JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #110 - January/February 2017 - 4

OPlNlON mobility

Hutchinson

"Composite materials are enriching
the products in our business lines"
Hutchinson had a turnover in 2015 of €3,833 billion. With its 38,000
employees spread over 25 different countries, the group is committed to
participating in a mobile future where travel is safer, more comfortable
and more responsible. To do so, Hutchinson is counting on its own
resources - although it also welcomes other opportunities, as shown by
its September acquisition of Composite Industrie.

Jacques Maigne: The 507 Fab
House supports the group's strategy, in
particular for sustainable development.
You might say that the 507 Fab House is
the group's "beating heart". It serves three
purposes:
- To receive our customers, so they can
discover Hutchinson's global offering.
It is now the point of access to the company for all our customers. It serves as a
reception centre to provide a full view
of our business lines and skills, and it is
where we will be presenting our company and its multiple areas of expertise
for many different markets. The working
mode will be exchange and cross-fertilization, and I can already tell you that
the first meetings we've organized with
our customers right here in recent weeks
have been fully satisfactory in this respect.
- To exchange and share with our teams.
It is a place for knowledge sharing and
training: in-house seminars, lectures,
team building. The 507 Fab House is
what forges Hutchinson's corporate
culture, and to transmit that, we needed
a physical location, a place to meet and
share experiences.
- To think "out of the box" and to innovate. It is also a place for a different cre-

4

JACQUES MAIGNE
Chairman and CEO
Hutchinson

ativity. In a changing, digital world that
is built on sharing, connectivity, and
economy, we need to invent, or at least
participate in new business models.
Exchange is an integral part of innovation; our different areas of expertises
and business lines have to communicate
more, so that advances in one area will
benefit the entire company; so that we
avoid generating "monocultural" ideas
and models; and so that time to market
is reduced. New working modes require
cutting-edge tools, of course, but also a
more open creativity, with skills that cut
more across disciplines, and individuals
from a wider range of origins.
We provide support for our customers all along the value chain, from
customized material design to the
integration f connected solutions

"

JEC Composites Magazine: You recently inaugurated the 507 Fab House. How does
the rehabilitation of this historical building
and the use you e assigned to it reflect the
company spirit?

with

And then, along with its American
extension, it is both a unique historical
place and an environmentally friendly
building. Hiram Hutchinson bought the
former eighteenth-century royal paper
factory in 1853, and started making rubber
boots. Directed first by Hiram, and then
later on by his son Alcander, the factory
was for a long time considered to be one
of Europe's finest. Following a severe
fire, it was partially rebuilt in 1869 by the
young Gustave Eiffel, who assembled one
of his first metal frameworks there. The
environmentally friendly building meets
French low-energy building standards. It is

jec composites magazine / No110 January - February 2017

insulated from the exterior, so requires less
heating in winter and less air conditioning
in summer, while its air cooling/heating
system consumes less energy. The Emmaus
Association supplied the recycled heatinsulation materials.
At Hutchinson's site in Grand Rapids,
Michigan, the North American Innovation
& Business Development Center, or 616
Fab House, was inaugurated on 20 January
2016. It is the American analogue of the
507 Fab House. In the same way as the
507 building, 616 is a historical renovation
of the third floor of the production site
in Grand Rapids, which has been an
industrial site for more than a hundred
years. The 616 Fab House is typically
Michigander, consisting of a brick-walled
space (approx. 1,250 sq. metres) with
parquet flooring and solid wood beams. It
also proposes convivial areas that are hightech and innovative, such as conference
rooms equipped with interactive screens
and telepresence videoconferencing, a
"solutions" showroom, and a 3D printer.
JCM: Could you refresh our memories about
the group's activities?

J. M.: To meet the needs of our automotive
and aerospace customers in particular,
Hutchinson designs and produces
customized materials and connected
solutions. As a leader in vibration
damping systems, fluid management
and sealing solutions, our group stands
out for its comprehensive, multi-market
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #110 - January/February 2017
