SEAT Programme Saves 12.6 Million Euros

SEAT's latest initiative proves that sometimes it pays to listen to your staff! Ideas put forward via the SEAT Improvement Programme, which encourages employee participation in achieving savings, last year resulted company savings totalling a massive 12.6 million Euros.

SEAT Cars obtained this impressive figure thanks to proposals made by their very own employees, who came up with 11,200 ideas for improvement.

Suggestions put forwarded included ideas for optimising processes in order to make the company more efficient.

Nearly half of the proposals were awarded prizes for their originality, implementation capacity or benefit to the company.

Prize money handed out to employees totalled 1,123,000 Euros, with suggestions broken down into different categories: Product, Facilities, Ergonomics, Energy Savings, Easy Ideas, Process Improvement, Quality, Environment and Innovation.

Among the highlights for most original ideas where those that contributed to the efficiency of the facilities. For example, in applying the adhesives used to seal the windows on SEAT models. This idea, put forward by an assembly line worker, proved that the adhesive applied is suitable for two different geometries that can be used on the latest version of the SEAT Ibiza, as well as the previous one.

SEAT Vice-president for Human Resources Xavier Ros emphasised the participation rate and “the way we are getting SEAT employees to change their mentalities so that they not only feel that their opinion matters, but also that they are aware of and involved in the need for a vision that includes the environment and improved processes.”