On 6 September, Hervé Guillou, CEO France’s Naval Group, officially inaugurated a new facility on the company’s Ruelle site, in the west of the country. Dedicated to innovation, this new building is part of Naval Group’s strategy to try to stay ahead of its competitors.
Naval Group’s new innovation centre was officially inaugurated on 6 September. (Philippe Caumes/Naval Group)
Known as the ‘Innov’Factory’, the centre is a brand new 4 723 m² building designed specifically to facilitate team work and open innovation. Naval Group has invested EUR12.7 million (USD14 million) for its construction. It includes an ‘open lab’ where prototypes can be designed and tested, in addition to virtual reality tools and meeting rooms.
Naval Group expects that at least 30% of the personnel working on these premises will not be Ruelle-based workers. Teams coming from other Naval Group sites, contractors, industry partners, and customers will be invited to work at the centre with equipment specialists. This could modify the way naval systems are developed, Guillou believes. The new facility aims to reduce development time from design, to integration and then training.
“Breaking innovations will be developed from A to Z in the Innov’Factory,” said Guillou, “The time to produce and integrate these innovations will be greatly reduced … and we will better anticipate the market and the future needs of our clients.”
Naval Group’s site at Ruelle focuses mainly on the development and manufacturing of equipment including the Sylver family of vertical-launching systems, ship-management systems, and bridge equipment. It is used to develop new training systems as well as simulators. In addition, research is also conducted in the fields of 3D printing, and the use of composite materials.
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