Provided that it meets more and more strong environmental constraintsBut some observers even questioned its network of complicity In a sense YouTube is nothing without CNNToo slowly heated the matter ends in coalCasio is to continue to cultivate its differenceThey also had slightly less high yields 8And all these platforms are based in LondonMany shares runwaysShares runways are manyThe unlikely coalition lasted for four monthsLast Thursday Xiao Yu commissioned his seventh credit cardJean-Pascal Tricoire, the new President of the Executive Board of Schneider Electric, loves the competition and wants to instill this spirit to its teams. Witness, the research and development centre officially opened Electropole week last by foreign trade Minister, Christine Lagarde. Centrepiece of its innovation strategy, the centre of 10,000 m2 and 1,100 people (half of engineers) must serve as a model for the rest of the group. Its function is to bring together teams specialized in circuit breakers and other equipment of low voltage working so far in a "vacuum" at the four corners of the France Paris, Normandy, Isère... Today, these former free electrons are found on "trays projects" to work for several months with ten to sixty people from functions marketing, quality, electronic, industrialization or purchases.
Decided in 2004 that Jean-Pascal Tricoire already had a major influence, along with his predecessor Henri Lachmann, the creation of the centre is intended to meet the needs of efficiency of Schneider Electric, whose history is marked by accumulation of acquisitions: Merlin Gerin in France, Square D in the United States...
Engagement of researchers
Over them, the Group has accumulated 130 centres of research and development. The goal is to reduce this number, but it is also to open the group to external influences through partnerships. "It may not all develop alone", recognizes Eric Rondolat, Director General of the activity pattern of the Electropole and Power. The program marks not less a break with the traditional culture of the group, long accustomed to continue its work of R & D independently.
The objective is to be efficient and fast, but by creating a stimulating environment. "I want to put more speed and more in our competitiveness emulation", launches the pattern of forty-three years. Partnerships are multiplied with companies (Toshiba, Tata...) and universities (MIT, Saint-Petersburg). Questioned about possible friction, he responds that know to "benchmark". In the same vein, Jean - Pascal Tricoire has established an award for researchers to patent, both the deposit and the implementation. Until then, their efforts were very community and consensus of the group culture. "A vendor, which is of the super-résultats receives a super-bonus, I do not see why this is not the case for an engineer", said the President of the Executive Board, wishing to boost patent portfolio.
Close to the electroshock for the 6500 researchers of Schneider, this strategy is needed more and more at the time of technological revolutions. In electrical engineering, product cycle which was previously ten years is reduced to five years, despite a growing complexity. Innovation, in which the Group invests approximately 5 of its turnover, EUR 560 million, is indeed an engine of growth. For the electrical equipment, offer safe products no longer enough. They should offer reliable infrastructure, consuming less and less energy while providing maximum resistance in the event of power outages they can cost several million euros per hour in a production plant. The effort is international. If it has invested EUR 85 million in Grenoble between 2005 and 2006, Schneider Electric has installed over the same period of the centres in Bangalore in India and Shanghai in China. "We locate our resources near the markets," explains Claude Ricaud, Director, scientific and technical Electropole. In total, the Group spends 70 of its R & D budget abroad.