Rail: How do you look back on these first 20 years?
Didier Stainmesse : Already 20 years! Time has gone by very, very quickly... I haven’t seen it go by, because the company’s development has been continuous, with a trajectory of constant progress, bearing in mind that the original idea was to be a maintainer.
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D. S. : At the time, I was the director of a hydraulics company, and following the trust placed in us by SNCF and Bouygues for our hydraulic skills, I decided to create Hydro 3M. One thing led to another, and the people I worked with put the idea in my head to take charge of the complete retrofitting of machines, which made sense, hydraulics being the most complex field.
David Chatelet : When I joined the team in 2005, I was the only one who wasn’t a hydraulics engineer. On the other hand, my 10 years’ experience acquired with railway machine manufacturers brought this knowledge of design and construction. Although we were involved in maintenance, we quickly returned to this area, which I had mastered.
D. S. : In the space of 6 or 7 years, we moved from retrofitting to remanufacturing and then to the construction of railway machines.
How do you explain this development?
D. S. : I think it’s due to our approach, which is to innovate, to do things differently... The more we innovated, the more we were in demand. In fact, we were pushed by our customers, because we brought a new approach to the industry.
D. C. : This rapid evolution is also due to the combination of perfect mastery of hydraulics, and knowledge of the construction and standards environment. We’ve learned from each other and complemented each other’s skills, while remaining true to our specialties. Our leitmotiv has always been innovation, which has enabled us to gradually bring skills back into the company.
How did you integrate these skills?
D. C. : By passing on our know-how. The company grew quite fast, from 6 to 20 employees in two years.
D. S. : We’ve targeted our needs, but we’re lucky enough to be in a region with a long history of industry, which means we can find talented technicians and engineers, because it’s part of the local culture.
When did you become a builder?
D. C. : Our first rewinder came out in 2009. We then produced our first decoiler/rewinder in 201 0-2011, which gave us our foot in the door. And little by little, we’ve grown, and our teams have grown.
How would you define Novium’s DNA?
D. S. : Clearly, our DNA is sharing. We’ve shifted the industry’s focus towards collaboration and participation. This position was reinforced by the creation of the Mecateamcluster. The more we have this innovative image, the more we are solicited... It’s a virtuous circle.
D. C. : Novium has never pretended to want to take everything. And that’s still the case today. The question is to know where we are the best and to find the right partners. It’s more interesting to work with several people, and to share the risks, so that we can all grow together.
D. S. : I’m convinced that there’s strength in numbers and intelligence in sharing. We’ve moved forward at a steady pace, but without missing a step. We’ve moved forward with mastery.
What was your greatest challenge?
D. S. : Personally, I’d say the transition from maintainer to manufacturer, which wasn’t easy at first. Having the vision and ability to carve out a place for yourself as a manufacturer in the industry was not obvious.
D. C. : The first challenge was to carve out a place for ourselves among the other manufacturers by providing a real response. The second was to gain recognition within the industry. It’s relatively easy to make one move, but to do it over the long term... Finally, maintaining the company’s state of mind is an ongoing challenge, because it’s something you have to work at to maintain.
D. S. : To complete the picture, if I dare draw a similarity with rugby, we have gone from a Fédérale club to a Top 14 club, while retaining an “amateur” mentality. A team without stars, always ready to maintain its position at pro level. The difficulty is to stay at the highest level with this state of mind.
How do you manage to maintain this state of mind?
D. S. : It’s a day-to-day job, based on communication and the transparency we’ve always maintained with all our employees, and on giving them autonomy...
D. C. : By transmitting this team spirit to our middle management. It’s up to us to make people understand that it’s not one person who does the job, but a team where everyone is important. You can’t do anything on your own, but you can move mountains if you work together. It’s a message that needs to be repeated, because the bigger the company gets, the more it’s diluted.
D. S. : Our employees recognize that we are totally transparent about the life of the company. Just as with our customers, we don’t sweep problems under the carpet, but tackle them together. The company must continue to have this spirit of sharing; it’s part of our appeal.
What are your greatest satisfactions?
D. C. : Looking back, I’d never have imagined that we’d get to where we are today. For me, the greatest satisfaction is the industry’s recognition. When someone contacts us about a contract or a project, it’s a great satisfaction, because ten years ago we were contacted mainly when there was a problem.
D. S. : I agree with David. For me, the greatest satisfaction is our success, and our trajectory, which is still upward, but with controlled ambitions.
D. C. : The other great satisfaction is linked to our employees, their stability and their pride in working for the company. That’s very satisfying.
D. S. : Today, according to an anonymous internal survey, 82% of our employees are satisfied or very satisfied to be at Novium. Knowing that people come in the morning with a smile on their face is a source of great pride.
How do you see the next decade?
D. C. : For the past 20 years, we’ve been working on the French market to gain recognition in our environment. In ten years’ time, I’d like to see us exporting to Europe.
D. S. : The export market represents 10% of our sales. Over the years, we’ve become a benchmark company in the French rail industry, which is recognized worldwide. Now it’s time to put in place the means to export our know-how to Europe.
How can we meet this challenge?
D. S. : Our ambition is to become an ETI by 2030. In view of our potential, we have been selected as part of the 4th “ETIncelle” program. Aimed at small and medium-sized companies, this government program is designed to prepare us for the transition to ETI status.
What’s the next technical challenge?
D. S. : Finding solutions that will lower the cost of machines, and ultimately, for our customers, the cost of work. By improving the productivity, safety and reliability of our machines, we can contribute to doing more work with the same budgets, with the aim of reducing costs by 10 to 15%. That said, process innovation is in the hands of the operators. They are the ones who know how to do the work in an innovative way. It’s up to us to innovatively translate the machines that will enable them to comply with their new process.
D. C. : Over the last 20 years, all the best machines we’ve produced have been those we’ve designed with the operator. They bring their process innovations and we bring our expertise as a manufacturer, and vice versa. Once again, it’s this sharing that has led to our greatest successes. Tomorrow’s challenge is to reproduce this collaboration.
Interview by Frédéric Burguière
