All the more remarkable as the Ardennese stood out in a context of tough competition. Facing it, the group's Chinese suppliers and their low-cost labor force as well as the Spaniards.
The recipe? “ One, quality. Two, the price », summarizes Stéphane Dubray. Behind the more than concise formula of the new director of the factory, a complex and long-term work that reveals Union-L’Ardennais.
1 Engineers mobilized for three years
100% made in Ardennes, this project was designed for and by the Ardennes employees of Stellantis. Indeed, a fairly rare occurrence within the group, the foundry has managed to maintain a branch dedicated to future projects.
In connection with the group’s R&D center in Poissy, these are “ men and women of the shadows » or around forty engineers, who worked hard to land this order.
Manufacturing, management, method, products… all sectors are impacted by a project of this magnitude. Being on site allowed the engineers to work as closely as possible to the constraints of the field while saving time.
Workshop prototyping, working groups, configurations… Nearly three years were needed to fulfill the order.
« From 2022, we launched the first projects, then we had the first estimates in 2023, remembers Damien Mellina, masterplan manager in charge of industrial projects and productivity. We had to mobilize our know-how to meet the highest level of quality while limiting investment and creating a competitive price. »
2 Recycled aluminum that makes all the difference
This is the strong point of the Ardennes project. To display a competitive price, the engineers saved on the cost of raw materials by integrating recycled aluminum into the process. “ This has already been the case since 2006 on our site,” recalls Damien Mellina.
“Our machining chips are going back into production. This saves us in fusion and transport. Today, we are also starting to recycle a large part of the group's aluminum rims. » The deposit is of the order of several thousand tonnes.
The technical feat was to not degrade the quality of the material, and therefore of the final part. “ It is all our know-how, our fifty years of experience as a foundryman to succeed in offering an aluminum alloy based on recycled material which meets the quality requirements in every way. », boasts Stéphane Dubray.
A crucial requirement in a large volume market because, as the foundry director likes to point out: “ We win on price, we disqualify ourselves on quality. »
3 A reasonable investment thanks to reuse
« If we had to start from a blank page, we would be at 31 million euros », slips Mr. Dubray. By comparison, the Ardennes project requires an investment of 8.6 million euros.
A ratio of 1 to 3 or even 4 which can be explained by the reuse strategy advocated within the group. Machining centers from Mulhouse, Germany and the foundry itself will be reused for production after upgrading.
As with raw materials, it is impossible to know the figures for the savings made. “ But it sure saves us from having to hand over a ticket », evades Mr. Mellina whose teams thought, applied and arranged “ this exercise in frugality ».
This strategy will also impact the molding part, where again “ our tooling department is seeing if we can use the molds by transforming them ».
Within the ground connections sector, where the new arms and rear pivots will be produced “ the project comes at the right timeagrees Sébastien Duchêne, head of the sector. The production plate is reaching the end, we are finishing the sleepers of the 508. It only works one day a week. »
For the record, the “TR1”, the nickname of the production plate, was also used at the end: from the 407 to the 508, it worked for all models!
The preparatory work will begin in 2025, the implementation of the process in 2026. The first parts will be released in 2027 to reach full speed in 2028.
