Our commitments to you : be a fast, flexible, reliable, innovative and competitive company.
For that, we lead 4.0 ambitious projects. Symbiose, our new electronics plant, is the perfect example.
Discover Symbiose
A passion for operational excellence
with Benjamin Gauchenot
26 November 2020
LACROIX Electronics
In this article, we give Carte Blanche to Benjamin Gauchenot, who has been Vice-President of Operations & Quality for Electronics activity of LACROIX since 2019.
Together with him, we uncover the secrets of operational excellence. From technical expertise, to control of production processes and collective intelligence, he tells us how he combines passion and performance in order to orchestrate the company’s industrial strategy.
Our competitors never stop evolving. Our customers never stop wanting us to be more competitive. Our employees never stop asking us for better working conditions. There is clearly infinite scope for progress, and we still have lots of ideas!
My Carte Blanche, is to have a passion for what we do, and to take pleasure in working together in a known environment.
Focus on operational excellence and lean management
The winning combination for operational excellence
According to Benjamin Gauchenot, operational excellence is based on 3 pillars:
- technical expertise (e.g. brazing or reflow operations)
- process expertise, knowing the methodology
- cooperation
He also explains the concept of a leading/pilot plant, in which an industrial process can be tested and improved before it is deployed to all the production sites of Electronics activity of LACROIX.
Similar to the idea of POC (proof of concept), we can first check that the new process is working properly.
Lean Management, a process of continuous improvement
In order to achieve operational excellence, it is necessary to go through several stages of improvement. According to Benjamin Gauchenot, “there are different types of improvement, we will always organise things so that we can take a mixture of big steps and small steps”.
This continuous improvement is what he calls Lean; challenging and innovating in order to find better methods.
Lean is important for our customers: it makes us more appealing. However, it is also extremely important in terms of quality of life at work.
The proliferation of electronic systems, and the development of promising markets
Industrial IoT
We produce electronic systems, so the proliferation of electronic systems can only be good news for our company. This is also another reason why it is important for us to deploy an industrial IoT strategy.
In our factories, the IoT uses intelligent sensors placed on our machines to submit data (anomaly detection, operational analysis, improvement in production performance, etc.).
Power electronics
According to Benjamin Gauchenot, power electronics is a rapidly expanding field, given the democratisation of electric vehicles.
He concludes by discussing the development of DfX (Design for manufacturing/test/procurement) which, during the design phase, allows for the analysis of potential risks during production.
Benjamin Gauchenot, the operational excellence guide: a short bio
Drawing on his 19 years of experience in the automotive industry at Renault and Bosch, he has held the position of Vice-President of Operations & Quality for Electronics activity of LACROIX since 2019. His mission is to seek to coordinate the company’s industrial strategy using a range of lean tools.
Have a listen to the French podcast “Carte Blanche” and this sixth episode with Benjamin Gauchenot
(Podcast only available in French)
About the French podcast “Carte Blanche”
In Carte Blanche, the LACROIX podcast that connects you to the electronics industry of the future, guests share their vision of the Smart Industry and the future of the industrial IoT, taking us behind the scenes of electronic design and production. They will share their own experiences and talk all about this 4.0 company.
What will the industry of the future look like? How can we support this major transformation? What are the key industrial challenges of tomorrow? All these questions will be answered by employees of the Electronics activity of LACROIX, given Carte Blanche in this podcast.
Carte Blanche is available in French on the usual platforms: Deezer, Spotify, Youtube, Google Podcasts, Ausha and SoundCloud.
Carte Blanche – Season 1
Carte Blanche #1 – Stéphane Klajzyngier – On our way to 2020!
Carte Blanche #2 – Emmanuel Thommerel – Industry in the age of data
Carte Blanche #3 – Dominique Maisonneuve – A look at the Smart Industry
Carte Blanche #4 – Emmanuelle Landru – Thoughts from an engaged plant manager
Carte Blanche #5 – Stéphane Henry – The electronics industry: research and science fiction
Carte Blanche #6 – Benjamin Gauchenot – A passion for operational excellence
Carte Blanche – Season 2
In this new season, we are placing a special emphasis on our customers, our suppliers and our business ecosystem as a whole. You will also discover unexpected answers to a game of twenty questions…
The Carte Blanche format remains the same: engaged employees of the Electronics activity of LACROIX who spend 7 minutes sharing their experiences.
Carte Blanche #7 – Jérôme Rouland – Customers relations above all else
Carte Blanche #8 – Dominique Chanteau – A purchasing strategy that is both human and responsible
Carte Blanche #9 – Alban-Thomas Beduneau – The future alongside our customers
Carte Blanche #10 (upcoming episode)
Bear with us… We are still working on the next episode.
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