Renault has announced an industrial investment of €420-million for Georges Besse plant in Douai

Plant performance is key to the success of the Renault group's strategic plan. As part of this plant, Renault is upgrading its industrial base and has announced an investment of €420-million for the Douai plant. The objective is to build five bodies on a single
line meeting the highest standards of performance.

Building the successors to Espace, Laguna (estate & hatch) and Scenic (short and long) from 2014 is an industrial challenge for the plant. "The aim is for the plant to move into a new segment - executive vehicles - and to manage an unprecedented level of diversity. This will make it less dependent on market fluctuations and thus more efficient," said Thierry Bollore, Executive Vice-President, Manufacturing and Supply Chain, Renault group.

The Douai plant is also preparing to switch to a single-flow 'standard', i.e. with just one line. Single-flow operation is a strategic choice that is becoming a standard common to all Renault group plants in Western Europe (France, Spain Slovenia). It will enable plants to adapt more easily to fluctuating demand and to react more quickly, while also demanding greater flexibility and better management of diversity. Reflecting this aim, the Douai plant has cut capacity in order to adapt to the structural downturn in the market, but the actual planned level of production is higher than today.

This ability to manage a wide diversity of vehicles from different range segments has been made possible by the engineering department, which has designed a number of standardised architectural components for vehicles from the same Renault and Nissan family. This new approach to engineering will concern a growing number of vehicles in the range. From an industrial standpoint, this approach can be seen in the shared sequencing of assembly operations.

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