SHAPING INNOVATION

Hello, my name is Alice Perrot and work as an engineer at Plastic Omnium since 7 years.

I work as a research project leader for high pressure hydrogen storage tanks.

As a project leader, my work consists of: Project management, that is respecting the budget and time frame as well as client interface. Of course a large part of my work is about technology. We start with the design, then prototyping, then manufacturing of the tanks, smaller tanks in my case. This is also often an opportunity to propose new manufacturing processes.

Then we move on to the testing phase, and then we finish with the validation. If everything goes according to plan, the next step is industrialization. For us that's where the project ends.

For my projects, are developed hydrogen storage tanks which is one of the components in an electric car that works with fuel cells.

So how does it work?
First, we have the tank that supplies the fuel cell with hydrogen. The fuel cell also needs oxygen from the air around us. The combination of the two makes a chemical reaction that produces electricity. and it is this electricity that will be used by the electric motor to propel the car.

For someone who would be interested in working in research, it's important to have a solid engineering and technical background. In addition, my advice is to be interested in everything, without setting any restrictions for yourself. Curiosity is the most important part.

Hello I’m Claire d'Achon. I'm an Industrial Designer at Plastic Omnium, part of the Intelligent Exterior Systems Division.

As a designer today, I work with OEMs (carmakers) and make the link between the Style department and the Engineering department at Plastic Omnium.

We also work on a large range of products such as bumpers, tailgates, door modules and other body panels.

Everything is linked with different features: aerodynamics, new technology integration, lighting functions.

And so the daily work is to go with the OEMs and bring our support by making some sketching, some renderings, some style concepts, and to show them what it would look like if we integrate our new technologies into their style features.

I've been a designer for 10 years and I studied Product Design. I started my career by managing the design at Heuliez Bus in transportation design.

I have 2 passions in life: first, horses. I love riding, I love competition.

And I have another passion for cars, vintage cars. When I was 22 years old, I bought a vintage car that I restored, and now I drive it and have a lot of fun!

I think as a Designer, it's very important to love your product. When you receive a brief, you start drawing it and develop the ideas with many other people. The day it comes out, either as a mock-up or production part, it's amazing to see it at scale 1, to see the finishing, to see the proportions.

And of course, it's all a question of emotion, feeling, intuition.

In my opinion a Designer has a major responsibility in shaping the connected and sustainable vehicle of the future.

My name's Dave Hill, I'm the Research Director for the Tanktronic Project.

I started my career at Plastic Omnium as a co-op student through Kettering University in 1998. It's a program where you're working 50% of the time and going to school 50% of the time.

Throughout most of my career, I've worked in the research group at Plastic Omnium. A few years back, I took over as Research Manager in Troy. Now, I'm based in Brussels working on directing a project for the fuel system of tomorrow.

I would say the thing I'm most proud of at Plastic Omnium is: working here and making the transition from a purely mechanical world to a world of mechatronics, and that's best exemplified probably through the project of the E-Valve, where we've come up with a mechatronic component. So you have to bridge this world from programming all the way down to the basic physics of the component.

I think two things motivate me here at Plastic Omnium, the first is the people. It's a very collaborative and open environment, which allows us to succeed and do things quickly. The second is really the prestige of the company, It's not easy for a company to survive for 70 years, and still maintain growth.

And so I'm very proud to work here. I think honestly what it takes to succeed at Plastic Omnium is open communication and honesty. It's what our culture is built around, and it's what makes you thrive in this company.