Faiveley Transport

Faiveley is on the right track

Working alongside rail companies from across the globe, Faiveley Transport provides innovative and enhanced turnkey solutions to meet the changing demands of its customers.

With a range of products that cover the building and driving of a train, as well as power management, air conditioning and safety assurance, the company offers comprehensive, long-lasting solutions to a broad customer base, while also offering added-value services including renovation, maintenance, installation and consultation.

At the heart of the company’s products is a focus on safety, and its range includes brakes and antiskid systems to help drive the train, as well as video surveillance systems and platform screen doors to ensure the safety of passengers. The competency in platform screens has been developed since 1989, and with several successes, including in the Asian market, Faiveley has become one of the world’s leading suppliers.

The company’s wide product range and leading position as a supplier of turnkey solutions to the rail industry, illustrates the great transformation the business has made since its origins. Founded as Établissements Louis Faiveley in Saint-Ouen, 1919, the business began producing pantograph in 1923 and door mechanisms in 1930, before Faiveley became a corporation in 1935. Creating its first subsidiary in 1966, the establishment of Faiveley Española in Madrid was a key milestone in the company’s history, leading to further subsidiaries in Brazil and Italy before the founding of Faiveley Transport in 1988.

More recently the group has witnessed a number of further structural changes, as the business has followed its three main principles; clarification of strategy, reinforcement of the group’s internationalisation, and the continual pursuit for improved performance. The 2004 acquisition of Sab Wabco, created a truly global supplier for the rail industry, with its high-level expertise in brakes and couplers allowing it to assemble a complete range of equipment, systems and services to respond to the needs of constructors and railway operators. The further acquisition of Neu Systèmes Ferroviaires, a French company specialising in the design and manufacture of air conditioning, heating and ventilation equipment, increased the group’s proficiency in air conditioning, and furthered its world leading reputation in railway equipment.

For over 70 years Faiveley has developed the world’s widest range of couplers, with lowmaintenance systems available for trains, locomotives and other railway vehicles, that take advantage of some of the most modern machine tools and comply with the strictest quality criteria. Also developed for more than 70 years, the company is at the cutting edge of access door system technology with its products covering the international urban, suburban, main line and highspeed railway networks.

In terms of the company’s power management systems, at present, Faiveley is the only manufacturer that equips trains with a productionstatus pantograph. Incorporating dynamic monitoring of the force exerted on the catenary wire, the solution, which was originally developed for high-speed trains, is now available for regional trains and as a result has substantially increased the performance of EMU trainsets.

Earlier in 2007, Faiveley acquired again, this time strengthening its position in the field of electronic systems and rolling stock doors, with the purchase of the ESPAS group. Based in France, the companies in the ESPAS group design and manufacture doors and on-board electronic equipment, which are fitted to trams, metros and trains. The acquisition has enabled Faiveley to access new railway systems, such as passenger information systems, readers and decoders of signalling beacons, whilst enabling it to complement its range of existing products in the field of on-board door systems, power converters, automatic door control units, speed regulation and driver assistance. Furthermore it allowed the business to generate significant synergies in both the development of new products and sales in France and beyond.

One of the group’s key advantages is its international presence, with sites in 17 countries across the globe, including Australia, Brazil, China, Germany, India, Iran, Korea, Poland, Spain, the UK and the US. Offering flexibility at a global level, together with the ability to compile the best available teams at local level, Faiveley is able to offer solutions that are closely matched to the needs of its customers, with its commitment to global development ensuring local proficiencies in engineering, production and after-sales, integrating within the manufacturer’s operation to provide a presence on the shop floor. This global base also ensures that Faiveley is able to offer its customers low cost manufacturing, with its facilities in the Czech Republic, China and Brazil utilising the local low labour costs to ensure the competitive pricing of the company’s production.

Working to provide the optimum solution, anywhere in the world, its innovative and principled product policy is strongly oriented towards turnkey solutions. Its global base ensures that each solution is built from a wealth of experience, drawing from the diversity gained through its presence in the railway world’s major countries, to enhance its products for the benefit of the customer. The equipment is also developed based on validated technological building blocks, enabling rapid implementation at the lowest cost, and ensuring that the long-lasting solutions are compatible throughout the lifetime of the railway equipment.

Faiveley has a strong commitment to the quality of all of its solutions, and its group policy places a significant emphasis on advanced practices, including group problem solving, continuous process improvement and the capitalisation of experience, that together go well beyond standard industry levels. Focused on integrating quality and reliability, continuous improvement through the implementation of ISO V2000 at all of its sites and regular investment in training, the scheme requires the participatory commitment of all of its employees, and was adopted to satisfy the expectations of both customers and shareholders.

The policy has seen significant advancements across the whole group, and illustrating the global impact it has had, Faiveley Transport India was recently awarded first prize in Quality Quest, the Eighth Annual National Conference on Quality Management by Anna University in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

Through this leading quality programme, Faiveley Transport ensures that it offers its global client base industry leading solutions. Working closely with customers and suppliers alike, the group is renowned for its comprehensive solutions, with its history of acquisitions enabling the business to continually add to its portfolio of services, and ensure that it continues to meet and exceed the needs of its clients.

Faiveley Transport
Products:Turnkey solutions for the railway industry
Sites: 17 worldwide
Employees: 250
www.faiveley.com