Last Updated on August 13, 2024
The electrical energy field has undergone significant changes in recent years, with a growing focus on sustainability, energy efficiency, and decarbonization. As the world continues to transition toward cleaner energy sources, the industry’s role in shaping a more sustainable future has become increasingly important. Against this backdrop, it is essential to understand the experiences and insights of seasoned professionals who have been at the forefront of these changes.
One such expert is Fabrice Glorieux, a veteran in the electrical energy field with over 30 years of experience. Throughout his illustrious career, Fabrice has worked in various capacities, including sales, manufacturing, and promoting energy efficiency solutions. His international exposure spans Europe, Asia, and North America, and he has successfully managed multicultural teams and integrated operations of acquired companies across regions.
Among his many achievements, Fabrice has been recognized for his commitment to corporate social responsibility, winning a CSR award in 2018, and showcasing his entrepreneurial spirit at the International Business Plan competition.
In this interview, we will delve deeper into Fabrice’s wealth of knowledge, experience, and achievements, seeking valuable insights into the electrical energy field. Our goal is to better understand the industry’s inner workings, explore the challenges and opportunities it presents, and discuss the future of electrical energy and its role in shaping a more sustainable world.
Hi Fabrice. It’s great to have you here. You’ve been in the industry for over 30 years. How have your experiences working in different countries and cultures shaped your approach to managing teams and developing business strategies in the electrical energy industry?
In my opinion, there are three elements to take into account – respect for others, interest in the other’s culture, and learning.
One cannot evolve in contexts and environments far from one’s own without deeply respecting others and without having curiosity and an appetite for other cultures. Having said that, one must also go through a learning process. I had to be open to other ways of thinking, of viewing a situation, and other ways of doing things and finally accept that I could also learn from others, often much more than I thought.
Certainties can sometimes shatter. I learned it the hard way when I was 28 years old. I flew to India to set up my very first joint venture with a local partner. Convinced that my French education was the best, I was about to lead the local team my way. When I discovered that they were better than us at some points, that really opened a new world to me. Since then, I never stopped learning from other cultures. That also helps a lot in developing active listening skills.
Business-wise, there are obviously many differences from one country to another. Market access, negotiating, and hierarchy are some of them. The maturity of the market, for example, the electricity market, is an important element to take into account. Some countries are already implementing smart home solutions, while others just need to build the electrical distribution system.
The gaps have narrowed in recent years but still exist. The key here is to understand the specifics of the target market. The product must be then adapted, for example, UL standards for the American market and TÜV for the German one. The go-to-market also needs some flexibility, for instance, China has long preferred joint ventures rather than WOFEs, wholly-owned-foreign-enterprises.
Technical, regulatory, and cultural differences must be accepted. Another interesting fact is that when countries start to modernize their electricity network, they are also the fastest to adopt the latest state-of-the-art technologies.
Can you share a specific example of how you successfully adapted a business model or industrial organization to meet the unique needs of a local market or region?
Based in China as managing director for a world leader in electrical energy systems, the objective was to grow fast and grab all opportunities in low- and medium-voltage markets. The company was historically based in France, and for the last 120 years, all the products were developed in France and sold all over the world because the economies of scale made it relevant to develop and produce in one single country. But China was in a different situation.
First of all, the market is gigantic. So, when it comes to economic stimulus, we could clearly see that setting up industrial operations in the country and manufacturing components, sub-assemblies, and final products were not a bad idea. But we needed more. We needed to adapt, localize, and personalize the products to their finest in order to become a worldwide brand with locally developed and locally made products. The products must be as Chinese as the local competitors, but with the relevant quality and relevant norms to not jeopardize the reputation of the company.
We started with simple elements such as the distribution box inside a low-voltage switchboard. Its cost, when imported from France, was $500, including the customs taxes. Developed and produced in China, the same element reached a cost of nearly $50 only. So, the proof of concept was confirmed, and we started to develop not only more factories on the territory but also R&D centers, for which we hired hundreds of local engineers, to adapt our products to the local market.
Localizing products does not only mean manufacturing somewhere else. It also means adapting the product to the local habits and customs of the customers, in the case of the grid operators. We had then, for example, to reengineer the link rod of a switchboard circuit breaker to become compatible with the local habits and customs. We finally reached a localization rate of more than 85%, and many of the products were designed for the Chinese market only.
That was a great achievement and the right decision to make. Since then, the company never stopped growing its business in this region.
What challenges did you face when integrating the operations of the newly acquired companies APC and Thomas & Betts, and how did you overcome these challenges to ensure a successful transition?
These two companies acquired, respectively, by Schneider Electric and ABB, are two great independent American companies. I had the chance to be there at the right time for the integration of each one. Each company had a specific DNA – APC being extremely advanced in terms of marketing and Thomas & Betts being extremely close to the market’s needs and customer’s expectations and very agile. So, when the time came to integrate them into two world leaders’ organizations, Schneider Electric and ABB, the main challenges addressed were obviously the very different company cultures.
Bringing a marketing-oriented company into a very traditional industrially wired one is a challenge. Likewise, bringing an agile, customer-centric company to a highly R&D-driven one is another challenge. The first rule to observe is that none of these companies should be considered superior to the other. Ultimately, we can call it a success when we succeed to bring to each company the best of the other one. It is then interesting to note that we did succeed in Schneider Electric to absorb the marketing DNA of APC.
The way challenges were overcome is somehow simple: in both cases, we called the teams to identify what features the acquired company would potentially bring. We talk here about the best practices and the cultural features that, besides the product portfolios, can drastically change the future of the newly formed organization. This process takes time, a lot of time. People from each organization need to sit together, get to know each other, trust each other, and finally work together on a new roadmap. In the end, this is a greater value for both companies.
In the first case, Schneider Electric became more marketing-driven, and APC became more industrial-driven with a clear improvement in quality. In the second case, ABB acknowledged that Thomas & Betts were much more responsive to their customers and learned best practices from them. This was an inclusive process for the two acquiring groups. In both cases, the process also required a precise redefinition of some departments, some missions, and some internal organizations.
In your experience, what are the key differences between working with Chinese, German, and American teams, and how have you leveraged these differences to improve overall business performance?
This is always a delicate question because we must not fall into the crude cliché that some are better than others at the risk of stigmatizing certain countries.
Moreover, beyond the origins of each one, personality, education, and experience can bring to twist the neck of the received ideas. I prefer to highlight the particular qualities of each of them. For example, I particularly enjoy working with Americans for whom trying new things, going out of their comfort zone, and taking risks are second nature. Their pragmatic conviviality is also very pleasant and allows quick exchanges and interactions.
I appreciate the rigor, the pugnacity, and the taste for industrial things that characterize my German colleagues. The practical ingenuity they show has often seduced me.
Also, my many years working with the Chinese have shown me their willingness always to want to learn more, to develop, to be very entrepreneurial, and to know how to build relationships over the long term. The level of commitment and friendliness they show when this trust is established is unparalleled.
But we must never forget that our perception of the world is often very different and that this can influence relationships.
Finally, cultural differences are usually exacerbated when we find ourselves in a stressful situation, such as when a project management stage goes wrong. Each person then has his or her own perspective, one seeking to move forward at all costs to try to finish the project on time and the other favoring an in-depth analysis of what went wrong and seeking responsibility. A manager should consider the cultural specificities of each of the members of his team and strengthen them by implementing, for example, team building sessions allowing one to clearly identify why one can react differently to a given situation according to his background.
As far as team management is concerned, I believe that it must be done with a lot of respect and a lot of distance to consider the sometimes very different points of view.
Given your expertise in low and medium-voltage electric distribution, what do you consider the most promising developments or innovations in this area, and how do you think they will shape the future of the industry?
The low- and medium-voltage electrical distribution is a key point since it allows the use of all the electrical equipment in our daily life. For a long time, it has been a matter of delivering and installing reliable products. Automation made its appearance, and then in the 2000s, we saw the emergence of certain communication technologies that made it possible to collect certain data, which led to greater efficiency. Sensors started to appear, and we started to talk about energy efficiency. We were looking for more efficiency – doing more with less.
In the last few years, digital technology has become a major factor in these installations. Digital technology has become essential because it allows us not only to collect a lot more data but also to interact with equipment remotely. With ad hoc algorithms, we can also ensure that the equipment interacts with each other and makes the best decisions, particularly concerning energy savings. For example, we can analyze in real time the environmental impact of a low-voltage electrical panel in operation. This saves a considerable amount of time and allows for faster and more efficient decisions.
I believe that the future will lie in the ability of low- and medium-voltage equipment to interact even more effectively with the various electrical networks, such as the management of electrical energy stored in electric vehicles, which makes it possible to support consumption peaks or reduce energy bills. We are talking about V2H, V2B, V2G, and more generally V2X technologies. The role of digital technology in electrical networks has also become predominant.
Can you discuss your recent work on Electric Vehicles Charging Systems and energy efficiency solutions and how you envision these technologies contributing to a more sustainable and decarbonized world?
I started working on electric vehicle charging systems in 2012. We were still pioneers at that time. Since then, the offering has expanded and, at the same time, become more complex. Today, the products offered are quite wide, from up to 22kW AC system at home to the ultra-fast-charging 350kW DC system, with more power to come up to 500kW. The ultimate goal is to provide electric charging to your vehicle quickly (i.e., ideally in less than 10 minutes), safely (i.e., without accidents), and reliably, with high-quality systems and rapid response in the event of failure.
My recent work on these systems has allowed me to identify all the different usages with the corresponding ad hoc system. But besides the hardware needs, we must also take into account the software provided by each manufacturer or by the operator. It is still a problem today as we still lack harmonization and interoperability between the different systems.
As I just said in the previous question, the growing number of electric vehicles to come will allow access to an enormous amount of electrical energy stored in the vehicles during their parking time. This energy, through a relevant V2X system, can then be reinjected into the grid, into the homes, or into commercial buildings to sustain electrical consumption in a more sustainable way. But, in return, we need to make sure that the vehicle is ready to go, meaning with a fully charged battery.
The solution then is an intelligent predictive model coupled to a very fast charging system along with efficient energy management software. We will probably need to explore new and innovative zero-carbon energy storage systems if we want to remain environmentally friendly.
As a recipient of the CSR award, what steps have you taken to promote corporate social responsibility in your organizations, and how do you ensure that your teams maintain a strong commitment to ethical practices and environmental conservation?
Considering environmental issues and the need for accountability necessarily involves raising awareness and ensuring that employees take ownership of these issues and the right methods, the top-down approach leads nowhere. It is a matter of integrating the employees in the reflection and framing of the roadmap. But this has an effect over time. We used Hoshin Kanri’s methods to stay focused and accelerate this approach. Kaizen workshops are also necessary. It is interesting to note that when I started this CSR project, no one really believed in it, and no one thought that we would win this award against multiple companies.
There is always a lot of talk about the environment in CSR, but I chose to focus on accountability in this project. As such, I implemented the Short Interval Management method, also known as SIM. We conducted numerous workshops with the aim of delegating a maximum number of daily operational decisions to the teams and operators.
We must always remember that the person who knows each production task best is the operator. The SIM method includes 5 cycles and allows us to quickly escalate to the next level of management, the last cycle being addressed to the site management or general management.
After the workshops were conducted and the principles appropriated by the teams, the results were unequivocal with more than 92% of operational problems solved by levels 1 and 2 – in other words, by the operators themselves. The result was an increased sense of responsibility for each employee toward himself or herself, toward his or her team, toward the company, and finally toward the environmental impact of his or her activity. This was a real success, rewarded by this prize but also and above all by the increased satisfaction of everyone in the company. The company also gained in productivity.
How has your success in the International Business Plan competition influenced your approach to entrepreneurship and business development in the electrical energy field?
This International Business Plan competition, which took place in Austin, Texas, allowed me to carry out an entrepreneurial project from start to finish in the field of data-saving management and to meet investors from all over. It also gave me the necessary understanding of what an ecosystem is. Finally, it developed in me the conviction that to be an entrepreneur, you have to know how to get out of your comfort zone, be disruptive, and take risks.
This experience has served me well in the field of electrical energy. It is a vast field, and it takes time to understand its ecosystem. For example, the development of the smart home cannot be done without understanding how an electrical panel is made.
Similarly, energy efficiency cannot be undertaken without having a clear vision of how this energy is produced and distributed, from its source of production to its use at low and medium voltage. Now that renewable energies are developing rapidly, we need to take into account, for example, the intermittency of these energies and design systems that know how to alternate between the two. The intelligence of these systems and the predictive models developed allow much better utilization of these new resources, from either solar or wind origin.
