This October morning, Gérald Sgobbo, elected from Villeneuve-d’Olmes, in Ariège, is a happy mayor. The textile factory disused for more than ten years, which “ structured village life “, will revive. Not around textiles this time, but whatever. The Actis group, based in Aude, will invest 31 million euros there to produce insulating panels for buildings, a product of the future, requiring environmental transition.
“In the village, there were up to 700 industrial jobs for 1,600 inhabitants, tells the chosen one. Local memory is marked by industry: for the inhabitants, economic activity is necessarily industry. “ Anxious to preserve this culture, the community of communes acquired the buildings when the factory closed and kept them as they were, hoping to be able to return to productive activity one day. It is now done.
Reconnect with industry, relocate, reindustrialize. What was almost inaudible in the 2000s, following the dream of a France “Fabless” – with these factory-less companies, dear to Serge Tchuruk, the former boss of Alcatel -, has become the new French mantra, chanted by politicians, local elected officials and economic decision-makers with great unanimity. From the top of the state to Gerald Sgobbo, mayor of a small town of less than 1,000 inhabitants nestled at the foot of the Pyrenees. “Industry has become almost everyone’s new hobbyhorse”, rejoices Alexandre Saubot, president of France Industrie.
What happened ? The crisis due to Covid-19 may have had at least one virtue: that of making the French, intoxicated by the digital shift or the preeminence of services, aware that they were no longer able to manufacture products as well. essential than masks, paracetamol or respirators. “The health crisis has acted as a revelation, explains François Blouvac, head of the Territories of Industry program at the Banque des Territoires, a subsidiary of the Caisse des Dépôts. During the regional elections, not a program that did not mention it: in all regions, there is a desire for industry, particularly for sovereignty issues. We can see a real appetite from local players. “
Change of state of mind
Magali Joëssel, Managing Director of the SPI (Industrial Projects Company) fund at Bpifrance – a fund that has invested in some 17 factories in six years – observed this change of mind with a touch of amusement. “When we launched this fund to recreate the industry in 2014, we encountered surprise and disbelief. At the time, the industry was very denigrated and, we, we arrived by saying bad words like “factory”. The financial world looked at us like strange animals. Since then, there has been an evolution on the side of investors, the industry has been partly rehabilitated. “
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