“Digital continuity is emerging as the new guiding principle for industrial operations.” The automotive industry is experiencing an unprecedented acceleration in development cycles. How is OPmobility adapting? Sandrine Ledru. Just a few years ago, industry standards and customer demand led the sector to develop and launch a new vehicle every 5 years, on average. These days, some of our customers are asking us to be ready in 15 months. This is a major shift: it has redefined the requirements for the entire value chain and imposes a level of agility which our way of working and our tools must be able to accommodate. To address these challenges, digital continuity is emerging as the new guiding principle for industrial operations. In this context, how does PLM go beyond merely being a tool to become a driver of business performance? S. L. For a long time, PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) was seen as just one of many IT tools. Those days are over. At OPmobility, we’ve replaced 7 different systems with a single platform, thanks to our partnership with Siemens and their Teamcenter X solution, which is currently being rolled out across our 40 R&D centers worldwide. This is not an IT project, it is a key driver of competitiveness. By ensuring data continuity from customer specifications through to production, PLM serves as the backbone of the entire product lifecycle. It connects teams, streamlines communication, reduces data transfer errors, and breaks down silos: 4,000 engineers work together on this shared platform, around 10% of our workforce. The impact on day-to-day decisions is direct and massive. Digital twin technologies are often presented as a means of accelerating progress. In practical terms, how does this change the way you manufacture? S. L. Digital twin technologies fundamentally change our ability to anticipate and manage industrial challenges. In the past, we used to wait until a production line actually existed before optimizing it. Today, we simulate the entire lifecycle of a plant even before it is built: material flows, AGV (Automated Guide Vehicle) movements, operator workstations, and robot paths. It used to take 2 years for the overall set-up of a production line; now it just takes 1 year. Now that automotive development cycles have been reduced from 5 years to 15 months, how is OPmobility rethinking its tools and methods to scale up production faster, without compromising quality? SANDRINE LEDRU Executive VP, Chief Digital & Information Officer 12 BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES
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