Samro, French leader in the design and manufacture of semi-trailers and trailers with its revolutionary bolted chassis concept, is set to continue its growth drive in key markets, including eastern Europe, north Africa and China.
The company was first established in Fontenay Le Comte (Vendée) in 1976 after Joël Soulard, the father of the present company director, Stéphane Soulard, bought a bodywork business. Today the group employs 830 people in 17 production sites, and owns 23 subsidiary companies in France and around the world. With a 145 million euro turnover in 2004, after a phase of financing its development, “Samro's net profit is expected to reach two figures within the next two years”, says sales director, Philippe Gaborieau who defines the group's development along the lines of “innovation, export and customer services”.
After a series of tactical takeovers such as Trouillet in Balbigny (Loire) and Blond Baudouin near Nantes, coupled with the installation of assembly plants in Portugal, the Czech Republic and Belgium, Samro's policy is to design and manufacture parts for semi-trailers and trailers in France and ship them out to a given country where they are assembled and sold. “For example, our factory Atlantic Laser, situated in France, manufactures components used for the bolted chassis, on receiving an order from the Czech Republic, it ships the components out to our assembly plant there. The same method applies for body parts which are dispatched in kit form from our site in Dompierre les Ormes, the semi-trailers are then assembled and commercialised in the Czech Republic,” explains Philippe Gaborieau.
More assembly lines outside France are planned for the near future as part of the group's export strategy. “Takeovers in France for the moment are finished, our market share on the home front should stabilize at around 22 %, we shall not push any further than this as it will be detrimental to our prices and consequently to our profit margin,” says Philippe Gaborieau. Samro's objective then is to continue their development through external growth which calls for a strong presence in foreign markets.
“It takes three months to build an assembly line, we are currently negotiating with partners for new sites in Romania, Russia and China, and in the next six months we shall be in Italy, Serbia and Algeria,” says Philippe Gaborieau. An assembly plant covers 1500m², employs up to 25 people who produce 1500 chassis per year. The workforce and managerial staff, all nationals of the given country, receive training in France and in their home country. Every month the quality manager visits the plant to make sure everything is conform to Samro's manufacturing process and that delays are respected. In short, Samro provides know-how and components, the partner running the assembly line assembles the end products and uses their own distribution network to market them. “At Samro we believe that no one is better placed to market our products in a foreign country than a professional of that country,” says the sales director of the group who is also seeking partners in the UK.
But how does Samro guarantee the same quality throughout their partnerships? Philippe Gaborieau explains: “All our fabrication sites and assembly plants for our bolted trailers are certified ISO 9002 and ISO 9002 version 2000. As soon as we set up a new plant we apply the same rigour to obtain certification for the site, consequently every one of our sites is certified says Philippe Gaborieau.” To add to this all components and raw materials are shipped from France so guaranteeing the same quality all round.
The secret behind the group's successful export strategy lies in their groundbreaking bolted concept which they began in 1998. One major reason preventing semi-trailer manufacturers from exporting in the past was ironically the difficulty they had in conveying the trailers to the end user, not to mention the high transport costs. Samro's being able to ship the components in kit form to assembly plants outside France drastically reduces transport costs and facilitates delivery. “We are to semi-trailers what Ikea is to furniture!” says Philippe Gaborieau. “We can send ten times more semi-trailers in kit form than if we sent them readymade!” Bolstered by a world patent giving them a free hand on foreign markets, Samro expects to double its export sales to generate 60% of its overall turnover. “This year alone, with two new assembly lines set up abroad, export sales have leapt from 30% of our turnover last year to an expected 40% for 2005,” says the group's sales director. “With seven years behind us during which our bolted chassis have been tried, tested and improved, we can safely say today we have a stable product which will keep us a step ahead of our competitors for some time!”
Today 80% of the company's production is made up of bolted chassis which allows a semi-trailer to be assembled more quickly than before. “That's interesting for us, but the major advantages of using this process benefit above all our clients,” stresses Philippe Gaborieau. “The first being the use of HLE (high level elastic) steel which is 15% lighter than other steels of the same strength so resulting in weight savings. Secondly, using bolts allows us to treat every individual surface so enabling us to galvanise every single part of the semi-trailer including optional parts, which we can add or take away optional parts at will. And thirdly, if a part needs replacing the client can change it himself in record time using a special key without having to take the trailer back to an approved agent.”
Samro knows that becoming a champion and remaining one means not resting on your laurels. With a research and development unit of 10 people dedicated to innovation, the semi-trailer group is certainly not set to lag behind the competition. Assisted by computer calculation, new parts are constantly being conceived and improved. “Once the computer design shows no fault points, a prototype can then undergo laboratory tests. If these tests prove conclusive then another prototype is produced and tested on the track,” explains Philippe Gaborieau.
Coming soon in the innovation pipeline is a new suspension mechanism that will guarantee one million kilometres without need for any maintenance. Then there is the launch of a revolutionary type of bodywork combining a van and a curtainsider. “We've reached the final stages after working on it a number of years now, I think we'll have a prototype within the next six months with a commercial launch in about a year,” says Philippe Gaborieau.
“Not only are we very active industrially but also commercially,” says Samro's sales director. Via their website www.samro.fr, the group is currently launching a special offer whereby they are giving away a GPS tracking system along with 3 years free GPS subscription on the sale of a semi-trailer. “Today in France, haulage contractors are suffering from the increase in diesel prices, toll road prices and national insurance contributions, all of which they can have no influence over,” says Philippe Gaborieau. “We asked ourselves what we could do to improve our customers' business to help them become more competitive. And we came up with GPS vehicle tracking.”
After informing the driver that the trailer was equipped with a satellite tracking system which cannot become scrambled, it was found that there were suddenly fewer discrepancies between the estimated distance and the distance actually travelled, which in turn meant a saving on fuel, tyres and maintenance costs. “A fleet equipped with GPS allows the haulage contractor to have a closer eye on his trailers' operations, to locate the trailer in case of theft and to have better control over the rate of utilization of the fleet,” says Samro's sales director. To finance the offer Samro has deducted it from their profit margin as a show of solidarity in the face of the difficult times their clients are going through.
In keeping with their notion of customer service, this year the company set up a finance subsidiary, Samro Lease, headed by Nicolas David, a veteran in the field. “Today we are able to help our clients finance their purchases,” says Philippe Gaborieau. “It's a definite help to them as we systematically search for the best financial solution according to their business.” In this way, by offering a hand to improve their customers' profitability and financial ratios, Samro is also winning their loyalty.
To symbolise the group's spirit of adventure and ambition, Samro has recently signed a 3 year sponsor contract with Troyes football club, who this year have been promoted to the national first division. “The club is moving up with ambition and we felt in many ways they resemble us as we were not so long ago. We hope the club, just as we did, will became the leader in France, then move on to reach international heights. We wish them the same success as we have today,” says Philippe Gaborieau.
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