Benjamin Azoulay graduated from École Centrale Nantes as an engineer in Automatics, and holds a master’s degree in mechanics and mathematics from University of Nantes. He started his career in 1990 at Philips as industrialisation engineer and step by step extended his professional scope to logistics, finance, and plant management in the general lighting domain. In 2005, he joined Philips Automotive lighting as Business line manager for signalling & interior lighting.
Driving Vision News: In automotive lighting, experts are talking about Xenon and LED but tungsten bulbs are still very important to the automotive industry. What are you doing to improve cost, performance, and quality of these bulbs?
Benjamin Azoulay: Reaching the ultimate zero-defect goal for tungsten technology has always been my first priority. By implementing the right mindset and culture in our factories through highly engaged and motivated people, and by working closely with our Tier-1 customers, we are able today to reach <1ppm level with conventional technology at the automakers' assembly lines. Of course, for the conventional signalling technology this implies high investments and efforts in quality management.
DVN: Right now, bulbs have a short lifespan relative to LEDs. Are you making progress in this direction? What is the trend?