François Michelin

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
François Michelin
Born(1926-06-15)15 June 1926
Édouard Michelin (grandfather)
Rémy Montagne
(brother-in-law)

François Michelin (15 June 1926 – 29 April 2015) was a French heir and businessman. He was the chief executive officer (CEO) of

Auvergne
.

Early life

François Michelin was born on 15 June 1926 in

Auvergne, France.[1][2]

His grandfather,

Édouard Michelin, was the founder of Michelin, when it was known as Michelin & Cie.[2][3] His father was Étienne Michelin and his mother, Madeleine Callies.[3] He became an orphan at the age of ten.[4]

He received a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics.[5]

Career

Michelin started his career in 1951.[1] He worked under a false name with regular factory workers, to learn on the job.[1] He first worked as a fitter, then a driver, and later in sales and marketing.[1]

He served as the CEO of Michelin from 1955 to 1999.[1]

He increased the marketshare from the tenth top tire manufacturer in the world to number one.[2] For example, from 1960 to 1979, he opened twenty-five new factories globally,[3] even as far away as Vietnam.[2] He hired Carlos Ghosn in 1978 to expand Michelin's marketshare in the United States.[3] After he acquired Uniroyal Goodrich Tire Co. in 1990, Michelin dominated the US marketshare.[3] While the buyout incurred debt for the company, Michelin stood firm in his decision to consolidate.[2] By 1994, he was proved right, as the company was solvent again.[2]

He pioneered the use of the radial tire, which became the gold standard of tires globally thanks to him.[1] In 1993, he launched the green tire, which helps cars consume less fuel.[2]

His leadership style was non-hierarchical.[1] He believed in listening to all employees no matter what their ranks or social statuses were.[1] He also believed in letting his employees take risks to innovate.[1] Moreover, he believed business needed to be conducted discreetly and stressed the need for confidentiality.[2]

He became co-Chairman in 1999, when his son Édouard Michelin stepped in.[1] He retired in 2002.[1]

He published And Why Not? The Human Person at the Heart of Business, a non-fiction book published in English by

Bertrand Collomb.[5] He turned down the Legion of Honour.[5]

Personal life

In 1951,[3] he married Bernadette Montagne, whose brother, Rémy Montagne, was a politician and the owner of Famille chrétienne, a Catholic French magazine.[1] They had six children.[1][2] One of his sons, Édouard Michelin, died in a fishing accident in 2006.[4] They resided at La Bosse, his grandfather's mansion in Orcines near Clermont-Ferrand and summered in the Luberon.[5] He also owned an apartment in the 16th arrondissement of Paris.[5] He flew his own helicopter to go to Paris.[5] His wife died in 2013.[1]

He was a practising Roman Catholic.

EHPAD Ma Maison, a retirement community run by the Little Sisters of the Poor, a Roman Catholic charity in Clermont-Ferrand.[3]

Death

He died on 29 April 2015 in his hometown of Clermont-Ferrand.[1] He was eighty-eight years old.[3][8]

French President François Hollande called him, "one of the greatest French industrialists in the postwar years."[3] He added, "He understood the importance of innovation and of long-term industrial development. By developing the radial tire, he transformed a family and regional company into one of the biggest French groups and one of its best-known."[3]

Former employee Carlos Ghosn, who served as the CEO of

Nissan in 2015, called him "a humble and honest man, a humanist boss and captain of industry deeply attached to the global performance of a French industry with solid French roots."[3]

Awards and honors

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o David Jolly, François Michelin, Head of Tire Company, Dies at 88, The New York Times, April 29, 2015
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i John Ridding, Gordon Cramb, François Michelin, industrialist, 1926-2015, Financial Times, April 29, 2015
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Mathieu Rosemain, Francois Michelin, Who Took French Tiremaker Global, Dies at 88, Bloomberg Business, April 29, 2015
  4. ^ a b c d Marie-Joëlle Guillaume, François Michelin, l’industriel et le chrétien, Famille chrétienne, April 30, 2015
  5. ^ a b c d e f Bruno Abescat, La mort de François Michelin, le patron ermite, L'Expansion, 16/04/1998
  6. ^ "Acton Bookshop". Archived from the original on 2015-09-05. Retrieved 2015-05-01.
  7. ISBN 9780739152041
    – via books.telegraph.co.uk.
  8. ^ "François Michelin" – via www.thetimes.co.uk.
  9. American Academy of Achievement
    .
  10. ^ "TIA Announces 2008 Hall of Fame Inductees". Tire Review.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=François_Michelin&oldid=1209206214"