By Denis RANQUE
Chairman of the board of Airbus Group & president of La Fabrique de l’Industrie
By Philippe VARIN
Chairman of the board of Areva & president of the Cercle de l’Industrie
“Industry is dead, long live industry!” By redistributing comparative advantages among industrialized and low-cost countries and by upending vested positions, issues related to the climate, energy and digitalization are genuine opportunities for French industry. The technological, economic, social and environmental changes under way and to come have the potential of curbing the pernicious deindustrialization that has so severely affected our country in recent decades. Better yet, they might signal the advent of an industrialized France that will, once again, be a winner, even more so than in the past, since it will be more competitive, innovative and attractive. It is up to public and private stakeholders to see to it that this transition toward tomorrow’s industry will be successful. Three decisive levers of action can be used: investments in innovation, changes inside firms and the construction of a Europe of industry.
By François BOURDONCLE
President of FB & Cie and founder of Exalead
Media hype about the “uberization” of the economy has caught everyone’s attention. It is easy to yield to the temptation of believing that this hype, as has occurred for other popular topics, is overexaggerated and that the boom is going to end up in a bust. We are forced, however, to take note that the trend is lasting and swelling. History teaches us that, when bubbles burst, leaders’ positions are reinforced, evidence of this being Google and Amazon after the dot.com bubble exploded in 2000. Above all, we notice that the Internet’s giants are now using their digital know-how and considerable financial resources to tackle the “physical” world: transportation, energy, telecommunications, etc. Firms such as Uber or SpaceX will, indeed, eventually menace whole sectors of the economy. By describing the processes at work, we can try to understand why we are undergoing a full-fledged industrial revolution and imagine how traditional industries might adapt to it.
By Thierry WEIL
Delegate-general of La Fabrique de l’Industrie
For its redevelopment in France, industry must attract the best talents and be perceived as a source of opportunities, instead of nuisances, by the people who live nearby and other stakeholders. Our unstable, contradictory ideas of industry evoke sometimes the pleasure of shaping materials and making concrete objects, and, other times, an impalpable, “cyberphysical” universe, a source of worry. Given the increasingly fuzzy bounds of industry, we are mistaken to want to differentiate manufacturing from the services that accompany and condition it. Paradoxically, manufacturing itself is less and less visible even as society is becoming “hyperindustrial”. Industry, nomadic and evanescent, still shapes the economy, territorial subdivisions and identities.
By Michel LALLEMENT
Lise-CNRS, Cnam (Paris)
Changes in the contemporary world of work can be interpreted in relation to three time scales: the short term with, at present, the brunt of the digital revolution; the midterm defined by strategies for a post-Taylorist reconfiguration of the way of organizing work; and the long term with questions about the relevance of the categories we use to understand so-called “productive” activities. The clash between these three scales has set off deep changes in our ways of working and perceiving work.
By Mireille CAMPANA
Engineer from École des Mines
“Sustainable performance”, a daunting task assigned to the “factory of the future”, refers to an efficient use of resources, the reduction of wastes and nuisances, and a durable, local implantation. The phrase “frugal factory” often refers to this optimization of resources, which affects the factory’s operations and production of goods and services. Drawing on its agility, digitalization and robotization, the frugal factory has been presented as signaling a new industrial revolution after the three previous three ones: mechanization (end of the 18th century), electrification (end of the 19th century) and automation (during the 1970s).
By Karine GOSSE and Michel DANCETTE
Fives Group
The factory of the future fits into the economic, societal and environmental trends that set its objectives and limits. It must meet up to major economic challenges: changing consumption patterns and the competitive advantages of organizations and territorial subdivisions. It must also respond to societal issues (whence its attraction) and environmental requirements. The accelerated development of many a technological (in particular digital) innovation has amplified the trend now under way in all industrial sectors, whether traditional or not. Besides digital technology and devices, this trend is affecting business models, work and organizations. Fives, a two-century old industrial group, sees its activities in relation to this trend and is fully involved in current discussions about it.
By Christian SAGUEZ
President of CybeleTech, scientific director at Teratec
All sectors of industry and services have deeply changed owing to the widespread use of digital technology, in particular of computationally intense techniques and simulation. The latter represent major strategic issues for creating value and jobs. Thanks to the technology now available, considerable gains can be made in both competitive advantages and capacities for innovation. Controlling this technology is, therefore, a fundamental requirement for our country. Aware of this, public authorities have undertaken important actions that should lead to the availability of both exascale computations and the indispensable applications and software. Furthermore, European programs have been launched in which our country has a leading role. Among the few lands with skills all along this strategic sector’s value chain, France must grasp this unique opportunity.
By Christophe de MAISTRE
Chairman of the board of Siemens France
Simulated, connected, modular, the cyberphysical factory is an entire, constantly evolving, system based on a dynamic articulation of the real with the virtual. It holds promises for industry. Besides the gains in productivity to be achieved, manufacturing processes will be overhauled; new issues will arise for training; new perspectives will open for relocalizing jobs in manufacturing; and cybersecurity will have to cope with new problems. Innovative since its foundation, Siemens is actively involved in writing this new page in the history of industry. Although private parties play a major part in the advent of this industry of the future, as illustrated by the cyberphysical factory, public authorities must also be implicated.
By Jean-Paul LAUMOND
Laboratoire d’analyse et d’architecture des systèmes (LAAS), Toulouse
Based on progress in mechatronics and computation, robotics has developed and fine-tuned sensorimotor functions that enable machines to adapt to an ever larger environment. Till present, manufacturing has been organized around machines that could not stand many variations in the environment for which they were calibrated. Nowadays, machines are more easily integrated in the existing environment and, more sophisticated, necessitate expertise in programming with, as a consequence, the loss of semi- or unskilled, laborious and repetitive, jobs in favor of employment in maintenance and supervision. Robots are machines; and as such, they affect know-how and make some forms knowledge obsolete. Robotics, a full-fledged scientific discipline, raises questions about the organization of society and must, with support from by public research of a good quality, examine all — scientific, technical, economic and sociological — dimensions.
By Thibaut BIDET-MAYER
Head of project, La Fabrique de l’Industrie
This panorama of policies implemented around the world for developing an “industry of the future” is worthy of attention since, rather than ranking countries by their advancement in this trend, it presents a view of the range of approaches adapted to specific economic and political contexts. Despite their quite different characteristics, most of these programs revolve around three axes: developing the country’s offer in terms of technology, supporting the modernization of industry and adapting wage-earners’s skills and qualifications. This panorama places France in this landscape and makes an inventory of the program “Industry of the future” deployed by the government since 2013. France has a card up its sleeve under condition that it sets priorities and uses its undeniable assets to benefit as best possible from this transformation of industry.
By Dorothée KOHLER and Jean-Daniel WEISZ
Kohler Consulting & Coaching
The program “Industry 4.0” is the German response to the threatening wave of digitalization unfurling against the value chain in manufacturing. This program seeks to introduce cyberphysical systems in factories so as to maintain production costs at the same level as in mass production. It seeks, above all, to learn about the new, collective processes for design and manufacturing by conducting collective experiments. At the core of Industry 4.0 is a relational competitiveness in new forms of interaction between suppliers and customers, both inside and outside the value chain. This revolution is, to a large degree, invisible since it has to do with codes and algorithms. However it is not just technological; it also defines new business models linked to platforms offering industrial services. This second-order change (in Gregory Bateson’s sense) is happening now, right in front of us. The interrelation between industries and disciplines is a key issue for the parties involved in this digital revolution.
By Pascal FAURE
General manager of Direction Générale des Entreprises
and Philippe DARMAYAN
Arcelor-Mittal, president of Alliance Industrie du Futur
A consensus has formed about digitalizing industry, a necessary condition for the survival and recovery of manufacturing, for industry to be competitive and for the creation of jobs thanks to strong, innovative economic growth comparable to that in major global economies. Given their diversity (in particular small and middle-sized firms) and the quality of their qualifications, all sectors of industry and services must be made capable of thoroughly digitalizing their activities so as to profit fully. The French program “Industry of the future”, which seeks to achieve this, celebrated its first anniversary at the Élysée Palace on 23 May 2016. A closer look at this beacon of French industrial policy…
By François PELLERIN
Facilitator of the program “Usine du Futur”, Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region
French middle tier companies lag considerably behind our neighbors’ in terms not only of technology (depreciation of machines and low rates of robotization, automation and digitalization) but also of the organization of industry and management. A massive policy of support has been deemed indispensable in the country’s administrative regions. Its objective is to assist small and medium-sized industries and develop a regional ecosystem favorable to this transformation. Two and a half years after its start, 290 small and midsize business have benefitted from the program “Factory of the future” implemented by the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region. The lessons drawn from this adventure are presented…
By Pierre FAURE
Director, e-Business, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Knowledge Management (KM), Dassault-Aviation, Boost Industrie
The digital transformation of industry is a key lever not only for becoming competitive but for survival itself. For this reason, several industries have been pursuing, along with AFNeT (Association Française des Utilisaters du Net), strategic projects of digital transformation based on international standards and collaborative platforms, thus following the example in aeronautics of the hub BoostAeroSpace used by thousands of firms. The goal is to convince all companies, in particular small and midsize business, that they form a “community” of interests in this digital revolution. These projects should help businesses reinforce their competitive edge. Digital technology provides awesome opportunities; and business models have emerged that signal a rupture for the firms that know how to use them but that, on the contrary, are a serious danger to the ones that cannot adapt. These projects also enable firms to make a better stand against the new, disruptive players who are “uberizing” the economy, taking power via their relations with customers and gradually altering the first part of the value chain.
By Karine BOISSY-ROUSSEAU and Laurelyne VERGUET
Air Liquide
In lines with plans for a “factory of the future”, the program “Connect” at Air Liquide France Industrie intends to set up a center of remote operations and optimization for the company’s production sites in France and to introduce digital technology in jobs in production. Innovation is not limited to technology alone. This technology is not just a toolkit to be developed; it is also a resource for both training programs and work in a network environment. Connect has adopted methods that provide for an open, collaborative innovation for linking people and technology. From this innovative project approach, digital technology is to be developed in collaboration with final users and though experimental methods. This new way of conducting a project raises questions about the positions and places of the various parties involved.
By Benjamin GODREUIL and Emmanuelle SAUDEAU
SNCF
There are three stakes in railway maintenance in France: 1) permanently guarantee a very high level of safety and quality for travelers and freight; 2) improve the availability of equipment in everyday operations; 3) pursue the endless quest for productivity, given the rail industry’s intrinsically high fixed production costs. To foresee breakdowns and develop preventive maintenance, the initial strategic response has been to deploy digital technology (sensors on trains) and make a “smart” analysis of the data thus provided. The diversity of its industrial infrastructure and know-how have made Maintenance & Engineering at the SNCF (the French national railway company) an international reference mark. Nowadays, the agility and accessibility of the technology for an “industry of the future” provide this department with strategic leverage for accelerating the overhaul of installations, some of which are more than a hundred years old.
By Laurent COUILLARD and Etienne DROIT
OptimData
Industry stands on the verge of a revolution. Its encounter with the Internet has opened new horizons for improving its performance. Traditional business models are shifting from selling products toward selling services, or even toward an “economy of sharing”. The value chain of past decades is being revamped; and the customer/supplier relationship must be reinvented. People are still a key factor in the overall performance of factories, but their role will very likely evolve, along with the individual’s responsibilities and zone of action. Connected performance addresses the challenge of the “industry of the future”. It redefines codes and models in order to better adapt industry’s tools to needs, to recenter people at points of value, to reach the objective of sustainability and to manage competition. The value created by aggregate data creates a force of attraction between manufacturers and customers that seals a new relationship. OptimData, with its platform ProductInUse, proposes an innovative technology for making this transformation a success.
By Éric CHANIOT
Chief digital officer, Michelin Group
In an interview in 2015, the head of the Michelin Group, Jean-Dominique Senard, stated, “Created in the 19th century, Michelin is entering the 21st thanks to digital technology. The leader in tires wants to become a word leader in mobility.” This strong determination led Michelin to launch a vast plan around three axes: digital customers, digital employees, and the digitalization of processes inside the group. Although the tire business seems remote from digital technology, as much cannot be said about the services related to mobility. To be a leader in mobility, Michelin has multiplied innovations, partnerships and buyouts in order to better respond to customers’ and clients’ expectations. From on-line reservations at restaurants to the collection of data in real time from trucks used in mines; or from the on-line distribution of tires to 3D metal printing, one thing is for sure: Michelin is changing!
