D’un projet exploratoire à l’organisation de l’ambidextrie. Le cas ZDS

Aeronautics industry is often seen as reluctant to innovate: «what has flied will fly». But current constraints such as the more open competition in the sector are pushing for a radicalisation of the innovation effort. This movement affects aircraft manufacturers but also equipment manufacturers such as Zodiac Data Systems, now a subsidiary of the SAFRAN group, a supplier of data acquisition systems for embedded environments. To develop and conquer new markets, the company is implementing a deep transition and wants to become a force of proposal in terms of products and solutions. This study was carried out as part of the Small Project, an original project for the company. Aiming at the design of a new type of acquisition system, it is also an experience for pexploratory projects. The project was launched outside any pre-existing framework in the company. Its implementation provides many lessons for the management of similar breakthrough projects in the future, and the prefiguration of an ambidextrous organisational model for the firm. The study of the progress of this completely new project, its exploratory nature, its impacts on the company and its surroundings, the good practices and warnings it contains for conducting exploration are studied in this booklet. Based on these elements, it proposes the basis for the operation of a unit dedicated to exploration in the company.