JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #105 - June 2016 - 11

sales, equally balanced between activities related to Composite Integrity and
those from the composite platform.
We forecast a near doubling of these
activities within 5 years.
JCM: What is the Institut de Soudure's
current strategy for composites?

Jean-Pierre Cauchois: It is in

line with the Group's global strategy.
We are looking to diversify our markets
and pursue our internationalization.
Our goal is to also strengthen our
presence in aeronautics and position
ourselves more strongly in the automotive industry in order to be able to keep
pace with the strong growth in this
sector expected in the coming years,
both in France and abroad.

JCM: Have you already targeted certain
priority sectors?

J. P. C.: We are targeting more specifically the aeronautical and automotive
industries. In aeronautics, where composite materials are already commonly
used, we have three main areas of
development. The first is to develop
abroad our NDT and mechanical testing activities for composite parts. The
second is to develop our maintenance,
repair, and overhaul (MRO) activities
in aeronautics. In this regard, in December 2015 we were awarded Part 145
certification for our Villepinte, Lisses
and Bordeaux-Latresne sites. Finally,
the Group is aiming to develop its ac-

Online and maintenance waterjet C-scan
monitoring

tivities in the training and qualification
sector.
For the automotive industry, the
challenge is to find the best balance
between cost, weight and performance
to succeed in producing lighter cars
at an affordable cost. Integrating
composite materials in vehicles is a
strong response. Today, we are actively
working on developing solutions to
substantially reduce the time needed to
manufacture composite parts and thus
lower their cost.

Focus
The Institut de Soudure Group in numbers:
- €100M in sales, of which 30% on the
international market
- 1,100 employees
- 8,000 customers
- Present on the 5 continents
- 21 training centres
- 29 sites in metropolitan France
- 45 countries of intervention
- 12 sites outside of Europe
- 8,000 m² of laboratories

In this context, which synergies can you
implement to develop your composite
activity?

Can we expect other operations, partnerships, buyouts, joint-ventures ..., on your
behalf in the medium term?

S. D. L.: Thanks to our recognised
expertise, we are going to develop
our composites training programme
to meet the strong expectations of
industrial manufacturers. We will also
be involved in standardising the field of
composites.

S. D. L.: The Institut de Soudure
Group remains open to opportunities
for acquisitions or external partnerships
that correspond with its development
strategy. The operation concluded with
PPE in February is part of our strategy,
as well as the creation, in December
2015, of a joint-venture in Shenzhen,
China. Following these recent operations, we are primarily concentrating
today on how to best integrate our new
colleagues and their activities.

Moreover, the historical expertise of
the Institut de Soudure, complemented
by those of the teams that just joined
us, will enable us to move forward in
regards to issues concerning composite interfaces as compared to metallic
materials. This is how we will make
progress on issues that are key for
industrial manufacturers: cost, quality,
output rates and part weight.
JCM: International expansion is a key
area of growth for the Institut de
Soudure. Is this also true for Composite
Integrity?

J. P. C.: As pointed out by the chairman Sylvain de Lescazes, international
expansion is one of the key strategies
of the Group in order to diversify its
risks. The strategy of its Composite
Integrity brand fits perfectly into this
framework. The Institut de Soudure
Group's network, with a dozen sites
outside of France and a presence on all
5 continents, will be a valuable asset to
ensure the development of Composite
Integrity internationally.

To conclude, and following your operation
in the world of composites, what are
your thoughts in respect to this market?

S. D. L.: The integration of composites in numerous industrial sectors
such as aeronautics and the automotive
industry offers bright prospects for
growth and technological innovation.
The interest of industrial companies in
composites continues to grow, as evidenced by the need to always find more
space for the JEC World tradeshow each
year. Moreover, the future is increasingly focused on multi-material assemblies.
The Institut de Soudure Group, whose
business as an industrial technical
centre is to serve the industrial world,
needed to be present. This is currently
the case and I'm very proud of it. n

No105 June 2016 / jec

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