson Controls,Inc.

• July 1998 , Pual invited Hari to join his idea about the NC seat and they founded Elio Engineering

• Nov 1998,They went to present the NC seat to Bostrom Seating, the seat supplier for heavy truck and bus industry, that was looking to develop the ABTS.

Timeline

• Early1999,Bob Glaspie joined in as the 3rd member of the team.

• Feb1999,Bostrom made a licensing deal with Elio.• Mar1999Bostrom planned to unveil the NC seat at an

annual trade show in Kentucky

Elio’s Technology• A new seat which progress on cost,weight and

performance called “No Compromise” or NC which was a part of special class of automotive seats in the industry called “All-Belt-To-Seat”(ABTS)

Conventional Car Front Seat Technology

• Weakness

• The seat material can be break, fracture or buckle after the force impact that reached it’s failure level.

• Often resulting in fatal injuries to passengers.

• Strength

• Its components and materials are inexpensive and light weight.

• Ease to manufacture and assemble

All-Belt-To-Seat (ABTS)integrates the seat belt directly into the seat.

• Weakness• Cost

• Strength• Easy to use,Comfort• Higher comfort level• More attractive

appearance• “Hugs” the

passengers from the back impact.

Differences

ABTS• The shoulder belt and lap

belt originate from the auto body.

• Is very heavy and expensive.

• Is installed only in luxury and high-end sport automobiles.

NC• Originate from the seat.

• Light weight, low cost and strong

Potential to share all segment of the auto market

Key benefit of Elio

• The new technology doesn’t permit extremely failure

• A special new load –level recliner mechanism ensure that the seat doesn’t fracture at the failure level

• When the force diminishes, the seat structure is still fully functional.

Barriers and Risks

Bottlenecks to commercializing the Technology

• Federal safety requirement• Raw materials requirement such as brake

friction and Urethane• Large capital requirement• Working under a stringent requirement • Seat styling also become talent

Relevant supporting technology

1 .Concurrent Engineering• Understand standard points of technology and

products• Communicate information troughs the process• The benefits are reducing cost and decreasing

time-to-market.• Using software program such as CAD

2.Materials Science -often found by trail and error

-provide from aboard

-outsource specialists

-ensure quality

Manufacturing Issues

• ABTS seats are base on existing technology

• Independent entrant were that manufacturing was not its core competence.

• Fairy large capital requirements of building a new plant.

Capabilities requirement for players in automotive seats

• Concurrent engineering• In-house design• Interior systems capabilities• The strong capabilities of Johnson Controls

Customers

•The ultimate user is the buyer of a new car.

•OEM customers of seat system supplies make the buy decisions.

•The seat system is part of the “total interior design” of the car.

Customers

Most OEMs used a sophisticated market segmentation of car purchaser based on:

• Demographic parameters

• Needs or lifestyles

Try to match the car interior accordingly.

Market Share

• The “Big Three” U.S. auto manufacturers,Ford,

GM,and Daimler Chrysler,each has so much power that it has been able to squeeze the operating margin of major U.S. seat system suppliers down to about 2 to 5 percent.

Benefit of NC Seat

Competitors

• Many competitor already had an ABTS seat in their product portfolio or were currently working on the technology.

• The designs currently available on the market were not cost-effective solutions.

• Industry experts who had the opportunity to see Elio’s design acknowledged that the Elio mechanism was a breakthrough innovation. It was expected to have cost and functionality advantage over competing technologies.

Competitors

• The North America automotive seating market was also highly concentrated.

• Two tier-one player,Johnson Controls Inc.(JCI) and Lear Corp.

JCI had excellent seat system and total car interior engineering capabilities and strong expertise in concurrent engineering and software tools.

JCI was strong at effectively integrating strategic acquisitions into its organizational structure.

Lear was inclined to outsource more of the design and manufacturing work and merely act as a seat “system integrator”.

Entry the Markets

• For standard products and incremental innovations, this provided tem with a significantly lower cost position and a shorter time to market.

Barriers to Entry (BTE)

• It would be extremely difficult for a brand-new entrant to compete with the incumbents.

• In the design and development part of the value chain entry barrier were lower.

• Increasingly, sophisticated software applications facilitated the development process.

How to entry?

The first was to enter the market as a tier-three or tier-two suppliers of seat mechanism or seat structure.

Advantages•The new entrant could supply its technology to all tier suppliers.•The new entrant could keep greater control over its core ABTS technology.

Disadvantages•The new entrant was likely to receive a relatively small piece of the final product’s total value-added compared to a tier-one supplier who in-sourced ABTS technology.•The lack of manufacturing and marketing experts increased the technological and market risk.

How to entry?

A new entrant could try to partner with one of the tier-one or tier-two suppliers or with OEM and develop and market the seat in a joint venture or through a licensing agreement.

Advantages

•This strategy would provide the newcomer with substantial resource and significantly reduce technological and market risk, an exclusive partnership with a tire-one or OEM would limit the size of the total market for the new entrant.

•It could leave the new entrant with less control over its core ABTS technology and depending on its bargaining position, with a potentially lower margin

Dicision Time

• Elio joint venture with Bostrom Should?• Should it partner with a tier-one or a tier-two

automotive supplier?• กลยุ�ททธ์�ของ Elio มี ความีสอดคล�องไปในทางเด ยุวก�น

เพื่��อตอบสนองความีต�องการท �จะเข�าส"#Auto market ได�อยุ#างสมีบ"รณ์�แล�วหร�อไมี#?

1. joint venture with Bostrom Should Elio?

• Should • ข�อด -ท'าให�มี ฐานล"กค�าเด)มีของBostromอยุ"#

แล�วจ*งเข�าส"#ตลาดได�ง#ายุข*+น-มี recourses,technology และก'าล�ง

คนคอยุสน�บสน�น ท'าให�ช่#วยุลดต�นท�น และความีเส �ยุงท �อาจเก)ดข*+น

-สามีารถอาศั�ยุช่��อเส ยุงของBostromในการขายุส)นค�า

1.Should Elio joint venture with Bostrom ?

• ข�อเส ยุ -มี แต#ตลาดtrucks and buses

-ถ�าต�องการมี ตลาดใหญ่#ข*+นจ'าเป0นต�องปร�บแผนใหมี#และใช่�กลยุ�ทธ์�อ��นเพื่)�มีเต)มี

1.Should Elio joint venture with Bostrom?

• Should not

• ข�อด -เข�าถ*งได�ท��วท�+งตลาดAotomobilesเป0นการเพื่)�มีช่#องทางในการขายุไปได�หลายุกล�#มีล"กค�ามีากข*+น

-เป0นการท'าธ์�รก)จโดยุไมี#ต�องพื่*�งพื่าบร)ษั�ทอ��น ท'าให�ไมี#ถ"กควบค�มีหร�อจ'าก�ดการค)ดค�นเทคโนโลยุ ใหมี#ๆ หร�อแผนงานต#างๆ

1. Should Eliojoint venture with Bostrom ?

• ข�อเส ยุ-การเข�าส"#ตลาดท'าได�ยุากมีากข*+น เน��องจากค"#แข#ง

เด)มีมี ศั�กยุภาพื่ท �ส"งและครองตลาดอยุ"#แล�ว-ต�องใช่�ทร�พื่ยุากรคนและเง)นท�นมีาก ท'าให�เก)ด

ความีเส �ยุงทางการเง)นได� ท'าให�เก)ดต�นท�นท �ส"ง อาจท'าให�ต�องระดมีเง)นท�นจากแหล#งต#างๆ

-บร)ษั�ทใหมี#ท �เพื่)�งเข�าส"#ตลาดอาจยุ�งไมี#ได�ร�บความีน#าเช่��อถ�อและความีน)ยุมี เพื่ราะช่��อเส ยุงยุ�งไมี#เป0นท �ร" �จ�ก ท'าให�ต�องใช่�เวลาแนะน'าส)นค�าเข�าส"#ตลาดในช่#วงแรกก#อน

2.Should it partner with a tier-one suppliers or a tier-two automotive

suppliers?• Should

-ถ�าบร)ษั�ทใหมี#เป0นได�เป0นห��นส#วนก�บtier-one suppliers หร�อtier-two suppliersผ#านทางการร#วมีก�นพื่�ฒนาและท'าการตลาดก�บบร)ษั�ทjoint ventureหร�อผ#านทางการท'าส�ญ่ญ่าข�อตกลง-กลยุ�ทธ์�น +ท'าให�บร)ษั�ทใหมี#น�+นมี การทร�พื่ยุากรหล�กๆ,ลดการใช่�เทคโนโลยุ ท �จ'าเป0น และลดความีเส �ยุงทางการตลาด

2.Should it partner with a tier-one suppliers or a tier-two automotive

suppliers?

• -แต# การpartnerแบบtier-oneน�+น จะท'าให�บร)ษั�ทใหมี#ท �จะเข�าส"#ตลาดน�+น ถ"กจ'าก�ดขนาดตลาดได�

• ยุ)�งไปกว#าน�+น suppliersเองจะไมี#เข�าไปยุ�#งเก �ยุวก�บการใช่�เทคโนโลยุ ABTSหล�กๆ ท�+งน +ก7ข*+นอยุ"#ก�บต'าแหน#งในการต#อรอง

กลยุ�ทธ์�ของ Elio มี ความีสอดคล�องไปในทางเด ยุวก�น เพื่��อตอบสนองความี

ต�องการท �จะเข�าส"#Auto market ได�อยุ#างสมีบ"รณ์�แล�วหร�อไมี#?

Elioเก)ดจากการเร)�มีใช่�เง)นท�นต�วเอง โดยุเร)�มีต�นจากกการรวมีต�วก�นของกล�#มีเพื่��อนและอาศั�ยุเง)นท�นของต�วเองและครอบคร�ว ต#อมีาได�มี การเต)บโตข*+นด�วยุการผ"กส�มีพื่�นธ์�ก�บบร)ษั�ทอ��นท �มี ฐานในตลาดอยุ"#แล�ว ท'าให�อ�ปสรรคในการตลาดมี น�อยุลง การเข�าส"#ตลาดจ*งท'าได�มีากข*+นและช่#วยุลดความีเส �ยุงท �เก)ดจาการต�องใช่�เง)นท�น ทร�พื่ยุากร และเทคโนโลยุ จ'านวนมีาก