The Industry of the Future Alliance (AIF) has awarded Lectra with their ‘Showcase for the Industry of the Future’ label for demonstrating the criteria exemplarity, innovation, and commitment. The certification is given to companies who have concretely developed a ground-breaking project to organise their production by leveraging the potential of digital.
The AIF bestowed Lectra with this distinction for its competitiveness concerning cost, quality, and delivery times, all obtained thanks to a lean approach and reflection around the design of its products. Further, Lectra received the certification for its competitiveness regarding value achieved, thanks to mastering customer use from which new associated services have flowed.
Pressure from certain shareholders to relocate manufacturing to China in 2005, triggered Lectra’s industrial project. Following risk analyses—the cost of transport for the European market, the turnover in qualified labour, uncertainty over patent rights and quality—Lectra decided to keep manufacturing in France. This choice was conditional on: disruptive innovation; upgrading; increased value to customers; and a rise in productivity.
The project was accompanied by a well-structured lean approach and organisational changes, which enabled Lectra to achieve the desired level of excellence in terms of productivity and competitiveness.
There was growth in industrial performance due to an improvement in working conditions, with teams involved in the lean approach. Production engineers were involved in creating awareness around factory constraints for a new offer as early as the design process.
There was emphasis on product, process, and logistics’ modularity with the latest possible integration of options. This enables logistics’ constraints to be taken into account as early as the engineering phase.
Lectra’s factory improved its productivity rate by 18 points in three years, and has since maintained it at 89 per cent. Costs have already reduced by 25 per cent and the quality and level of service has improved. In terms of positioning, Lectra has confirmed its leadership in the high-end segment. Lectra has enriched its offer with end-to-end services and innovative, connected products whose embedded intelligence offers Smart Services, notably for predictive maintenance. (GK)