FED 2019 - MIFAMAG

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M.I.F.A. - FED 2019
General Francis Autran
Interview with the DC SIMMT
Having pursued an army career as engineer officer at Saint-Cyrien in the
Montcalm division (1980-1982), General Francis Autran served in the mountain
troops as soon as he graduated. Commander of the 7th armoured brigade in
Besançon and then at the Engineering School, he becomes Central Director
of the integrated structure for the maintenance in operational condition of
terrestrial equipment (SIMMT) in 2016 after having been the Deputy Director
at the Directorate General of Armaments (DGA).
As the Scorpion programme is launched in the Army and with the resurgent
strength of the French Forces, General Francis Autran gives us an overview
of the challenges facing the SIMMT over the following years.
Equipment operational readiness is a strategic area
for the Army, in the same way as Human Resources
and the preparation of forces. Concretely, what is the
role of the SIMMT in the Army?
The integrated structure for the equipment operational
readiness of land equipment is an organ of
the Army, with a joint warfare vocation and delegated
responsibilities of contracting. It is therefore in
charge of supporting all land equipment of the armies,
directorates and joint warfare; this represents
over 23000 pieces of major equipment for the Army.
It is responsible for the availability of the equipment
required to fulfil exterior operations and training activities
for the Military Staff, and other armies and
contractors. To fulfil its mission, the SIMMT proposes
the MCO-T policy, defines concepts and elaborates
the related contractual strategies. Obviously, it also
defines the maintenance regulations applied to the
various fleets and steers the global production of
State and private contractors.
The SIMMT plays the role of an equipment manager
and of an “investor” by optimising the use of human
and financial resources allocated to the MCO-T for a
maximum performance of the State and private production
apparatus.
In addition to the Army, does the SIMMT look after
the MCO-T of the Air Forces and the Navy? How
do these different forces link up to ensure a global
consistency?
The SIMMT guarantees the maintenance in operational
condition of terrestrial equipment for the Army,
Air Force and Navy and for the War Intendancy, the
Military Fuel Service and the French Defence Health
Service. We speak of logic of the environment. Every
year, objectives are defined for the SIMMT by each
department and the necessary financial resources
are allocated. Moreover, the Navy, Air Force and Joint
Warfare divisions staff are represented in the Directorate
to facilitate the steering of protocols agreed
between the SIMMT, delegated contractor and its
own contractors.
The Army ambitions to secure the maintenance in
operational condition of land equipment (MCI-T) into
modernity. What must we understand by modernity?
Is it a change in mentality in the way of apprehending
the MCO-T?
The modernisation of the MCO-T has been underway
since 2016 with a first phase that consisted in reorganising
the sector from an organic perspective. It
capitalises the transformation plans Maintenance
2010 and MCO-T 2025 with the aim of improving the
quality of support for our equipment relating to their
service life by controlling the human and financial
to be allocated. This modernisation process covers
all the areas contributing to the performance of the
MCO-T, i.e., the organisation, recruitment and training
of staff, engineering and production processes,
logistics, technical infrastructures and tools of the
workshops. It exploits every opportunity offered by
innovation and digital tools to gain in simplicity, reactivity,
visibility and capacity of decision.
This year, with the entry into force of the Military Programming
law, this modernisation gathers pace to
allow the MCO-T to exploit a productive model adapted
to the recovery of the activity of the forces in 2024
during a delicate phase of capacity transition with the
arrival of the SCORPION equipment.
Nothing will be done without the approval of the entire
civilian and military staff. This is an undeniable
factor for success. In fact, we must put ourselves in
optimal conditions for success by adapting training,
by adjusting the organisations and by ensuring that
each one exercises their prerogatives at their level. In
truth, I consider that mentalities are already turned
towards modernity in our mature Army.
What place is left for innovation in the MCO-T?
Many MCO-T innovations emerge in the MCO-T
workshops, and this has been the case for a long
time. Today, we must link the modernisation of the
MCO-T with innovation and digital transformation.
Innovation must allow grasping every technological,
methodical and managerial opportunity capable of
optimising the maintenance and its logistics chain.
It is not only a question of using the tools and processes
that have proven their worth today to elaborate
economic models, but we must also be capable
of integrating flexibly mature technologies as they
become accessible in all the MCO-T processes of
maintenance and logistics.
Digital transformation ambitions to improve productivity
in our workshops through the digitalization of
several actions, which is what I call “repairing more”.
Using the various sensors placed on the main organs
of the equipment, we must also progressively shift
from preventive maintenance to projected maintenance;
in other words, “repair better”, i.e., at the
right need thus at the right cost, by limiting the delay
of loss of use of the equipment for the various units
as much as possible.
The SIMMT progresses hand-in-hand with innovation,
particularly thanks to the MCO LAB Terre. It
imposes itself as a place for encounters between a
wide range of key players, to create a tank of thinking
and reflection to see the emergence of new projects
responding to the needs of the forces.
Can you tell us a little bit more about some of the
innovative projects backed by the MCO-T?
Intrinsically, our maintenance operators have a
strong appetite for “the technical thing”, i.e., mastering
the functioning of the equipment to increase
its support. This state of mind percolates the entire
MCO-T and spreads well beyond the pure technical
sphere. I would like to mention three examples illustrating
this culture for modernity and innovation.
First of all, in the financial area, I would like to mention
analytical accounting. It does not seem like
much at first. But it extremely ground-breaking that
the MCO should know its precise costs and to fully
put the choices on offer in a perspective, particularly
for finding the balance between the various industrial
contractors.
Then in the area of production, additive manufacturing
is an emblematic and promising innovation. Experiments
with this new technology are underway in
France and in exterior operations. It allows making
ex nihilo potentially complex spare parts. Tomorrow,
this option could automatically be integrated into the
design of the new equipment and their support.
Finally, an information system feeds the MCO-T. Its
modernisation by “both ends” is an innovation in
itself. “Upwards”, by exploiting all the useful data
stored inside the MCO-T’s Information System, with
mathematic modelling tools relying on artificial intelligence
to help in the decision-taking of support
strategies and develop projected maintenance. The
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M.I.F.A. - FED 2019