Meet the Member: Emilie Gerard, Business Developer USA, Leancure

In August, the FACC gained an enthusiastic new Young Professional Member. Emilie Gerard is the USA Business Developer for Leancure, a French company founded in 2015 by two engineers and based in Caen in Normandy. It develops and markets an innovative real-time production monitoring solution of MES (Manufacturing Execution System) type intended for the industry and aimed at various industrial sectors: agribusiness, automotive, pharmacy, cosmetics, machining, petrochemical ...
This tool, simple and autonomous, installs in one day on all types of production lines.

Keep reading to learn more about Leancure's ambitions for the North American market. 

FACC: How do you find the correct spokesperson within organizations and on your end, convey the tangible value of your solutions?

EG:Our clients are plants, so we try to speak with the Plant Director, the COO, the Industrial Director, the Production Manager… Everyone who knows the problem of productivity! We find them via our network, tradeshows, word of mouth, prospection…

Our solution is very flexible and adaptable for every industry. Indeed, productivity improvement affects all plants the same way, that is why we are able to convey a unique message to all of our customers.

FACC: You are based in , in the North west of France near Caen. Has this been a fruitful area with regional or national incentives that helped foster the initial launch of Leancure?

EG: Our office is not ideally located because the Normandy region is not the most industrialized in France, but we are close to two very industrialized regions: Paris and Brittany. Also, thanks to our team of 5 Technical Sales who often travel through France, we have established a strong French client-base, some of which sent us abroad to other European countries, Chile, Singapore, Russia… and myself in the US !

FACC: Can you tell us more about your mission as business developer for the U.S. market? What is your main focus for 2020?

EG: My mission is to begin the establishment of our system in the US but also in Canada. Some of our customers have factories in North America (like Total Lubricant for example), so the first task is to equip them and then the second is to find new customers! For 2020 my goal is to boost Leancure’s brand image in the US/Canada industrial fields and to find at least 10 outgoing factories to test our solution. That is why we will be present on the IMTS of Chicago next September!

FACC: What is the biggest opportunity for Leancure?

EG: The opportunity to discover new customers and new industries, maybe even new International Groups ready to trust us and implement us through North America!

FACC: Being located abroad, what value do you see in being engaged with the FACC-NY network?

EG: In France we work a lot thanks to our network and our partners (Valorial, Polepharma, Cosmetic Valley…) so it seemed necessary to become a member of the FACC when we arrived here. This network allows us to have a link with French entities in the US, which is a precious help for us.

FACC: You are a Young Executive member. What do you hope to learn from more senior professionals in our community?

I want to meet people from other horizons, find out how business works here. The events are in fact the most exciting feature for me, as I personally really enjoy meeting manager and hearing about their fields and line of work!