Industrial maintenance

Industrial maintenance (or heavy maintenance) is carried out on rolling stock after 15 to 20 years in service. It can include the renovation and modernization of rolling stock. These large-scale operations are carried out in 10 Industrial Technicenters, which employ nearly 6,000 people. Industrial Technicenters also carry out overhauls and repairs.

This new life involves a thorough overhaul and refurbishment, involving dismantling, checking and refurbishing or replacing all the train's parts.
Depending on requirements, rolling stock can be modernized or transformed, by modifying interior fittings, installing on-board WiFi or implementing a passenger information system.

During these operations, rolling stock can be fitted with innovative solutions to enhance on-board safety, comfort and performance, with the addition of new technological, IT or design functionalities developed by the Rolling Stock Engineering department.

Technicentres industriels also overhaul and repair parts such as

• axles ;
• spark plugs ;
• pantographs;
• Electronic components ;
• couplings ;
• electric motors;
• air-conditioning units.

Repairable parts are refurbished according to their state of wear, their potential and cost-saving criteria.

The Equipment Department has embarked on a process of transforming its industrial facilities, to propel the 10 Industrial Technicenters to the highest level of Industry 4.0 standards, by fortifying these tools with powerful industrial resources and recognized technical expertise.

The aim of transforming industrial Technicenters is to enhance their industrial performance (cost, quality, lead time) in order to improve efficiency and competitiveness.

In concrete terms, this translates into technical and technological changes concerning :

• hard (redesigning workshops and their facilities) ;
• the soft side (optimization of processes, flows and inventories, facilitated by 4.0 technologies).

In addition, this change is also accelerating their digital and managerial transformation, with an emphasis on collaboration, autonomy and responsiveness.

This evolution is also transforming buildings and working methods in depth, in order to optimize processes (physical and digital), via a structuring master plan. This is reflected in the implementation of cutting-edge technologies such as additive manufacturing, Big Data, artificial intelligence, exoskeletons and cobots (collaborative robots) and fablabs in Technicentres.

The Technicentre Industriel Picardie has embarked on a far-reaching technological transformation, to become a true Factory of the Future. The objectives are not only technological and digital, but also industrial, human and performance-related.

This transformation project has propelled the site into a new era, with :

• the transformation and modernization of the rolling stock workshop, which has become a new tool for increasing TI's MR capacity, first for Corail and soon for OPTER ;
• the design and construction of the new 4.0 axle workshop, a prototype for a new way of maintaining our axles, positioning us as the European benchmark in this field.