Total plans to open a “digital factory” in Paris early next year that will combine up to 300 developers, data scientists, architects, and other specialists in an effort to accelerate the company’s digital transformation.
The digital factory will develop digital solutions to improve Total operations; offer new services to customers, notably when it comes to managing and controlling energy consumption; extend its reach to new distributed energies; and reduce its environmental impact. Total’s goal is to generate as much as $1.5 billion/year in value for the company by 2025 through additional revenue and reductions in operating or investment expenses.
“Total’s digital factory will serve as an accelerator, allowing the group to systematically deploy customized digital solutions,” said Patrick Pouyanné, Total chairman and chief executive officer. “Artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, and 5G are revolutionizing our industrial practices, and we will have the knowhow in Paris to integrate them in our businesses as early as possible.
"The digital factory will also attract the new talent essential to our company’s future,” he added.
Under the direction of Frédéric Gimenez, Total chief digital officer and digital factory project manager, teams consisting of developers, data scientists, architects, and specialists in agile methodologies will work with operating personnel from Total’s different businesses in the 5,500-m2 facility.
Establishment of the digital factory follows last year’s signing of a partnership agreement with Google Cloud in which the companies set out to develop artificial intelligence solutions to assist the major’s geoscience work.