2 Strategy The action: a strategic plan based on six priorities SAINT-GOBAIN UNIVERSAL REGISTRATION DOCUMENT 2021 61 Innovation in digital services 3.3.2.4 In addition to its existing offers, Saint-Gobain is innovating by offering new digital services designed to take into account the entire experience of its professional customers. The roll-out of true digital solutions in countries such as France, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Norway and Sweden enables craftsmen to be supported from their training needs (through the "Génération Artisans" platform), to purchases of products (through the Toca Obra platform) to new business (through the "La Maison Saint-Gobain" platform), assistance in making estimates and costing construction sites (through the Solu+ platform), or, downstream, the generation of estimates and invoices (through the Tolteck solution). This comprehensive support, taking into account all the expectations of its professional customers, allows them to improve productivity, by saving time and improving efficiency. For the Group, this is the basis of increased loyalty on the part of its customers, as well as progress such as gains of more than 15 percentage points in the net promoter score, in the case of users of the Solu+ platform. Industry 4.0 3.3.2.5 Saint-Gobain is investing in industry 4.0 as part of its operational excellence goals to maintain its industrial facilities at the cutting edge of the sector. The organization of factories is being transformed by digital technology. Machines are connected in real time and data analysis allows for better control of production processes, more rapid resolution of any technical issues and, more generally, an increase in operational efficiency. Digital technology also helps customize deliverables further along the value chain and opens up further opportunities for co-development. This fourth industrial revolution is also based on advanced automation and robotization of industrial tasks. Within the Group, more than 4,000 robots and automatic trolleys enable repetitive tasks to be carried out in complete safety. Operators are connected (there are 22,000 of them on 275 Saint-Gobain sites) and are assisted by augmented reality, which is particularly effective for maintenance or repairs. With production units where software and machine-tools interact directly with each other, a number of applications have been made possible, such as the real-time monitoring of production, automated alert systems, predictive maintenance and the optimization of product quality by reducing both costs and the quantity of resources and energy employed. As an example, the Construction Industry Business Unit uses software based on artificial intelligence to optimize the operation of its fiberglass furnaces. technology step by step, firm in the belief that initial, low-cost advances can quickly lead to progress. Today, accessible and efficient solutions are used by 7,000 operators in 100 Saint-Gobain plants worldwide. For example, an application has been developed to monitor performance in real time by anticipating deviations. Initially launched at the Eggborough factory in the United Kingdom, this application has been rolled out to 25 flat glass factories throughout the world. The deployment of integrated industrial systems including data analysis, once tested, can be extended to other sites. In the Sekurit plant in Shanghai, an algorithm manages the glass forming process for vehicle side windows, analyzing millions of pieces of data collected on the production line: an application of the machine learning piloted in 2018 and rolled out to other Sekurit sites in 2020 and 2021. Generally speaking, Saint-Gobain rolls out its Reducing the cost of data storage and the price of sensors has contributed to the introduction of tools to assess and monitor production in real time, such as edge computing solutions, based on a nano-computer equipped with open-source artificial intelligence software for key equipment. This approach, launched for example in the abrasives manufacturing plants in India, constitutes a first step towards the development of multi-factory global artificial intelligence solutions, thanks to data storage and enrichment. In total, more than 60% of Saint-Gobain’s main industrial sites are already connected to the Group’s digital manufacturing hub, thus creating a digital production ecosystem. In 2020, Saint-Gobain began to extend to numerous plants around the world its Data and Analytics Academy (DnA) program, which is designed to help factories develop a data-driven culture. In addition to data specialists and “translators” (experts who serve as a link between data analysis and operations), the DnA program aims to develop and implement training to create an initial base of skills among Group employees through a practice-based approach. It is not a question of transforming all employees into data specialists but rather demystifying the subject and enabling them to understand how to use it in order to carry out predictive maintenance, improve flows, save energy and increase plant productivity and flexibility; by providing them with training and coaching, the aim is to enable them to gain autonomy and achieve their local objectives. The DnA program was developed with the active participation of numerous industrial managers, data specialists, WCM program managers and IT departments. Tested in 2019 in three European countries (Poland, France and Spain), it is now being rolled out widely. The program has been adapted to the healthcare context, and in particular adapted for distance learning via collaborative tools. Advanced data analysis, at the heart of Saint-Gobain’s “Industry 4.0” program, enables the optimization of industrial processes at the gypsum block production site in Staviany (Czech Republic). Based on the deployment of more than 100 sensors, this approach makes it possible to correlate process parameters with data concerning energy quality and consumption, opening the way to a reduction in gas consumption of 6% and a reduction in energy consumption of 20%. In Brazil, the implementation of data analysis in the Group’s industrial supply chain through the creation of a “transportation control tower”, the real-time modification of logistics planning, and predictive analytics resulted in an 11% cost reduction and a 60% reduction in CO2 emissions.
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