Renault Group and Michelin have partnered with École des Ponts ParisTech, school of science, engineering and technology, to renew the Supply Chain of the Future teaching and research chair at the French University.

The chair will see the two groups, along with partners from other supply chain industries, share knowledge on sustainable transformation and resilience. The first phase of the chair, launched in 2019, brought together the École, Renault Group, Michelin, Louis Vuitton and Casino Group. This new five-year phase sees these industrial groups joined by the retailer Decathlon Group and operational strategy consultants Argon & Co. They will share their thoughts on the new challenges facing supply chain ecosystems, the need to recruit and retain young talent, and the sustainable transformation of operations. 

From left to right: V. Barale (Louis Vuitton Group), P.M. Huet (Michelin Group), A. Briant (École des Ponts ParisTech), M. Graham (DECATHLON Group), D. Le Vot (Renault Group) and Y. Salamon (Argon&Co)

From left to right: Vincent Barale (Louis Vuitton), Pierre Martin Huet (Michelin), Anthony Briant (École des Ponts ParisTech), Marine Graham (Decathlon), Denis Le Vot (Renault) and Yvan Salamon (Argon&Co)

École des Ponts ParisTech is contributing expertise through its teaching departments, including industrial engineering, computer engineering, transport and civil engineering, and its International Centre for Research on the Environment and Development (Cired). The group will also invite institutional and public authority representatives to contribute to sharing best practices.

The main aims of the chair are to promote innovation, agility and green transformation. This will be achieved through post-doctoral research projects, teaching projects proposed by the partners to students from a range of specialties, and an annual calendar of feedback seminars between the partners to share knowledge.

“The exchanges within the chair have fuelled our innovations over the past five years, and issues such as AI, risk management, decarbonisation and new ways of working are at the heart of our shared concerns,” said Denis Le Vot, chief supply chain officer, Renault Group. “We’re delighted to be continuing the experiment, extending the sharing with new partners, and working with students to imagine together the supply chain of the future.”

In November, Renault Group’s supply chain division partnered with the school to explore the future of AI optimisation in the supply chain.