Nathan, AGV Consultant

Hello Nathan, can you introduce yourself?

Hello everyone! I am Nathan, AGV/Kaizen Project Manager at Renault.

I knew from an early start that I wanted to become an engineer, having a very strong interest in math’s and physics. I also have an engineer father, which obviously helped me to get on that path. After my Baccalauréat, I joined INSA Centre Val de Loire, a general engineering school.

After two first years of intensive preparation, I specialized in Industrial Systems Engineering. The aim was to work very quickly into a factory environment: that’s my favorite part of the job.

At the end of my 4th year, I had a great opportunity; that of going to the University of Sherbrooke, in Quebec. An incredible experience where I was able to obtain a double degree in Project Management.

Back in France, I ended with a final internship in Lille in the Heineken factory. I joined the Continuous Improvement Department, which is made up entirely of interns. There we carried out our own analyses in the factory in order to decide on the priority issues we wanted to work on.

It was a very formative experience, which once again showed me that I had a real appetite for fieldwork and for working in plant.

After school, I had a first experience of 8 months at Peugeot, again in Lille. I was in charge of facilitating the implementation of modifications on the vehicles, the creation and updating of the manufacturing ranges. This gave me a first experience in the automotive sector, which I greatly appreciated.

How did you find out about MCA, how did your hiring and integration go?

At the end of my assignment at Peugeot, I wanted to come back to Paris and I was quickly contacted by MCA, which I joined at the beginning of November 2019. Several options of projects were presented to me, in major companies, which I immediately liked: it showed the possibility of making a career.

I had an interview with Renault the very next day. It all happened very quickly! I was very happy to continue working in the automotive sector, which I still enjoy to this day.

My integration at MCA was quick and efficient. At Renault, it was really a good surprise, everyone is on an equal foot, both consultants and Renault employees, which is very pleasant.

Can you tell me more about the project you are currently working on at Renault, as AGV Project Manager?

I started out in the Engineering department, which is basically Renault's own workshop. The main missions are to listen to the customer and deal with potential production problems, the aim being to see how to anticipate them on the production line. This calls for a well-developed sense of the workfield and a high level of responsiveness.

After this first part of my job, called "serial life management", I became Project Manager. Today, I produce pre-project figures, respond to calls for tenders and write specifications. In this way, I propose technical-sales offers to provide solutions to my customer, Renault, throughout France.

My job also includes an "architect" part: I program AGVs. We place small antennas in the ground, programmed by us. When the automatically guided vehicles pass over these antennas, they receive the orders we have programmed. The aim is to optimize movements within factories and production lines, to maximize costs and efficiency in general.

Projects at Renault are sometimes more global and do not only concern AGVs: this part of the job is called "Kaizen". In these cases, I essentially act as a link between the people involved in the project, without necessarily providing technical expertise: creating trucks, clever systems to make life easier for operators or increase performance.

What do you like best about your mission?

Taking on responsibilities quickly, being very autonomous and having an overview of the project.

What are the advantages of being a consultant, in your opinion?

Undoubtedly the flexibility of the missions and projects! The fact of having a very large panel of missions and clients at your disposal. When you are a general engineer like me, it is a unique opportunity to touch everything and to build a career that suits you.

Thank you Nathan for this feedback, we wish you all the best for the future.