On Thursday June 15th at La Défense, New AREVA wanted to honor those suppliers who had participated in its recovery by awarding fifteen "AREVA 2017 Supplier Awards".
In December 2015, AREVA had assembled its 100 leading French suppliers to associate them with the Group's reconstruction efforts as part of the Performance Plan. They brought forward good ideas for accelerating cost reduction projects already under way and also by identifying new opportunities.
More than 300 proposals were made by these suppliers, and nearly a hundred selected with significant effect on the 2015-2017 Performance Plan.
Following a rigorous selection process, sixteen proposals that significantly contributed to performance improvements in the areas of operational excellence, innovation and competitiveness received awards.
After presentations by Philippe Knoche and Eric Chassard, who explained the different stages of the Group's transformation and the main upcoming strategic challenges, representatives of the Business Units and the chosen suppliers presented their achievements and received their trophies.
Patrick Champalaune then concluded this event by stressing New AREVA's desire to amplify this collaborative approach with its suppliers in order to continue to improve our competitiveness.
What are you now expecting from our partners and the Projects BU after this partner award ceremony?
Today, it is very satisfying to see that these historical partners have supported us and have responded to our request to address this challenge. They are playing their part in the cultural and managerial revolution that we are instigating within New AREVA around operational excellence. Now we must pursue the reduction in our cost base and change the way we approach our services, be it on maintenance services, in-service support at our plants, but also through investing with our suppliers and partners. We need to listen to them more and incorporate their ideas more readily.
For the AREVA Projects BU, we are working with our suppliers very early on in our studies to take their needs properly into account and also their ideas, simplifying our specifications and adapting to their constraints, which was historically not necessarily the case. This will allow us to do more with less, to implement projects and facilities faster and more cheaply by collaborating with the right partners, often in industrial schemes that are much more creative than those we have been involved with before.
What does it mean to you when a supplier is selected for their Operational Excellence?
The progress initiative introduced in the BU and within the Group, which aims at operational excellence, includes safety, quality and performance objectives. Our suppliers' contributions are essential in achieving these three objectives. Our suppliers are tightly intertwined with our teams and they have to propose solutions in collaboration with our teams to achieve these objectives. For my part, I believe that operational excellence means working better, working together more, communicating better and generating more cross-functional ideas. Together, our suppliers and New AREVA can achieve that.
What are the keys to a successful supplier and especially for the recycling BU?
Suppliers who meet our absolute priorities - safety, security and, I must also add, quality. At the heart of our competitiveness are those suppliers who engage with us in our approach to operational excellence.
What is the interest for you and for the Dismantling & Services BU to have a supplier who has won a prize for their innovation?
Innovation is one of our priorities, both for us and for New AREVA as a whole. The true wealth of D&S lies in its people, with their engagement, their competence and their capacity for innovation on a daily basis as well as through major R&D projects. It is essential for us to be able to work with suppliers who have the same way of thinking as we have and who have a very strong innovative drive. Being able to award a prize to a supplier for innovation creates a certain recognition of this common vision.