{"id":6646,"date":"2022-02-14T12:29:52","date_gmt":"2022-02-14T10:29:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/escp.eu\/thechoice\/?p=6646"},"modified":"2023-02-17T17:40:42","modified_gmt":"2023-02-17T15:40:42","slug":"how-user-centric-co-innovation-has-been-driving-digital-transformation-at-faurecia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/escp.eu\/thechoice\/choose-to-lead\/how-user-centric-co-innovation-has-been-driving-digital-transformation-at-faurecia\/","title":{"rendered":"How user-centric co-innovation has been driving digital transformation at Faurecia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Once upon a time, not so long ago actually, Faurecia<\/a> only supplied automobile manufacturers with parts. Recently, it made a new deal<\/a> making it the seventh largest automotive supplier globally, with an highly-advanced technology portfolio addressing all industry megatrends.<\/mark> This creates a company with some 150,000 employees and annual sales of about 23 billion euros – forecast by Faurecia to exceed their very ambitious growth targets: 30 billion in revenue by 2025 (from roughly 18 billion in 2018), representing a Compound annual growth rate of above 8% vs. 2020!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How did Faurecia get there?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the case we published with The Case Centre<\/a>, we explain how this modern automotive component manufacturer has evolved from a supplier of hardware to an electronics supplier, and is ultimately embarked on a journey to become a software supplier<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Faurecia\u2019s digital transformation started in earnest in 2015 with a programme called the \u201cDigital Enterprise.\u201d Its objective was to explore how digital technologies might disrupt Faurecia and challenge traditional ways of working. This involved over 200 individual initiatives and 42 proof of concepts (POCs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company\u2019s efforts were then accelerated by Ren\u00e9 Deist (now with ZF), who joined Faurecia in April 2017 as the new, Global Chief Information Officer (CIO) and a member of the management board. Within his first 100 days at the company, he launched several initiatives, most importantly a cost-cutting program called \u201cFit4Future,\u201d the creation of a company-wide data lake as well as the \u201cworkplace of the future\u201d and the \u201cDigital transformation\u201d (an evolution of the Digital Enterprise programme) initiatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exploring \u2019new value spaces\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But as the focus of the company was increasingly shifting from manufacturing hardware to software, one of the main drivers of growth was expected to come from \u201cNew Value Spaces.\u201d<\/mark> At roughly 7 billion euros, and therefore contributing about half of the expected growth, these would primarily be driven by opportunities provided by digital technologies, particularly those concerned with increased connectivity, intelligence capability, and the digitalisation of customer experiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ren\u00e9 Deist was concerned that the company would not be able to develop a significant number of new and successful business models, and to scale them by itself fast enough. But it was not only speed that mattered. Over the years, he had learned that successful digital innovations were often created by combining already existing products or services from various companies with potentially new services from start-ups and internal ideas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was, therefore, important to create an ecosystem with both established large companies as well as smaller niche players, potentially even with start-ups<\/strong>. Ren\u00e9 had seen it many times before, that in an increasingly digital world, a healthcare company could easily partner with an automotive supplier and perhaps even a bank to offer a new service to end customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So speed, and the ability to work in an ecosystem by bridging business interests, were two primary reasons to look for strong partners<\/mark> that could potentially help Faurecia in creating new digital products, services, and business models.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A best-in-class, consumer-centered ecosystem to accelerate digital transformation<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In order to accelerate time to market and to integrate key competences for its systems for Sustainable Mobility and the Cockpit of the Future, Faurecia centered its strategy of innovation on a strong ecosystem of external partners like universities, research labs, start-ups and think-tanks across the globe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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With its ecosystem, Faurecia has a presence across all New Value Spaces. (Source: Capital Markets Day, May 15, 2018.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHaving identified consumer needs and matched this with customer benefit, we need to bring new solutions to market quickly. For a systems integrator like Faurecia, that means working collaboratively as part of an ecosystem with partners who contribute knowledge and expertise to enable us to offer new technology bricks,\u201d <\/em>explained Faurecia CEO Patrick Koller<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cBy keeping consumer needs top of mind, we are on the right track to go beyond products to experiences and develop technology that really drives the mobility of tomorrow.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\nPatrick Koller<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis technology ecosystem allows us to progress fast but step by step, developing smarter solutions that are already going into serial production to enhance user experiences and provide cleaner mobility,\u201d <\/em>Patrick Koller adds. \u201cBy keeping consumer needs top of mind, we are on the right track to go beyond products to experiences and develop technology that really drives the mobility of tomorrow. We call this \u2018technology with a purpose\u2019.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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