Losses and profits. In this grayish beginning of December, where old fears re-emerge – epidemics, inflation, climatic cataclysms – all the good news is to be taken. Weekly The new factory brings us one about the reindustrialization of France. According to its annual ranking, in 2021 there were twice as many site openings, fifty-three listed, than closings (twenty-four). These would have fallen by 43% over the first nine months of the year compared to 2019.
La Laiterie de Saint-Denis-de-Hôtel is building a new warehouse in Loiret and a bottling plant in Maine-et-Loire: 300 million euros of investment and 300 jobs by 2024. Faurecia is creating an industrial hub in the Doubs, Chamatex has started manufacturing sports shoes in Ardèche… The list is long and includes production as well as warehouses and research and development. In addition, there are around thirty extensions to existing capacities. All sectors are concerned, with a strong presence in the food industry, energy and pharmaceuticals. And all regions too.
This is what gives industry its precious character, its ability to establish itself outside the major urban centers and to structure the life of towns and villages. In their last and formidable work France before our eyes (Threshold, 496 pages, 23 euros), Jérôme Fourquet and Jean-Laurent Cassely chronicle, for example, the disappearance of football clubs in these small towns, all sponsored by the local industrialist and a major instrument of social bond.
Achieve productivity gains
Factories are coming back, and sometimes thanks to young start-ups, but massive reindustrialisation is not yet a reality. The regular chronicle of industrial tragedies has not stopped, as evidenced by the recent closure of the SAM foundry in Aveyron, not to mention large groups such as Michelin, Renault or Stellantis, which are reducing the workforce in silence so as not to close factories.
Asked, Wednesday 1er December, per Reuters, Carlos Tavares was very clear about the electric car: “It imposes electrification on the automotive industry which adds 50% more costs to a conventional vehicle. It is impossible that we pass 50% of additional costs on to the end consumer, because most of the middle class will not be able to pay. ” As a result, he estimates that he needs to achieve productivity gains of 10% per year instead of the usual 2% to 2.5%. A way of preparing minds for more automation, pressure on suppliers and… relocation. The battle of the factories is not yet won.