New horizons

This Friday will be my last working day at Forvia.

The last 10 years have passed in a blink ! I want to thank Forvia ExCom members, my teams, my colleagues, and ex-colleagues, for all the good and extraordinary stuff we have done together.

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Automotive is fun and challenging because it is in constant transformation & questions itself continuously, thanks to customers and because our margins are so tiny and the value chains so complex.

But FORVIA had even more changes and transformations : the Group has evolved from a plastic/metal supplier into a tech-oriented one with a renewed product portfolio – and we are now on track to grab opportunities of mobility experiences while pioneering sustainable solutions. Thanks to FORVIA‘s strong culture, fantastic products, passionate peoples, robust processes.

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After 17 years in consulting, it was quite a shock back in 2013 to join the tough & direct-messaging, cash & margin-pressured, world of 佛吉亚 .

I quickly learned to love deeply Faurecia Interiors, certainly the most complex / most competitive of all Business Groups – but with its beautiful products, its numerous industrial processes, its talented and entrepreneur peoples, we have made it the #1 player in the market !

As part of my job, I have signed numerous partnerships (special hello to my friends at APM, Ligneos Srl ! – but so many others in Turkey, Japan, China, Taipei, Sweden, Finland, US…), reshaped the portfolio of plants in many countries, visited & revisited make-or-buy on product lines, grown some businesses and divested others, contributed to #CES, kicked-off many contingency plans / Fixed Costs reduction initiatives / Functions efficiency / Capex containment plans…

I am especially proud of what we’ve done with my Strategy & Marketing teams to create and launch #Cockpit of the Future (COF), and all the successes we’ve had in the areas of electronics, displays and Smart Surfaces, before the further developments led by Group with Clarion Electronics and 海拉 .

I had also the privilege to lead a Division during a total of 4 years. I can appreciate what a demanding job it is, and thus I want to congratulate all teams for their successes in biz acquisitions, program developments and launches, new plants, HR challenges, P&L targets, etc.

In all we do, we transform and improve, steered and challenged by each others. This is true for companies as well as for individuals. Life is not a smooth journey, it has bends & twists, doing & undoing, accelerations & brakings…. I have become a different person (older), probably tougher, more mature and able to deal with ambiguity ; Faurecia has evolved into Forvia, and will continue to experience some Stop&re-starts, and re-invent itself.

I believe in #automotive.?I remain convinced that mobility is at the heart of people’s lives, it brings freedom to people. Car industry will reinvent continuously to deliver this promise to people (even – and maybe also because – if younger generations don’t know how to drive…).

I believe in #leadership . Companies need vision, coaching, inspiration. And also decision-making and pressure. Management is instrumental in obtaining the best from the teams; it can be sometimes hard, but it’s overall rewarding to share their hunger for excellence, forward-thinking, openness to new ideas, push for momentum.

I believe in #industry . Industry drives value-creation, steers research & innovation, creates direct & indirect jobs, gives independence to countries, solves the global challenges such as sustainability.

With that, I will let you know about my new adventures in the 1st days of September...

In the meantime, I hope that all of you can take some well-deserved rest with families & relatives, and like me, visit Italy, read German & Russian litteratures, and listen to Schubert & Brahms.