French industry in the factory era of the future

Last updated:

When one looks at the figures of the Frenchindustry (1), at first glance, one might be tempted to see it as an encouraging result. However, the trend has been in a long decline since the 1970s, with less than 10% of national GDP, when industry weighed more than 22.3% in 1970. A slow decline in consequentive employment, with less than three million people today.

From the decline of French industry to Bordeaux’s disillusionment

A trend confirmed by INSEE(²), which notes that “The volume production of the “industry” branch slowed down significantly in 2016 (+ 0.9%, after + 1.9%). It remains 7.0% below its highest level reached in 2007. “ A slowdown that concerns all branches.

Overall, the “large companies”, i.e. those with more than 5000 employees, are only 220, out of 123,000 groups established in France(³). Alstom, Florange, or, locally, Ford Blanquefort… Disillusionment is in the news(⁴).

However, the combination of private local initiatives and the definition of a real industrial policy can lead to the renewal of French industry.

A delicate transformation in an ultra-competitive environment

A French industry in need of competitiveness

On the one hand, according to the DGE(⁵), if French industry is at half-mast, this is due to “margin compression and low investment momentum in the 2000s. Its low level does not protect it enough from international competition””. As indicated in the 2017 annual report of the COE-Rexecode Institute(⁶), France also suffers from insufficient foreign trade.

On the other hand, un element supplemented by the fall in industrial employment, correlative to the fall in the margin rate of industrial enterprises. According to S. Villers(⁷), “firms have squeezed their prices to curb their loss of competitiveness”. At the same time, the cost of labor is rising faster than productivity. However, “France continues to channel its production into low-value-added or low-tech industries”, a model that is not sustainable in the long term.

A recovery that rhymes with deep restructuring

Thus, in the strong deterioration in the 2000s, the factors of price competitiveness of the French manufacturing industry are now evolving more favourably. “. The new industrial France must accelerate its transformation, and is lagging behind, the outcome of which requires a consequent re-industrialization. Indeed, it is striking to note that to date France has less than 35,000 production robots installed in France, while Italy has nearly 65,000, and Germany more than 150,000 (⁸).

Groupe SEB – the industry of the future

Flexibility and diversification

As well The Alliance Industrie du Futur (AIF) highlights the sectoral dynamics to be implemented (⁹) within the aeronautics, construction, rail, automotive, naval, and agri-food industries. Indeed, among the key words: robotization, flexibility of production and cost reduction, the search for increased quality, risk reduction, the diversification of customer services, the improvement of competitiveness through the virtualization of production chains, the improvement of communication or the increased attention paid to traceability and predictive.

The factory of the future, the hope of an innovative salvation

Industry Week

For eight years, the Semaine de l’Industrie, organized by the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the DGE – Direction Générale des entreprises, has been an opportunity to bring new projects and new hopes for French industry (¹⁰) and to make them known to the general public. This year, the theme is dedicated to the Connected Industry. The opportunity to promote initiatives related to digital, in view of the government’s desire to boost this sector.

In Gironde, nearly 12,000 companies are dedicated to this sector. A major challenge for the departmental economy, of which the CCI – Chamber of Commerce and Industry Bordeaux Gironde is well aware.

Industry Week takes place with the immersion of young middle and high school students in the heart of a dozen companies, including SOTOMECA (mechanical engineering in Bazas), ADAM (wood packaging in Sainte-Hélène), STERIS (health equipment in Haillan), or the CASSOUS Group (Construction Group in Mérignac(¹¹)).

Thus, this event honors many companies installed and manufacturer in Gironde, such as EMSPROTO, LUCAS ROBOTICS SYSTEM or TOPSTAR.

The “Factory of theFuture” program

Finally, the Factory of the Future(¹²) program aims to boost the industrial sector by modernizing and energizing it. In New Aquitaine, there are many calls for projects for companies, between 20 and 5000 employees. In particular, in terms of robotization and R&D, the Factory of the Future accelerates collaborative robot projects(¹³).

Sources:

1 “Key Industry Figures,” economie.gouv.fr, 2016 edition
2 “Tables of the French Economy,” INSEE, 2018 edition
3 Figures 2015 published in December 2017 – INSEE
4 “Ford Blanquefort: 1000 jobs threatened by the project to close the plant (including that of Philippe Poutout)”, Huffington Post, 27 Feb. 2018
⁵ DGE Study 77 – October 2017
⁶ CP January 18, 2018 French competitiveness in 2017, COE-Rexecode
⁷ “With labour costs equivalent to those of Germany, France is struggling to gain competitiveness”, published on 09 Sept. 2014, updated on March 16, 2018 in “The Challenges of French Industry”, Employment Let’s Talk Net
⁸ “The New Industrial France”, companies.gov
⁹ Future Industry Line Studies, AIF, 2017
10 “Industry Week 2018: Think about leaving your event labelled!”, State services in Gironde, updated on 31 Jan. 2018
11 “Industry Week 2018: CCI Bordeaux Gironde Programme,” CCI Bordeaux Gironde, 20 March 2018
12 https://polenumerique33.wordpress.com/category/usine-du-futur
13 https://www.usinefutur.fr

Abonnez-vous à la Newsletter