MAINTENANCE
At a time when Jean-Paul Herteman, CEO of Safran, passes the hand, L’Usine Nouvelle offers to read the interview we had done in 2013 when we had the equipment manufacturer and his boss “l industrialist of the year. ” The trained engineer it affirmed its commitment to Made in France. He said France had everything in hand to conquer the world … in the image of his group actually!
Safran is growing worthy of that of a startup: sales increased 10% in the third quarter of 2013. There are successes whose brightness requires some attention to really be dazzled. Behind the launch fanfare there a few weeks of Dassault Aviation Falcon 5X hides the Silvercrest, a Safran engine. It is the same for all the activities of the company, aerospace defense through security: its successes too often remain in the shadows. Which provides the US fingerprint recognition technology used by the FBI? Safr an. The system of biometric identification card in India? It is still Safran! It is these performances that led the jury convened by L’Usine Nouvelle for seating in the industry to choose the CEO of the company resulting from the merger of Sagem and Snecma, Jean-Paul Herteman, Manufacturer of the Year 2013. The engineer comes in an interview on the strong growth experienced by the group in recent years.
L’Usine Nouvelle – Safran has experienced strong growth in recent years, mainly due to overseas. Do you feel at the head of a French group or rather a globalized business?
Jean-Paul Herteman – We carry about 80% of our revenue internationally. And 60% of the staff is French. This is the usual ratio of French aviation industry. Our growth is driven by exports. Proof of our dynamism, the 66 000 employees of Safran, 40% did not belong to the group there are three! This is not a start-up profile, but this is awesome. That said, the last five years we have invested more in France and abroad. The trend will continue. Do not try to oppose France in the world. Safran tree spreads its branches on the planet. I know of no tree can bear fruit without roots. And our roots are French.
You rely so keep your seat in France?
The heart of our industrial base remains in France, but the French domestic market is not enough to feed us. For us, growth is in Asia, particularly Southeast, and America. And for us closer to these markets we go abroad. Like the wiring we provide to Boeing at its plant in Seattle. For reasons of time, we have also built a little maintenance workshops around the world. It can not be a leader of security technologies in the United States while remaining in France. We also manage the biometric identification system in India, how then do not be there? The second reason that pushes us out of France is economic. The European aeronautics has a congenital weakness: it manufactures its products in euros but sells in dollars, it is the rule of the game Safran, as for other industrial sector, a variation of 10 cents in the Euro exchange rate. -dollar is two points margin. This uncertainty forces us to dollarize our production costs and invest outside Europe, while maintaining ou r major investment in France.
The industry accounts for less than 12% of the value of France. How do you rate this historical perspective?
The industry in France is suffering. But I am one of those people who do not give up. The country of disabilities related to labor costs, regulation. But there is a skill and expertise to be top notch in France. The degree of involvement, proximity, there may be between the operators of workshops, technicians, engineers, and that can be observed in France, I do find anywhere else. With this patch, French industry knows how to renew. We are part of the developed countries that have the most unscrewed. But I assure you that the level of inventiveness and involvement in France is very strong. With a little determination, you can reach great achievements.
Can you give an example of the ability of French industry to renew?
We own a factory of 700 people in Fougeres (Ille-et-Vilaine) who is in his fifth conversion! It belonged to Sagem, built from Safran. The plant started making telexes in the 1960s she moved to fax, then to car dashboards, and mobile phones. In 2007 the situation became untenable, the cumulative losses over three years amounted to 600 million euros. In such a situation, the reflex is often to decide everything relocate to China by savings worry. We decided otherwise! The business was stopped and we kept the factory. We then conducted a fifth conversion in electronic cards for aerospace and defense equipment. The plant is now profitable. Its workforce, three-quarters female, still has the highest level of participative innovation group. And that 68% of staff who has no tray. Through intensive training and involvement of each and every moment, this Ferns plant represents excellence of the group.
What do you think of some speeches that believe that the added value is in the services and not in the industry?
I disagree with this view. For economic reasons, first: a share of the wealth produced is hardware related. The services develop, exchange, from an industrial core. It’s a fact. My other argument is societal. There is no better intercultural pot a plant. It is difficult to bring together in one place so many different talents. Parts of the aircraft within the craft of art. Our CFM56 engine, the world’s best-selling product, for example, only 120 copies per month. Once develops somewhere industry in the world, very quickly appears a middle class. The industry does have a societal role. The industry is a certain idea of working together.
This positive view is easier to sustain in a growth sector such as aeronautics …
Since the late 1960s, air traffic has grown into the world two times faster than GDP. This was made possible by the development of tourism and international business. But also due to the ability of the aviation industry, amid successive oil shocks, divide by four fossil fuel consumption per passenger last thirty years. Aeronautics is doped innovation. Our latest innovation Safran presented at the Paris Air Show this year is a “hybrid” aircraft taxiing on electricity. For a Paris-Toulouse, this represents a saving of 600 kg of fuel, almost 5% of the consumption of the flight. We must also remember that Snecma has earned a place in the civil aviation through a technological breakthrough in the 1970s, in partnership with General Electric: the CFM56 engine, which reduced consumption by 20% compared to competing engines .dropoff window Our enviable situation is due to the vision of the leaders of the time and tenacity.
What do you think the research tax credit (CIR), much-maligned today?
The CIR is a virtuous and tax incentive system. It is a major factor for the attractiveness of France. A group like Safran is one of the first beneficiaries. The CIR is for us almost 1% of turnover. He helped us to ramp up our research. And many of our suppliers have informed us of their intention to install R & amp centers; D in France. Since the CIR has been set up, we hired 13,000 engineers in France.
It is rather a large group of device …
Large groups are SMEs that have grown. Safran is a perfect example. The group was born from a great innovation developed by a Lyon family business in 1915, forging a company that has decided to diversify into the engines. Today, our R & amp budget; D represents 12% of revenue, or nearly 2 billion euros. We are the 21st French group turnover and the third patent filer. It is the mark of a technological differentiation strategy.
What are your future technology growth opportunities?
For the civil aviation, continuing to lower fuel consumption, we can consider several decades of growth. Leap motor, we start production, consumes 15% less than the latest model of CFM. But do not forget that we have developed in recent years in technologies other than aircraft engines. This is the security, where there are few actors, inputs barriers very strong and deep relationship of trust between customers and suppliers. We designed the system fingerprint recognition FBI, and since 1996 from French excellence in mathematical morphology.
The security sector it is carried by a structured channel?
Civil aviation is a regulated business. Security has regulated before being a business. We sell detection equipment at airports through the harmonization of standards creating this market. Should be a coordination between stakeholders, industry, government departments and financial players. Security sector does not exist, but it is all the more necessary as the market forces alone do not create. The other difficulty is that the security industry, in all countries of the world, is a combination of industrial aerospace and defense, and electronics actors and the computer. We have created a structure between professional organizations and the authorities have decided to formalize this new industry, which will be very useful.
Interview by Pascal Gateaud, Oliver James and Thibaut de Jaegher (Photo: Pascal Guittet )
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