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What are the origins of Altran?

Altran is an international group and a global leader in technology consulting and innovation, founded in France in 1982. It was conceived with a clearly differentiated model of providing consulting services, and has grown continually since it was first set up. It currently has a workforce of almost 26,000 employees and operates in over 20 countries. Its business vision is based on a highly decentralized management, which has enabled it to grow rapidly by acquiring small highly specialized business units that operate independently under the technological and innovative perspective of the parent company. Under this premise, the Altran group has seen one of the fastest business growth rates ever recorded in France. And with this philosophy it arrived in Spain in 1992.

 

What are Altran's main business lines in Spain?
Altran supports companies in creating and developing their new products and services. Since its beginnings, the company has worked with all the leading business sectors: aeronautics, space and defense, the automotive industry, energy and industry, pharmaceuticals and healthcare, the rail sector, public sector, financial services, and telecommunications and media, among others. Present throughout all the stages of the product or service lifecycle, from the R+D+i phase to post-sales service, Altran has created global solutions to offer the best service to its customers in four key areas –information systems, intelligent systems, mechanical engineering and lifecycle experience. The company is continually looking to the future to meet the needs of its customers and the changing market, and is currently in a growth phase in which it is designing new technological projects.

 

How has Altran grown since it came to Spain?
Altran has developed and grown very significantly since it first became established in Spain in 1992. The company currently has a workforce of over 3,000 employees in the country and operates from seven strategically distributed locations so it can support its customers at the local level and offer all the advantages and capacities of a multinational company. In 2015 it had a turnover of 165 million euros and the outlook for growth this year is around 10%.

 

What position do they have in the Spanish market, and what sets them apart from their competitors?
Altran is present in all the leading companies in the main sectors in the market in Spain, with a particular emphasis on industries such as telecommunications and media, industry, railways and aeronautics, among others. Its main differentiating feature is its way of understanding the consulting model, and its commitment to innovation. For Altran, innovation is part of its DNA and it follows this is a premise both within the company and with its customers. Altran Nova is engaged in researching the latest technological trends to find ways to make them reality, and is committed to in-house R+D, generating new tools and platforms to provide the best solutions to its customers. In 2015, the company invested almost 10 million euros in R+D, representing 6% of the total business volume in Spain, and plans to maintain a similar percentage in 2016, through a broad array of services and solutions specialized in innovation.

 

Who are its main customers? Do they work independently from the group or exploit synergies?
Our company works with over 500 major customers in more than 20 countries. In Spain, Altran works with many of the leading companies in the country, which are predominantly at the top of their sector, such as Telefónica, Gas Natural, Airbus, Grupo Santander, Danone, Nissan, Grupo Planeta, Mapfre, Orange, Vodafone and Talgo, to name just a few. In a multinational company like Altran it is common practice to share technologies and create synergies, so there are many examples of shared projects between different countries. This policy is not only allowed but actively encouraged by the way the company operates and by its philosophy. Talent does not belong exclusively to one country, but is at the service of the company. There are therefore various specialized centers distributed in the different countries that research and offer solutions to all the countries where the group operates. To continue in this direction, and as part of the company's new strategy, Ignition 2020, Altran plans to build the world's first offshore capacity in R+D services, developing a scalable and industrialized supply chain in engineering services at a competitive delivery price. The group plans to increase its workforce from 2,200 to over 10,000 in these centers by 2020, and to provide its customers with an even better performance and service.

 

What weight does Altran Spain have within the company at the global level?
Spain is a key country within the group due to its location and its high degree of specialization in certain industrial technologies such as rail safety, renewable energy, mechanical engineering, and solutions that are highly specialized in innovation. Spain is also among the countries with the largest workforce and most locations, so it can cover the needs of our customers not only locally but globally.

 

They have recently open two innovation centers in Cadiz and Madrid. How do they fit the company's strategy?
Innsite is a pioneering center we have recently opened in Madrid. This is a space with an area of 1,500 square meters that has been conceived as a state-of-the-art innovation facility for Spain to serve its customers, partners and institutions, and as a meeting point for R+D entrepreneurs and startups. Altran's new Innovation Center in Spain currently has 100 professionals developing in-house R+D project and over 435 engineers participating in innovative projects with customers and with high added value. In addition, Altran has just opened AICAM (Innovation Center in advanced manufacturing) in Cadiz, with the aim of working on innovation projects that represent an improvement in efficiency and product manufacturing. A team of engineers is currently working to roll out this center, and two initial development lines have already been launched: virtual manufacturing and advanced modeling and simulation of industrial processes.