Saint-Gobain, a global leader in sustainable construction materials, operates in 70 countries with a workforce of over 170,000. The company supplies around 80% of the materials used in building construction worldwide, positioning it at the forefront of one of the most impactful sectors for global carbon emissions. With buildings and construction accounting for over 40% of CO₂ emissions across their lifecycle, Saint-Gobain has made carbon neutrality by 2050 a strategic priority.

In this first installment of a three-part interview series, Benoit Lepetit, Group Chief Data & Analytics Officer at Saint-Gobain, sits down with Julian Schirmer, Co-Founder of OAO, to explore how the organization is embedding data and AI into the core of its transformation. From cutting energy consumption in industrial operations to enabling customer-centric innovation through AI, Lepetit shares how Saint-Gobain is rethinking sustainability, operational efficiency, and competitive differentiation, all through the lens of data.

At the heart of Saint-Gobain’s strategy are what Lepetit calls the “three Cs”: Customer, Competition, and Collaboration. He unpacks how those pillars translate into real-world projects, including generative AI-powered data marketplaces, carbon traceability, and predictive optimization – while reflecting on the new competitive dynamics in an era where data capabilities are no longer reserved for tech giants.

Edited Excerpts

Q: Saint-Gobain works with many tangible products and materials, and it’s interesting how you connect that to your data and AI journey. With sustainability being a major focus, what are the key drivers behind your data and AI efforts?

Sustainability is, unsurprisingly, at the core of our strategy, particularly in how we use data and AI at Saint-Gobain. We aim to leverage data to monitor and reduce carbon emissions across our manufacturing processes. But beyond that, we are deeply committed to serving our customers. Customer obsession is a key focus, and using AI to better understand customer preferences and deliver tailored solutions is essential. As an industrial group, operational efficiency is also central to our ability to provide cost-effective solutions, optimizing supply chains and production processes, especially through predictive analytics.

Q: If you had to prioritize one key area where Saint-Gobain is currently pushing forward with data and AI, what would that be? What are you really focused on driving right now?

Let’s break this down using what we call the three Cs: Customer, Competition, and Collaboration. The customer is our obsession, it’s all about delivering the right products and solutions to meet their needs. At the core of this is leveraging information modernization and harnessing AI capabilities to drive solutions effectively. Collaboration plays a key role in enhancing our internal efficiency, allowing us to serve our purpose more effectively, particularly through the use of GenAI. Additionally, sustainability and energy optimization are central to our efforts, both now and in the future, as we strive to achieve greater energy efficiency.

Q: On the one hand, you’re helping clients become more sustainable but on the other, AI and data processing consume a lot of energy themselves. Do you have any specific approaches to balance these two sides?

Let’s face the facts, as an industrial group, we consume a significant amount of energy in our production processes. To meet our sustainability goals, our first priority is to reduce energy consumption. Whether it’s gas, fuel, or electricity, these are essential to producing materials, and we are actively working to minimize their use. In addition, we focus on optimizing the usage of Earth’s resources by promoting reuse and circularity in our production processes.

Take our flat glass production as an example. We can recycle up to 70% of the glass from previous production batches. While it’s true that AI also consumes a lot of energy, the scale of energy consumption in industrial production is particularly high, meaning, our primary mission is to reduce energy usage. As our CEO says, “The best energy is the energy we don’t use.”

Q: Could you share an example of a project where you’re using data and AI at Saint-Gobain, something that really shows what data and AI look like in action in your organization?

I’ll divide data and AI into two key areas: access to information and optimization. Our goal is to provide seamless access to information for all collaborators. To achieve this, we created a marketplace where data producers and consumers can meet in one place. We’ve integrated GenAI, especially to enable users to make semantic queries that provide direct answers, such as asking for the production volume in a specific country for a particular plant, all within a larger dataset or report.

This shift will change how we use information to drive decision-making, and importantly, without needing technical expertise. In the past, IT teams would create reports to model data and provide access to consumers. Now, production is decentralized, and consumers can access information from a centralized place. Whether through APIs or direct semantic queries, users can now get the answers they need, precisely when they need them to take action.

Q: Are there any shifts, like how others are using data and AI, or changes in supply chains, that you see as potential challenges to your business model or approach? In what ways do you think you need to stay alert to changes in the environment?

We operate in a highly competitive environment where GenAI, AI, and data products are increasingly commoditized. This shift has simplified the process of manipulation, which previously required significant investment to build teams and produce code. Now, these capabilities are much more accessible, and they will continue to evolve.

But beyond outpacing competitors, our priority is serving our customers, especially those involved in building materials. One of our key objectives is to contribute to reducing CO2 footprints and achieving net-zero carbon goals by 2050.

To do so, we rely on advanced research, AI, and GenAI capabilities, as well as our ability to optimize our supply chains to meet these demands. Ensuring the traceability of our data is also crucial to demonstrate that our products are genuinely net-zero carbon certified.

Ultimately, our goal is to bridge the gap between customer needs and offering solutions with a net-zero carbon impact. We are already taking steps in this direction and we recognize that combining this agility with our ongoing efforts will provide us with a clear competitive advantage and continue to meet this worldwide challenge of net zero carbon.

CDO Magazine appreciates Benoit Lepetit for sharing his insights with our global community.