Case Study: Saint Gobain

As a key supplier to the automotive industry, Saint-Gobain faced significant challenges with the high costs associated with soft tooling and the procurement of regular test components, jigs, and fixtures.

As Thomas Abram, Tooling Manager at Saint-Gobain puts it: “Due to only having a few suppliers on our system we suffered from overpaying massively for soft tooling, regular test components and jigs, fixtures and fittings, which is a large part of our spend”.

Finding and managing a trusted pool of machine shops, fabricators and finishing partners is time-consuming for any business, let alone a multinational recognised as one of the world’s 100 most innovative companies. Not having the time to send out multiple RFQs each time they need something manufactured, the team at Saint-Gobain relies on long-term relationships with tried and tested manufacturing partners.

By adding Geomiq to their small list of manufacturing partners, Saint-Gobain gained access to hundreds of efficient and agile milling, turning and tooling specialists worldwide, all under one name and with hugely improved lead times.

"We needed a partner that could supply a range of different tooling and components, and Geomiq has given us access to a huge bank of suppliers meaning we can get the custom parts we need at the right prices, with minimal outlay on resources." – Thomas Abram.

Saint-Gobain uses the Geomiq platform as an integral part of their product development cycle and have been able to bring new solutions to market faster and with serious cost savings. They are now able to source test components at a third of the price, allowing them the budget to do a lot more testing.

“With Geomiq we trialled non-critical components until we were happy, and now are able to source custom parts twice as fast yet with minimal outlay on resource, knowing that Geomiq gets 5 quotes for every part on our behalf” says Thomas Abram.

• Dozens of engineers have completed over 200 projects with Geomiq
• We reduced the costs of test components by two-thirds, allowing Saint-Gobain to increase their testing and development scope significantly.
• Geomiq’s reduced leads times has enabled Saint-Gobain to bring new solutions to market much faster.
• Once the samples were signed off, Tuba quickly got their first 1,000 units into production.
• Providing 5 quotes for every part has minimized the resources Saint-Gobain needs to expend on procurement.