Mr. Garcin, the North American head since 2019, has worked for Michelin for 19 years. Right now is the defining moment of the company, he said.
The company wants to use its tire experience to offer its customers something more.
Michelin in Motion is a campaign — or ideology — focused on three "inseparable criteria," according to Mr. Garcin: People, profits and planet.
"If you know Michelin, you know we are passionate about people. … People come always first," Mr. Garcin said. "We focus a lot on our customers, we are close with them — our dealers, our partners."
When it comes to profits, Mr. Garcin said the focus is on three main areas: Tires, artificial intelligence (AI) and technologies beyond tires.
"We want to accelerate the growth we are delivering," he said.
He said Michelin's AI will grow around its tires as the firm has been developing digital capabilities during the last decade to understand what is happening on the cars from the tires — the point where it is touching the ground.
"Leveraging this, plus the incredible network we have across the U.S. and Canada, it opens the door to a new business model around services and solutions that we are already starting to deploy," he said.
Mr. Garcin said Michelin is "investing massively in high-tech materials" to open the company up to new growth territories, like in aerospace or the medical sector, for example.
"At the same time, it will feed our ambition to bring — by 2050 — to market a tire that is made out of 100% renewable and recyclable material," Mr. Garcin said.
Mr. Garcin said Michelin is starting to see the fruits of its labors when it comes to investments in hydrogen — "one solution for the future" — and in 3-D printing.
A decade ago, Mr. Garcin said Michelin started developing 3-D printers for use in its factories.
"Little by little we realized the potential was far bigger than that," he said.
As an example, Mr. Garcin said several years ago, the company used its 3-D printing technology to design new tread structures where sipes open as the tire wears to allow a constant grip throughout the life of the tire.
AddUp, a joint venture created by Michelin and Fives Group in 2016 that specializes in metal 3-D printing, announced on May 28 the launch of its next-gen Formup 350 3-D metal printer.
Sustainability is an important factor in all aspects of how Michelin operates.
Mr. Garcin said when much of the world was locked down due to the pandemic a year ago, he took note of how "on one hand, you had nature flourishing … and in parallel, you saw unemployment rising.
"Since that day, I thought to myself, 'This is why we have to combine growth, profit development — motion, if you will — with the protection of the environment.'
"It's not 'or,' it's 'together.'"
He said without balance the product will suffer and ultimately can't be sustainable.
"Motion is life, but it should not be at the expense of the environment. Nor should the protection of the environment be at the expense of our lives, our mobility."