Safran and Michelin endow ESCP europe chair: "factory of the future": how people fit in the digital world

Agreement signed on April 27, 2017

The new chair at the ESCP Europe business school, 'Factory of the Future', is designed to explore the impact of the digital revolution on managerial and organizational methods in industry. Created as a three-year partnership with Safran and the Michelin Corporate Foundation, it will study how digital technology affects production staff, and also identify the best managerial practices to apply in tomorrow's factories.

The major objectives of the 'Factory of the Future' chair are as follows:

• European benchmarking and case studies, by students and researchers.
• Help spread this knowledge and foster the sharing of best practices through publications and conferences.
• Participate in the public debate on the conditions and consequences of new ways of working in factories.

This new chair reflects a shared commitment to support the development of new production and working methods, which are already under way at these two major manufacturers, Safran and Michelin. It will allow students to better understand, from an industrial perspective, the impact of digitization on everybody involved in the production process, as well as on organizations.

Fabienne Fel, the Scientific Director for this new chair, said, 'This subject is front-page news, not only for heads of human resources, but also for production departments, and academia had yet to address it. The aim of this new chair is to provide solutions that will address these issues, a focus of everybody in industry, both in France and worldwide.'

Jean-Luc Bérard, Executive Vice President for Human Resources at Safran, added, 'The aviation sector is growing and Safran is adding several hundred new operators and technicians every year. The increasing digitization of our production facilities will require new skills and knowledge, which we have to add right now. With the measures implemented by this new chair, dubbed 'Factory of the Future', we are taking an active role in shaping the future of our industry and these students.'

According to Philippe Legrez, Executive Director of the Michelin Corporate Foundation, 'This chair will enable students to carry out research on a subject that concerns not only industry, but society as a whole. It will help us better understand the impact of the digital revolution on factory work so we can more effectively support our workers, especially production staff, in this transformation that is already under way.'