Interview with Jean-Albert Vilmer, who will talk about the Hexagon group, and more specifically MSC Software, as well as the upcoming Hexagon Live event... The full interview is available by listening to our Métrolaudio podcast, or by reading it below!
So, here we are in the MSC Software offices... Who am I looking at?
Hello, Jean-Albert Vilmer, I'm country manager of MSC Software France and also director of Southern Europe, which includes France, Italy, Spain, Portugal and North Africa. The Americans call it EMEA.
What are your duties?
Essentially, I manage the sales team. We talk to our customers and develop our business with them.
So it's a sales function, not a development function?
Exactly.
And what do you sell?
We sell simulation software from MSC Software. We cover all disciplines, from acoustics and fluid mechanics to structural design and materials. This is the software we sell, either directly or through associated services. We have around twenty people working on the services team, and we can subcontract out studies requested by companies, either because they don't have the resources available, or because it's a specific field in which they don't want to invest (training, hardware, software). If it's a one-off need, they'll subcontract the study to us.
What are you selling them, the study or the software? What do you promise them by using your services?
We promise to solve and treat their problems through simulation. It could be a problem of quality, wear, performance or design. With digital simulation, we'll be able to solve the problem by going through the virtual stage. We'll produce a report with recommendations.
Recommendations for the real world?
Exactly. And for solving this problem.
MSC Software is now part of the Hexagon Group. What's in it for me?
It changes a lot of things. Integration into the Hexagon Group is justified by a real vision. And the vision is that of digital twins, since a digital twin, as you know, when you look at its historical definition, consists of three elements: the physical object, the virtual object, and between the two, the data. MSC, one of the leaders in digital simulation, has joined the Hexagon group, which is a leader in metrology, and consequently in data. Under this scheme, we'll be able to work and offer digital twin-oriented solutions for our customers. The Hexagon group provides us with all the data we need to view and retrieve the real world.
So your raw material is data?
Exactly
What do you get back?
Through the sensors sold by Hexagon...
Hexagon is a global group operating on every continent. In this period of health crisis, how are things going?
It depends on the department. In all subsidiaries or entities selling software, employees have been able to work from home, and the impact has been relatively low, with a slight increase even in some countries or business areas. On the other hand, it's clear that in the middle of Covid, particularly when there was the hard lockdown preventing the delivery of machines, this had a greater impact.
In Hexagon's global situation, does France get preferential treatment in terms of health crisis and crisis management?
No. I'd say that, overall, France suffered, as did Europe, although there was a slight double whammy with the crisis in the aeronautics industry. This crisis was due in particular to Boeing's problems, and preceded the health crisis. Before the health crisis, we already had a first crisis in the aeronautics sector, which made things even more difficult for this sector, which, no pun intended, had a huge air pocket during the crisis.
When you think of simulation, you immediately think of aeronautics. But in fact, it's not the only sector that uses digital simulation...
Exactly. Historically, the two main sectors in which MSC was positioned were automotive and aeronautical. Two years ago, I embarked on a strategic diversification to find new sources of growth. We did well. Thanks to this diversification, we had a very good year in 2019 and slight growth in 2020. This diversification has taken place in other sectors such as energy, electronics and what we call machinery and heavy machinery. This brought growth at a time when both the automotive and aero sectors were a little more sluggish.
And beyond these giants, is digital simulation suitable for any manufacturing SME?
Absolutely. We work with SMEs, medium-sized companies and small businesses. We even work with startups. We have price formulas adapted to their needs, with functionalities in line with their means, and sometimes we have very nice startups. It's always nice to see industrial startups, because after all, the general public often hears about virtual startups, purely digital websites... But there are also startups that are establishing new concepts for vehicles, motorcycles, new concepts for energy storage. Working (studying or licensing) with these startups is very rewarding...
Is a license to access digital simulation a real investment for a startup?
Look, I'm not from Normandy, but it can be around 10,000 euros, or even a little less for a one-off need. And then, of course, it can be a lot more afterwards, depending on accounts and needs. But the first entry ticket for a start-up can be less than 10,000 euros.
If I talk to you about connected factories, the industry of the future, big data, you're in your element?
Absolutely, especially with the digital twin I mentioned earlier and the projects we're starting to implement with Hexagon. We have a corporate project called One Hexagon and that consists in finding synergies. And that's what we're going to be presenting at our conference. It's a really strategic thing, because.., the more you converge the real and virtual worlds, the more quality you'll achieve. Today, non-quality costs something. I have two figures that are quite edifying. One study showed that, at European level, it cost automakers 50 billion euros a year. Another Afnor study showed that it cost 5 % of sales for 66 % of the companies surveyed.
The more you converge the real and virtual worlds, the more quality you'll achieve.
Jean-Albert Vilmer
Conversely, the costs of over-quality must also be high. You suggest aiming for a happy medium...
That's exactly it. And digital simulation and the convergence of the real and virtual worlds through digital twins is the answer.
You were talking about physical/virtual convergence. You're also talking about an event. Your Hexagon Live event will be virtual this time, whereas until now it's been real and worldwide. You'll be holding a virtual session in France in early June...
So yes and no. In fact, I wanted to do something a little different. I wanted to do what I call a hybrid event. We work a lot with cars, we hear a lot about hybrids. I wanted to do a hybrid event, so it's virtual on the one hand, but at the same time, we've invited as many of the speakers as possible to meet in a studio in Massy, so that we can all be together behind a desk. So it'll be much more lively than talking behind a webcam at home or at your desk.
In this kind of event, participants learn a lot from keynotes and sessions, but they also learn a lot from informal meetings between participants between programs. How will this hybrid event work?
Absolutely. This is also planned with a community system where we encourage people to register. Then they'll be able to exchange ideas, set appointments and really interact. It won't be as friendly as having a drink next to the buffet, but at least they'll be able to interact.
Massy-Palaiseau, Las Vegassame battle?
You could say that! It's an event that we really wanted to focus on practical issues. When we talk to customers about digital twins, they're interested. They sometimes criticize publishers or other players for being more into vision than concrete solutions. We really wanted to focus this event on concrete solutions. We also wanted to set up a forum where customers could exchange ideas. Many of the contributions to this forum will come from our customers. We won't be offering a grand mass where we tell you that we're the most beautiful and the most intelligent. Everyone knows that! So, we really wanted to get customers involved in concrete cases focusing on digital twins.
If you had to choose just two or three highlights from this hybrid event, what would you recommend?
The plenary sessions are going to be very interesting, with the first topic on digital transformation: the state of the market and our vision. We're in contact with a huge number of customers, so we're at the crossroads, and I think our vision could be of interest to customers... We'll also be talking about concrete projects, the Manuela and Némésis projects, with smart manufacturing in action.
We also have a plenary session on the key stages, from conception to final production. And a final plenary on what we call theengineering convergence which involves acquiring, analyzing and using data to make intelligent decisions.
And who's it for? For specialists in the field, who will be able to perfect their skills, or for those who don't understand anything, who don't know anything about it and want to have a first layer to know what it's all about?
So I'm not Norman yet, but frankly, here's to both.
We don't talk the same way to both, do we?
No, but that's something the speakers will have in mind. There will be lots of parallel sessions. Participants will be able to shop around. There will be high-level technical sessions, business sessions and back-to-basics. In short, there will be some highly specialized technical sessions, and others that are more business-oriented.
For 2022, what can you expect from a business point of view, your development avenues, but also your events? Will this event be duplicated in 2022?
To be perfectly honest with you, I don't know at the moment. Like many companies and players, we're sailing a little blind here and there. Will we emerge from the current period in three or four months' time? Will we be facing yet another wave in six or eight months' time? So, in any case, we're obviously hoping for a return to a very fine physical event in 2022.
So, what are you working on in terms of business development? Your R&D focuses on...
In terms of development avenues, a few days ago, we acquired a company called CADLMspecializing in artificial intelligence. This is clearly a major area of development, since once again, digital twins mean data. And where there's data, there's the ability to analyze it, to make predictions, to integrate it in the best possible way. Artificial intelligence is therefore extremely strategic. We'll be talking about this at the conference. And once again, through concrete examples, we won't talk about artificial intelligence for the sake of talking about artificial intelligence, but rather, for example, we'll talk about artificial intelligence to say, here's how we can do defect detection with artificial intelligence. machine learningHere's how, with missing material data, to define them with machine learning.
By inventing the missing data?
In a way. It's really what I was saying earlier, i.e. solving concrete problems. So that's one of the main thrusts. The second strong axis is this project One Hexagon which consists of implementing more and more joint projects in which, for example, we'll be able to simulate additive manufacturing. Then, with Hexagon's metrology tools, we can scan the part, compare it with the CAD and close the loop, so to speak. We already have some concrete joint projects today, which we'll be talking about at the conference. The aim, of course, is to multiply them. And then, perhaps the third axis of development is cosimulation, since nature is multiphysical. Numerical simulation often starts with monophysics, but as we move towards this quality, we'll need more and more precision. Co-simulation will enable us to provide this precision by integrating, for example, a kinematics system with CFD to see the impact of wind on a car chassis...
Nature is multiphysical.
Jean-Albert Vilmer
Does One Hexagon mean the end of the group's divisions?
In fact, the Hexagon Group has been reorganized into divisions. There will always be divisions, because you can't sell digital simulation software like you sell a 3D scanner. So, there are large divisions. MSC is integrated and becomes a division called Design & Engineering. However, there are large divisions so that we can maintain our specialist expertise in each field.
Is it still possible to innovate within the Hexagon Group, or does innovation depend on the external growth we've seen so much of recently?
That's a very good question. It's true that innovation requires external growth. In fact, you'll notice that our acquisitions are technological, with companies that are highly specialized in a particular field. At the same time, we invest enormously in R&D: 12 % of our net sales are devoted to R&D. Today, across the Group, 3,400 employees are working on R&D projects.
Interview by Nicolas Gosse
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