Simplification is Our Innovation

Explorers Pitch Ideas with Intrapreneurship Program

22
January 2023

At Radiall, we work to develop the talents of every single employee. We believe in our employees’ growth so much it’s a part of the empowerment initiatives of our purpose. Ensuring our employees have the skills they need to succeed, the support they need to thrive and the ability they need to pursue their passions has helped Radiall’s growth and success over the past 70 years.

In 2022, employees at our French facilities had the opportunity to take part in a new intrapreneurship program: Explorers. Our Explorers, from all parts of the company in France, were invited to pitch ideas and projects about six innovation topics identified by Radiall in alignment with our performance challenges and purpose initiatives. Several projects were selected to move forward, with employees working to create a solution that delivers value for Radiall and the world. Each project team was partnered with a sponsor, who ensured project evolution aligned with the overall company strategy, and a mentor, who coached the team through the project. 

Radiall Employees Innovate Programs for the Workplace

Ten employees participated in the first edition of Radiall’s Explorers program. Their ideas turned into projects, with some of the projects being selected by Radiall’s leadership team to extend into 2023. This year, we will be highlighting our employees’ ideas. The first two of these projects aim to provide innovative solutions to challenges in talent development and environmental protection so that the company can support employees and reduce our impact on our environment. The other four Explorers projects from Stéphanie, Lucie-Marie, Emeline, Wilfried and Céline — focused on challenges in developing leadership within employees, facilitating the connection between new talents and the industry, sustainable building and including visually impaired people in the use of connected devices — will be featured in Insights posts throughout the year.  

Reducing Environmental Impact

Jérémy Sautel, R&T Advanced Materials Manager at Radiall Centr'Alp, spent time in 2022 working on his project, Valor Waste, with the support of sponsor Cyril Grivet and mentor Roukiatou Koussoube. This project aims to reduce the environmental impact of industrial waste by promoting a circular economy. 

Many manufacturing sites have seen an increased volume of waste as activity grows and increasing recycling costs, but no internal reuse of industrial waste. Jérémy was working on an ecodesign project when he came up with the idea to explore how connectors could be used at the end of their life after several decades of use. 

Valor Waste is working to promote the reuse of cardboard waste and plastic bags and improve waste sorting to increase recycling by external suppliers and the reuse of thermoplastic waste from production. “I believe that industrial waste can have value and can be reused for something else,” he said. “To me, it is key if we want to protect our planet to limit the use of natural resources by reusing or recycling industrial waste.”

By doing this, Radiall will be able to reduce CO2 emissions and improve recycling of waste and scraps from production.

Supporting Operators’ Career Growth

Axelle Giroud and Gaelle Grosset, operators at Radiall Isle d'Abeau, came up with an idea for a tool to show the career history, skills and progression of Radiall operators, with the support of sponsor Carole Michalland and mentor Hervé Poujard. After talking with colleagues about the difference of skills required to have a job at Radiall or in the industry and those learned during your career, they came up with the idea to find a way to promote the progress of operators and help them to build a long term future at Radiall. 

Because operators’ technical skills are often not promoted, many may not get the recognition they deserve or struggle to find a clear career path internally. Axelle and Gaelle interviewed their colleagues, managers and HR teams in France to better understand the needs of the  project. After those conversations, Axelle and Gaelle pitched an idea for a personal leaflet for operators to use to list technical skills and soft skills so they can show their growth over the years with Radiall. This tool will help operators understand job options and necessary skills, so they can grow their careers at Radiall with support from their peers and managers.

We are a company that is proud of our employees’ skills and ideas at all levels of the organization. If you are looking for a new career challenge where you can work on products that impact the world, while still having the opportunity to create ideas like those in our Explorers program, check out our current job openings.