Dominique Bougard is responsible for planning the construction and equipment for BBD2, the second block of the ACC Gigafactory in Billy-Berclau Douvrin. He describes his particularly demanding daily routine, whichrequires exceptional agility

What does your role as BBD2 planner involve?

I work on building/process planning and coordination. I have a team of process planners, plus related planning: utilities, IT, supply, quality. We work with Quentin Barruel in Bruges, the building manager, and his support team. My exact role is to coordinate building and process, and to intervene to arbitrate in relation to the needs of the final schedule. If there are two activities that need to be done at the same time and there is a choice between one or the other, I will decide which one will be the priority for the overall project, for our end customer, and therefore arbitrate.

How does that work?

We have meetings with the project managers, who give us our priorities. We have to align ourselves with those priorities and set a target date, then do our utmost to meet that target and deadline.

So it's almost like a race against the clock?

Exactly, it's a constant race against time, and the funny thing is that we set the clock ourselves, so we know where we're going. I've been with ACC for almost three years now and am in charge of planning for BBD2. Originally, I was alone in planning for BBD2 with the support teams in Bruges. We moved forward, created standards, and developed the master schedule we know for BBD2. And since we wrote this standard, we've been rolling it out and implementing it on the construction site.

How does one become a planner at France's first Gigafactory?

I was a logistics site manager for fifteen years. So I had an unsustainable lifestyle, traveling back and forth all over the place. I wanted to take it a little easier on the personnel management side because I felt that management was the most difficult part. I decided to switch gears and become a project manager in logistics. And through a combination of circumstances, I changed jobs. I was offered two projects at the time: one to implement software, and the other to set up the first Gigafactory. What a challenge! I would never find anything like that on my resume anywhere else. I knew I would enjoy the challenge. I've always loved working under pressure, with challenges coming at me from all sides, so I enjoy dealing with different issues every day.

What is your typical day like?

My daily routine depends on the alerts I receive. If there is a problem, we meet with the teams to determine how to fix it and what temporary solutions we can implement. I consult with the relevant individuals, deploy the next steps as quickly as possible to provide an action plan and a new timeline, and then meet with the teams. Depending on the urgency of the day, it's a constant process of adaptation. We try to plan as far ahead as possible, but sometimes we have to react from one day to the next depending on delays. We set up our indicators, we monitor them, and we know where we stand in terms of progress.

Is it also about continuous improvement?

I'm allowed to make a mistake once. If I make it a second time, it's no longer a mistake, it's a fault. I arrived in April 2023. I spent the first week with Mehdi Zouhir, BBD1 planner. We worked together and looked at what needed to be done. After that, I was lucky, I have to admit. I was in the middle of the BBD1 planning office. So, as I was preparing my schedule, I started listening to all the alerts. And I began to set my milestones, thinking about what needed to be monitored and how to work to align the BBD2 project.

In November 2024, you received the first containers of machines. Was that an important milestone or just a minor detail?

It was an important milestone that stressed me out a little because it marked the beginning of the installation. We had spent a year and a half writing down everything that was going to happen to us. At that point, I knew it was going to be a rush. I said to myself, “This is it, everything is going to fall into place and we're going to check that everything we've written down works.” " The first containers to arrive were for our coating line. It took us eight weeks to install the first series of coating ovens. The last series was done in five weeks. We're improving with time and adapting as we go. I tip my hat to my teams, who are doing an exemplary job.

How do you feel about everything that's been accomplished? How are you experiencing this period?

When I arrived for BBD2, we had started the preliminary work on the floors. We hadn't got everything lined up yet. I have the first photos from when I arrived on site. When I see all the rooms that have been built now... In almost a year and a month, we have set up all our clean rooms and they are all ready to house the equipment. It's a real success and I don't regret it at all. It's a wonderful project that you only see once in a lifetime. I have a blast every day because no two days are alike. It never stops and every day there's something new.