DESIGN AND FUNCTIONALITY THAT SERVE THE CUSTOMER
Tienne 4’s production facilities are located in industrial warehouses measuring about 9,500 square metres of covered space, with a large manoeuvring area and outdoor parking. All the stages of the process take place here: from the carpentry, to the intermediate warehouse for feeding the assembly lines with automatic packaging, up to the storage of the finished product for individual customer orders ready for shipment.
In the same building, in addition to both the executive and operational offices, there is a large sample room and other rooms used for preparing prototypes and studying and developing new proposals, including both finished products and components or special devices suitable for improving the functionality and safety of the products in the catalogue.
DISTRIBUTION OF PRODUCTS
The products manufactured by Tienne 4 are mainly intended for primary mass retail structures both in Italy and abroad. Distribution takes place through the parent company Group SOFIM Srl.
Design
DESIGN, PROTOTYPE AND PRODUCTION
The study and creation of new products starts from the indications of the marketing department, which passes on the market needs to the company departments in charge as well as the internal technical office. This is done with the collaboration of the external designers who collaborate with the company, most notably Pino Spagnolo, who are able to transfer the needs into studies and renderings by visualising the various proposals. The stage that immediately follows this is the creation of prototypes, which are set up within Tienne 4 by with its own resources and staff in a room dedicated to this activity, to allow a discussion with its owns customers and the potential ones.
Subsequently, after specific technical and commercial tests, the new products are definitely included in the catalogue, assigning them a line if they are entirely new or simply a revision in case of updates and revamps of existing lines.
Research and Development
ENSURING PEOPLE HAVE WHAT THEY NEED
For Tienne 4, R&D activities are the most important and specialised aspect for the commercial support and are carried out with a constant commitment in terms of both financial resources and personnel. All the costs incurred are usually attributed to the income statement, as this these are activities that are institutional in a certain sense, and are necessary to operate in a competitive market that requires resources to be invested every year to improve performance. On the other hand, R&D costs are capitalised when they relate to specific projects, intended for certain customers or distribution channels, the investment of which is expected to be recovered over a certain period of time on the basis of precise objectives and commercial expectations.
Customisation
Tienne 4’s size, which can be configured as a classic SME, allows for a high degree of product customisation, precisely by virtue of the flexibility of the process and the direct response to the customers’ specific requests on the part of the various interlocutors.
This aspect is often overlooked, but within the Tienne 4 philosophy it is one of the most significant characteristics and helps to generate a direct dialogue with customers, unlike large companies that often have a very rational but also impersonal and not very involving way of dealing with the clientele.
After-sales service
Tienne 4 pays particular attention to after-sales assistance to customers, to ensuring the correct assembly and installation of the furniture produced, guaranteeing all the necessary technical information is contained in the assembly instructions and attached to the products, an activity that is in any case integrated with specific delegated internal staff members who are able to intervene promptly in case of need.