Politique Internationale — It will soon be a year since the beginning of the sanitary crisis and the pandemic is still with us. Looking back, how did you withstand this shock?
James Hussey — Oberthur Fiduciaire does not need a pandemic to prepare it to handle crises. The company’s operational mode means that we are constantly on alert to forestall or face up to difficulties. The novelty is the scale of the event: it is something that defies imagination. Neither in government nor in business circles did anyone imagine such an earthquake. It‘s all very well looking for precedents, there are none; in 2010, the eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland may have paralysed some of the planet’s air traffic, but only temporarily. With Covid-19, the crisis is global; it affects almost all parts of the economy. Within a single company, if some parts are spared, others are not. At Oberthur Fiduciaire, be it the production tool, the sales department or even marketing, all branches are affected. Despite this, our plants never stopped functioning. Some of our competitors cannot say the same: we do not gain any particular satisfaction from this but, right from the start, we were ready.
P. I. — The banknote is an essential element of life in society the world over. By definition, its use is susceptible to viruses. Since the emergence of Covid, how are discussions with your clients? What are their fears? What do you propose to them?
Henri Rosset — Oberthur Fiduciaire works for more than 70 countries all over the surface of the globe. We were therefore immediately aware of the surge in the pandemic. From its appearance, our clients expressed their concerns as to the transmission of coronavirus through the manipulation of cash. The issue is not new: for more than 15 years, our research and development work has covered sanitary protection to head off the slightest threat. Protection measures or cleaning operations, for example, disinfecting surfaces, are part of our daily routine. But, above all, the use of our products means that they have active properties against microbes, bacteria and by extension a large range of viruses. Without going into details that are too technical, the process of manufacture of banknotes incorporates active ingredients that work against pathogens. To continue, these chemical procedures accelerate the destruction of these agents. To come back to the Coronavirus, this acted as an accelerator of our efforts: before our customers had had time to worry, we were able to tell them that our knowhow, combined with the latest technological innovations, had strengthened our capacity to protect our banknotes. Because we were pioneers, we were able to develop applications with a great scope all the more quickly. At the end of the day, there were always appropriate industrial choices.
P. I. — Precisely, how does your industry adapt to the new given? What has changed? And what has not changed?
J. H. — The phrase is a bit hackneyed, but it says what it means: we have entered “a new world.” In the spring, during the first surge of the pandemic, our factories had to demonstrate flexibility. This flexibity is still on the agenda: even more than in the past, our production lines are able to cope with changes in inputs. Push when you have to push, slow down when you have to slow down. The commercial, or sales approach has to come in for changes: as the chance to travel has been removed, relationships are managed differently. We have to be capable of maintaining them from afar. Things will perhaps one day return to normal. In the meantime, we have to adapt.
H. R. — We must never forget that we operate in an industry of expertise. That means we have extremely strong rules to manage products that are unique in their field. A banknote reflects a sum of technical assets and aesthetic approaches. When I talk of “goldsmithery”, the term is not an exaggeration. Extended to all levels of the company, we embrace the range of this combination of technology and artistic expression.
P. I. — Since we are talking of teams, what are their fears faced with this pandemic?
J. H. — The situation at Oberthur Fiduciaire is not very different from that of other companies. At the start of the health crisis, employees expressed legitimate fears on the risks they ran continuing their activity and the level of protection. They were immediately reassured. Not only were the necessary tools and procedures put in place as soon as possible, One absolute principle prevailed: that of transparency. We are in a world where measures of protection are destined to last. Oberthur Fiduciaire is an international group; matters of security are treated with the same intensity at all of our sites. Even so, certain modifications are still possible from one location to another, depending on the nature of the work.
P. I. — Public opinion is anxious to hear of security processes in the manufacture of notes. Perhaps because people go to the cinema and stories about counterfeit money are popular. Are today’s banknotes impossible to forge?
H. R. — Never has the security of banknotes been so advanced. There is nothing boastful about this assertion, it is simple reality. Over the years, innovations have piled up to make notes into unforgeable documents to an unequalled degree. The choice of the substratum, that is to say the paper, is the first stage. After that, between new watermark technologies that allow particularly realistic effects that are more and more difficult to counterfeit, security threads with dynamic visual or colour-change effects, the technique of the processes, inks and designs put into effect during the printing of the notes, the placing of holographic or laminated foils, the creation of transparent windows and the post-printing varnishing, there are a multitude of elements that come together to optimise security.
Neither Oberthur Fiduciaire nor the other companies in the sector incidentally stop there: the protection of the authenticity of notes is a perpetual quest; if we project ourselves into a future that is more or less distant, I am sure that we professionals will continue to be impressed by the progress achieved.
J. H. — The security processes for banknotes are remarkable because they are so extensive. Oberthur Fiduciaire’s factories are capable of printing some 5 billion notes a year. For each one of these notes, the same ultra-rigorous procedure is applied. Often, complexity of product is presented as an obstacle to mass production. We demonstrate that we are capable of manufacturing large volumes of products, defined by their complexity.
P. I. — More health protection on one side, more security on the other: do these two aspects imply a different use for the banknote?
J. H. — Not at all, since use of the banknotes do not vary depending on security or health. We should remind ourselves that the “defence” mechanisms in a banknote — whether for health or security — does not always change the appearance of the notes. Nor does improving the nature of the note for both security and health change its fundamental purpose. Equally there is no change in durability in the life of the banknote which typically last between 9 months and 4 years.
P. I. — Whether it is a matter of expectations in the face of the sanitary crisis or the normal manufacture of notes, are your clients’ demands globally the same? Or, depending on the state of an economy, are they liable to change?
H. R. — To speak a little bluntly, there is no such thing as a banknote for rich countries and a banknote for poor countries. Compared with mature economies, developing countries have the same demands arising from strong needs for security and sanitary protection. I have no example in my head of a country which, on the premise that its economy is less sophisticated, would cut back on the quality of its banknotes. Payment in cash is such an important act for the functioning of societies that it does not allow for corner-cutting in this area.
P. I. — You both regularly emphasise the integrated model of Oberthur Fiduciaire? How is this characteristic an advantage?
H. R. — This integrated model is one of the trademarks of Oberthur Fiduciaire as well as one of its main strengths. We are able to test this again because of this sanitary crisis: a measure of protection can be replicated on the totality of our activities as well as a technological innovation can spread over our corporate landscape. When an improvement to a our equipment or one of our processes is demonstrated, this is not a fluke: the company in the largest sense benefits from this. In our industry, we also find “component players” i. e. not integrated: this does not mean they are less efficient, but the fact of being an integrated group certainly constitutes an extra asset.
J. H. — The integrated model is an ingredient to demonstrate capability. We are not a link in a chain dependent on other links. When we carry out a project, we have the satisfaction of seeing it take form in different stages, from its conception to its final delivery. Oberthur Fiduciaire is an integrated group at the same time as being a company on a human scale, with some 1,300 employees in all. The chain of decision making is short. We are not a monolithic company with a headquarters from which everything radiates out. On the contrary, our industrial locations encompass three countries — France, The Netherlands and Bulgaria — rely on a coordinated strategy with operations that are a matter for local initiatives
P. I. — You talk very little about your competition. Is this deliberate? Or a reflection of the functioning of an economic sector where each one is moving his chess pieces ?
H. R. — In several areas, we have had the opportunity to recall that Oberthur Fiduciaire is a pioneer. This explains amply why we have no desire to multiply the points of comparison. Let us not forget either that we are working with high-technology processes: I would not go so far as to talk of industrial secrets, but our way of functioning aims clearly to respect a degree of discretion. And this fits badly with benchmarking at every turn.