Job Series #7 Autoclave Operator at Safran Nacelles

Thanks to her strong adaptability, Lorène Hardivilliers, an autoclave operator at Safran Nacelles, should naturally be offered positions of higher responsibility in the future.
Judging by the desire of her site director to attend her interview, Lorène Hardivilliers is certainly an element of the future for the Safran Nacelles site in Le Havre-Gonfreville-l’Orcher. Dynamic when you see her, this follower of CrossFit and bodybuilding is also really effective in her work.

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The automobile, then the aeronautics.

However, the aeronautical industry did not immediately open to her. Holder of a professional baccalaureate, she had to start with the box “odd jobs” for her entry into the workforce. This native of Lillebonne (Seine-Maritime) was, first of all, a cashier in a supermarket. Then she joined a temporary employment agency and immediately worked in the auto industry at Cooper. Her first job was as a press operator. Still in the automotive industry, she completed other assignments at Faurecia, GDX and Renault as a processing operator.

This operator’s daughter working in the oil industry was then fortunate enough to be one of the fifteen candidates selected out of 300 to become a drapery operator with an interim contract at Safran Nacelles. She was finally integrated into the workforce by obtaining a permanent contract at the beginning of 2011. Her work was, to say the least, gratifying since she ensured the draping of the A380 pods. “My integration has been facilitated by the presence of a fairly large number of women,” she recalls. “I also benefited from a tutoring by the workshop companions, which is an important step in knowing the product and the way to do it – in fact, it is the transmission of know-how, I would say”.

By being calm and serene, Lorène Hardivilliers, just eight months later, was the team leader on the composite draping of the Trent 700 thrust reverser fitted to the A330. Then, her company suggested her to join the A320neo team as a draper. Six months later, she became a guardian and trained seven people in total. Finally, she joined the A320neo automatic composite draping robot assembly team starting June 2016.
This remarkable journey led to her current position (January 2017) as autoclave operator. And not just that, since it is the most recent, a “monster” of 14 meters long for a mass of 70 tons.

Versatility within the job.

First woman holder in this position, Lorène Hardivilliers must load programs within the autoclave. “We have several different programs, either we can make a monolithic skin by working at 7 bar pressure, or we can make composite sandwich panels under a pressure of 2.5 bar, then we prepare the parts that will be polymerized within the autoclave at a temperature of 180 degrees. The equipment can hold up to four pieces of panels of the internal structure of the thrust reverser of the nacelle of the A320neo. After loading the autoclave, I set up the connections and position the thermocouple for the temperature control. While waiting for a period of between 9 and 14 hours, I carry out temperature and pressure curve checks. Versatile during this phase, I also do draping manual while performing, at the same time, control operations of the aforementioned robot. After the heating step, I leave the parts that are then removed from the mold. For this position, you have to be rigorous during your task and also when you apply the application instructions, and you must show some dexterity. ”

New career evolution

Quite competent, Lorène Hardivilliers continues to increase her versatility with forced march. Her next career development will therefore lead her to the acoustic drilling robot. This equipment, commissioned in mid-April 2017, performs the robotic drilling of acoustic composite panels in the nacelle of the A320neo. Her training on this robot was to begin in June 2017. After a training of a duration of four to five months, she will be suitable for five positions of the entire chain draping composite including the autoclave which she ensures also the first level maintenance and the crosslinking machine. Lorène would like to later integrate a position in production management. “My role would be then to organize the work of the operators and to plan activities knowing that I myself will know about all the positions.”

In the meantime, she has been part of the ECRIN cell (Space of Creativity and Innovation) for two years already. ECRIN was created to facilitate the implementation of employee ideas to improve production. Lorène Hardivilliers also participates in family days of the company that may, perhaps, trigger new vocations within their loved ones.

Safran Nacelles can only be happy to have hired this former interim. Interim is certainly an excellent bridge to obtain a permanent position provided, however, on condition that the person employed shows a real adaptability to positions that are proposed to her. And in this respect, Lorene Hardivilliers has undoubtedly managed a faultless.

QUICK BIOGRAPHY
Age: 32 years old
Training:  Certifical in Sales and professional degree in trade at the Pierre and Marie Curie High School in Bolbec (Seine-Maritime).

Entry into society: January 2011

Interests: Drawing and member of an association for children with autism.