Watch: Aptiv’s José Carlos Jiménez on keeping pace with rapid industry transformation

"The pace of change is really accelerating," Jiménez said. "The growth cycles are shorter, the strategies per region are different... and we see the regulations are still evolving.

For Aptiv, Jiménez explained that it's all about how the company plans and invests. "Right now we are deploying investments sequentially as the customer is ramping up and we are making sure that we design modular solutions, modular lines that we can adapt quickly to the customers' needs.

Standardisation is an important part of this, allowing Aptiv to simplify operations, introduce automation and, as a result, reduce cost. Jiménez highlighted the importance of operational agility to ensure the company does not have to reinvest every time there's a major shift from the customer's side.

Speaking about modularity, he added: "The integration of manufacturing and engineering is very important and we are reshaping the way we are designing and manufacturing because now it is not one after the other anymore, it is more connected. It is very important that the design team understands the consequences for manufacturing and the manufacturing understands the consequences for the customer.

He described digital tools as "only support for our decisions", noting that "the main thing that is driving the cultural change is collaboration".

"There are many things that are happening at the at the same time, so ensuring that we have an early engagement of the teams, that they are sharing openly the their ideas and that there is a shared accountability," he added. "And then... we can measure the results of this collaboration in launches, in quality and in cost."

Jiménez also spoke about the benefits of early collaboration with partners and a modular approach. "The collaboration between customer and supplier is essential, and the earlier the supplier is involved and with the customer the better they are," he said.

"Good examples are our modular connectors that are are providing that modularity or flexibility to their needs based on on how their architecture is evolving through time," Jiménez added.

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