Eddie Thorning
Global Automotive Specialist
 Eddie Thorning is a fully qualified automotive engineer but with considerable experience of other business disciplines including sales, marketing, business & strategy development. He is also trained in a whole range of lean manufacturing processes including Kaizen, Poko Yoko, Kanban etc.
Personal Profile
Until very recently, Eddie Thorning was providing a business advisory service to the UK Department of Trade and Industry and in particular a specialised Automotive Unit within this department. He was the Project Director of the 'Total Package' programme which is designed to not only promote the full capability of the UK automotive sector - from design to recycling - but also to identify and quantify opportunities for the UK to engage with suitable companies in a selected range of priority markets through a series of highly focused and carefully targeted business relationships.
Prior to this role, he was working for the Unipart Group of Companies and was the European Sales Director for the Unipart International Division. As well as Europe (including Central and Eastern Europe), he also has extensive experience of working in the USA, Mexico, Brazil, India and South Africa. He has lived and worked in various European countries as well as regularly visiting all key global automotive markets.
He is multi-lingual and in addition to his native English speaks fluently Italian, Spanish and French with a good working knowledge of Portuguese. This also allows him to fully understand and comfortably identify with the business cultures of many other countries.
In recognition of his work in international markets, Eddie was recently nominated and accepted for inclusion in the 2004-2005 edition of International WHO’S WHO of Professionals.
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Key Areas of Expertise & Skills Base
Detailed understanding of the global automotive industry, its problems and opportunities and the ability to discuss and communicate these to widely varied levels within the industry.
Eddie has over 40 years experience in the automotive industry, much of which has been devoted to working in international markets. This coupled with his ability to keep pace with the continuous developments within a constantly changing industry has provided him with the profound and highly specialised understanding and knowledge that he possesses today.
Equally important, however, is the ability to communicate the many and varied threats – but also opportunities – that this highly globalised industry presents. Especially if confronted by a lack of similar understanding, fear of change and possibly mindset conflicts as well.
In being able to deal with these issues, Eddie has built himself a good reputation not only within the UK but also internationally. He is regularly invited to address international seminars and conferences and share his knowledge and experience with other key industry players.
Some examples of this can be seen by visiting www.google.com and keying in Eddie’s name.
Customer Interface Skills.
Many of these skills were developed and honed during his career with the Unipart Group particularly given their very strong emphasis on providing outstanding customer service to the extent that this became an integral part of the group culture. Much of this was due to their close association with key Japanese customers such as Honda & Toyota which resulted in a strong adoption of many Japanese working practices throughout the group.
During this period, Eddie won one of the prestigious ‘Mark In Action’ awards presented to qualifying executives for outstanding personal customer service. In his case, the nomination was made by an international organisation he was working with at the time and that later became a JV partner of the Unipart Group.
Identification and development of international business opportunities.
This has formed a key part of Eddie’s role both during his time with the Unipart Group and also later when he was managing the ‘Total Package’ project on behalf of the DTI Automotive Unit. It extends to many key international automotive markets and as a result, Eddie is very known and respected in these markets at all levels of the industry. These include local government, vehicle and component manufacturers, trade associations, universities, local Press etc.
Clearly, these types of extensive and high level contacts will be of particular benefit to both his existing and future customer clients in assisting them to develop new business relationships in international markets.
Feasibility Studies.
This is a key requirement of new market entry particularly where business relationships such as JVs, manufacturing agreements, technology transfers, acquisitions, third market collaboration etc. are being developed. Again, this process has been very much a part of Eddie’s various roles to date and must be considered a key support element to market data and reports particularly as he is able to add his considerable understanding and knowledge of various markets, their people, their cultures and their business practices.
Market Research and Case Studies.
Quality market research is also very important in international markets but again there is much to be gained from tempering readily available market data with the knowledge and practical experience of someone who has actually worked in the markets and who can overlay many additional aspects not necessarily contained within the market data.
Eddie has worked extensively with various Market Research Agencies throughout his long career in the automotive industry and still continues to receive up-to-date information on a regular basis - in some case daily - from a variety of international sources.
As a direct result of working closely both with the markets and individual companies and organisations within those markets, Eddie also regularly prepares and issues Case Studies either for publication or for use in assisting other companies develop new business opportunities in these markets.
Full assessment of company capability SWOT analysis, and remedial action identification.
An essential ingredient of a successful business relationship is compatibility between the two partners and their respective business objectives. This involves a detailed analysis of each company’s capability, their strengths and weaknesses and their general suitability and willingness towards the business relationship being considered. Whilst this can, of course, be undertaken by the companies themselves, this is often better carried out by an independent person with no direct involvement in the project.
This has been very much the approach adopted within the ‘Total Package’ project run by Eddie on behalf of the DTI Automotive Unit where the strategy is to first identify the market or business relationship opportunity in selected overseas markets and then match this to a suitable company within the UK having both the capability and willingness to be able to respond to the opportunity.
Much of this matching process has been undertaken by Eddie himself given that his general industry background and specific knowledge and experience of both the UK and overseas markets have equipped him ideally for this particular task. As well as regular visits to potential companies, Eddie also regularly attends seminars and clinics organised by ‘Regional Partners’ with a view to meeting and assessing their local companies.
This, too, is a skill that is of considerable benefit to his current and future customer clients.
Preparation and implementation of Business and Market Strategy Plans.
Clearly this is another vital skill and has been extensively employed by Eddie throughout his various roles within the automotive industry. He can, in fact, claim to have introduced the process of Business and Market Strategy Plans to various departments within the UK Department of Trade and Industry and as part of the ‘Total Package’ project he and his team developed and implemented the overall global strategy for the project as well as all of the individual market strategies for each of the selected priority markets contained within the project.
Eddie is also a trained Facilitator and has run many workshops both within the DTI and outside as part of the planning stage prior to the development of Business and Market Strategy Plans.
Problem Solving
This process, too, was an integral part of the Unipart business culture and as such Eddie has been fully trained in this process which he regularly uses to assist companies and group organisations within the automotive industry.
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Successful Projects
Total Package
This is essentially a project designed to meet the challenges of globalisation head on. It has basically three main objectives: -
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To actively promote the UK Automotive Sector capability – from design to recycling – in key global markets.
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To identify and quantify opportunities for suitable UK companies to develop business relationships within selected priority markets and designed to improve their current level of international business.
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To deliver these objectives through a series of highly focused and carefully targeted initiatives.
Eddie has managed the whole project from its launch through to the current high level of awareness and recognition – not only within the UK but internationally – and has achieved considerable and sustainable success.
This success achieved so far can be measured by:
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Increased awareness of the total capability of the UK automotive industry in key overseas markets.
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Increased awareness among UK companies of the threats and opportunities of globalisation within the automotive industry.
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Clear advice on the business strategies needed in order to fully exploit these opportunities.
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A series of clearly identified and fully quantified business proposals from selected overseas markets and an established process for ongoing development of these and conversion into real and sustainable international business for UK companies.
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A wide nucleus of UK companies who have ‘bought into’ the Total Package concept and who are benefiting/about to benefit through increased business opportunities.
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Many already established business relationships e.g. JVs, manufacturing agreements, technology transfer arrangements, acquisitions, distribution agreements etc. across all the target markets.
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Many £Ms of increased and future potential business for the UK.
Such has been the success of the ‘Total Package’ project that Eddie, through his own consultancy company, is now working on an individual basis with a number of the UK companies identified through the process whilst at the same time continuing to maintain his high level of international contacts and exposure.
For more information on ‘Total Package’ please visit www.autoindustry.co.uk
Foresight Vehicle
This is another DTI Automotive Unit programme and this one is looking at vehicles of the future and is a fine example of collaboration between the UK Government, Industry and Accademia. It basically concerns technologies, designs, materials, fuels etc. to be used in vehicles of the future and is often referred to as the 2020 project.
It consists of around 500 projects each one with one or more stakeholders from either industry or the Accademia or possibly both, all working very closely with the UK Government under the management of the DTI Automotive Unit.
Whilst Eddie has not been directly involved in this programme as such, he has, through the ‘Total Package’ project and by working closely with the Foresight Vehicle team, succeeded in successfully internationalising the programme. The programme has already been presented to key industry players, local government officials and universities in Europe, the USA, Mexico, South Africa, Japan and India with more markets to follow.
The vision is to combine the development of future vehicle requirements with the lower cost manufacturing capabilities of the emerging but nevertheless key global automotive markets in order to make the UK an even more important industry player in future years.
For more details of the Foresight Vehicle programme visit www.foresightvehicle.org.uk
Fiat Project
This was a short-term project taken on by Eddie prior to starting his contract with the DTI Automotive Unit and involved working with other UK Government Departments as well as the SMMT, the UK automotive industry trade association.
The project consisted of introducing more UK design and component manufacturing companies to the Fiat organisation in Italy. As well as his experience of working in the UK automotive industry, this process was greatly assisted by Eddie’s detailed knowledge also of the Italian automotive industry (this having been one of the countries he lived and worked in earlier in his career), his contacts in that market and, of course, his command of the language.
As a direct result of the successful completion of this project, there are now many more UK companies supplying the Fiat organisation not only in Italy but also in other markets including the UK and with resultant additional revenue for the UK industry.
Unipart Group – Various Projects
During the period he worked for the Unipart Group, Eddie performed various roles primarily within Sales, Marketing and Business Strategy Departments and essentially dealing with international projects. In these various roles, he represented the company in many different countries and was responsible for setting up several overseas operations including wholly owned subsidiaries, JVs, importer and distribution agreements as well as direct selling ventures.
He was also instrumental in developing key business relationships between the Unipart Group, other major international groups and the UK Government. Indeed, whilst still working at Unipart he was already acting in an advisory capacity to a number of government departments through various committees and business groups.
Given the particular customer focused business culture of the Unipart Group, this has provided Eddie with additional skills acquired from various programmes introduced through the group in support of this culture as well as the Japanese working practices already mentioned.
International Shows & Exhibitions
Both during his career with the Unipart Group and since in his role as Project Director of the ‘Total Package’ programme, Eddie has actively participated at international events of this type in more than 30 different countries, some on several occasions. In the majority of cases he undertook the complete project management task from stand design through to management of the event and in others he played a fully supporting role.
He has also run workshops to help companies develop the right strategy for such events and therefore achieve maximum return on their investment. He continues to offer his skill and experience through his own consultancy company to any companies participating at similar events and wishing to derive full benefit from their efforts.
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Achieving Results
Eddie is himself very results and success orientated and fully appreciates the need – and indeed right - of his company clients to demand this themselves. Given his long and very broad experience – both in the UK and internationally – coupled with his extensive range of key contacts, makes him ideally suited to help companies to also achieve successful additional business in an otherwise complex and sometimes difficult global industry.
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Contact Details
E-mail: Eddie.Thorning@btinternet.com
Telephone: +44 (0)1865 765986
Mobile: +44 (0) 7785 993178
Fax: +44 (0)1865 762853
Website: www.GlobAuto.co.uk
Based in Oxford, UK
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Useful Websites
www.autoindustry.co.uk
For more information on the ‘Total Package’ programme as well as much other industry information. More of a Search Engine than a website given the many links to other sites, both in the UK and internationally.
www.foresightvehicle.org.uk
For more information on the Foresight Vehicle programme. Can also be accessed through
www.autoindustry.co.uk
www.GlobAuto.co.uk
The website of Eddie Thorning’s consultancy company.
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