VIGNALE | Interview

FOCUS

PSI Journal 10/2015

www.psi-network.de

How well did the cooperation work from

Ford’s perspective?

Markus Egbert:

We knew from experience

that cyber-Wear and we speak the same

language. We also hit it off immediately

with the suppliers. That in itself is already

a solid basis. By the second meeting,

cyber-Wear was already very well prepared.

The professional expertise as well as the

enthusiasm with which the cyber-Wear

team addressed the tasks really impressed

us. One advantage is certainly that our Ford

team of four people is quite small and able

to make decisions. I think all parties react-

ed very quickly and flexibly and were open

to suggestions and changes. This acceler-

ated and simplified the whole process, and

ultimately led to great results. This is also

perceived externally. It was not without rea-

son that the luxurious Vignale Weekend-

er was distinguished with the coveted IF

Design Award.

How was product development and what

special challenges emerged for the

suppliers?

Patrick Döring:

Acar produces the Vignale

Weekender, a travel bag with a spacious

design made from exquisite, hand-stitched

leather, reflecting the appearance of the

soft leather seats. There is a matching la-

dies’ handbag in the same trapezoidal sil-

houette, the lining of which reflects the

pattern of the car seats. As for the proce-

dure: We received a detailed inquiry which

already included a lot of information, and

therefore we were soon able to begin pro-

ducing a prototype. The claim for a high-

er, uniform quality, especially in terms of

a natural material such as leather, is a ma-

jor challenge. For example, it is not easy

to evenly dye a large area of beige leath-

er. After just two samples, however, the

decision was made. The blind embossing

required some experimenting. Here, too,

everything was relatively uncomplicated:

The approval came direct from Ford in our

production facility in Turkey, where the de-

signers themselves had inspected the fa-

cility. Of course, something like this is only

possible when the distributor and suppli-

er have a trustful relationship.

Meinhard Mombauer:

The Vignale money

clip made of silver-plated brass comes from

our company. We needed just two tests be-

fore we had achieved the specified quali-

ty. The lasering process was eventually car-

ried out by us in Cologne. I see this as a

learning process in which you get to know

your strengths andweaknesses. What counts

with such product developments is alone

the result which we and the customer must

be satisfied with.

Toska Siekmann:

Alta Seta produces the silk

scarves and ties according to the specifi-

cations of Ford Design – naturally from the

highest quality fine silk made in Italy. We

initially presented several material quali-

ties and specified the dimensions and col-

ours. Once the material had been speci-

fied, a sample was immediately produced.

During production in our Italian facility,

we made modifications together with the

designers: For example, it was found that

the silk in the chain had to be more tight-

ly woven to bring the pattern and the logo

to bear. I personally found it great that the

Ford designers worked together with us in

a team to implement our ideas. The result

has convincing: The four-colour lining at

the tip of the tie, which reflects the design

of the silk scarf, met with an outstanding

response. Thus, the requirement to create

an exclusive design was fully met.

Jörg Herzog:

A USB stick in the design of

a vehicle key – this is really something spe-

cial and an exciting task for us. Ford gave

us invaluable support here, enabling us to

make a prototype based on CAD data. Once

a decision on the size and material had

been made, the task was solved. We un-

derstood the idea and everything instant-

ly worked perfectly.

Tobias Köckert:

When it comes to fine por-

celain, one naturally thinks first of Meissen

porcelain manufacture, and in fact this op-

tion was briefly discussed. However, this

option was priced well beyond the speci-

fications. We therefore invited cyber-Wear

and the Ford team to our own factory and

collectively brainstormed ways to imple-

ment the hexagon design on a set of es-

presso mugs. Luckily we had some time

and a budget to try out some variations.

After we showed what is possible, we spec-

ified a variant that in our opinion would

provide the best result. That is the differ-

ence to normal merchandising products:

When developing a design product that

must reflect the brand values and an idea,

a dialogue always takes place in order to

create the optimal product. In the case of

simple merchandising products, the result

is more likely than not determined by the

budget and therefore the options are lim-

ited.

What experience did you gain from the

project?

Steven Baumgärtner:

Transparency is the

most important principle of cooperation in

the framework of a project. Anyone who

acts accordingly need not be hesitant about

doing direct business. In our industry, how-

ever, this fear is still widespread, as well

as a certain overestimation of one’s capa-

bilities. As distributors we have to admit

that we cannot do everything. That is why

we need to involve competent partners who

can overcome unusual challenges with en-

thusiasm and passion. Accordingly the re-

sults are good – a vivid example of this is

the Ford Vignale Collection. I would ap-

peal to my fellow distributors to further de-

velop this concept of partnership and not

to stigmatise distributors or suppliers who

work as transparently as we do.

Markus Egbert:

We are glad that there are

companies such as cyber-Wear who sup-

port us in a field that is not part of our core

business: We can build cars and support

dealers, but the distribution of merchan-

dising products is an entirely different ket-

tle of fish. cyber-Wear has filled this gap