Hutchinson rolls out new digitalisation plan

Paris – French rubber & plastics parts supplier Hutchinson SA is modernising its factories and transforming operator practices through the deployment of digital technologies.

In a 14 Jan statement, the Total-owned company said its digital transformation policy targeted four main lines: industry, products, customer & suppliers and employees.

At its production sites, the French company is using digitisation to optimise processes and “render them more robust.”

Digital technologies, it said, will be used in development, supply-chain and production.

The company is launching the transformation across all its global sites, supported by its operational excellence department which promotes lean principles throughout the organisation.

In terms of products, Hutchinson is looking to add sensors or RFID chips to its products.

The move, said the company, is particularly important as it enables gathering accurate data on product lifecycle and thus reduce maintenance costs.

Optimising customer & supplier exchanges is also vital for Hutchinson, and especially for its aerospace activity.

Here, the company uses collaborative platforms such as Air Supply, which was launched by Airbus, Dassault Aviation, Safran and Thales.

The platform improves machine-to-machine data transfers and structures information exchanges.

Such data exchanges could include a range of information, from planning and coordination of hardware needs to the delivery and payment phases.

As the final piece of the puzzle, Hutchinson is creating webcasts on “essential and strategic information” and live videos for its employees across the world.