Renault-Nissan Tighten Their Alliance

Renault SA and Nissan Motor Co. will begin to further integrate their engineering, purchasing, production and human resources activities beginning April 1.

The companies formed their alliance almost exactly 15 years ago, with Renault taking a 44% stake in Nissan, and Nissan acquiring 15% of Renault. Since then they have steadily combined more operations.

The partners predict the latest round of integration will lead to "annualized synergies" of €4.3 billion by 2016. The plan names new executive vice presidents to head each of the four functions:

• Engineering for both companies will be coordinated by Tsuyoshi Yamaguchi, currently the alliance's head of platforms and parts. He will oversee common module family engineering, advanced research, powertrain development, systems engineering and testing facilities and services.
• Manufacturing/Supply Chain operations will be led by Shohei Kimura, currently Nissan's head of vehicle production engineering. He will oversee global industry strategy and sourcing, product process engineering, product control and supply chain management.
• Purchasing for Renault and Nissan will be headed by Christian Vandenhende, who currently leads the alliance's purchasing organization.
• Human Resources for the partners will be managed by Renault's current head of HR, Marie-Francoise Damesin. She will lead an effort to adopt common HR processes throughout the alliance, including a single "talent management" policy to be adopted worldwide by both companies.