The factory has become such a trendy place that all the candidates for the presidential election came to proclaim their attachment to the industry in front of the thousand business leaders gathered by the Union of Industries and Metallurgy Trades (UIMM) , Wednesday, March 9 at the Mutualité, in Paris. While the country has lost a million industrial jobs over the past twenty years, “made in France” will once again be celebrated during the “Produire en France” conference, Friday March 11 and Saturday March 12, in Bordeaux. . On the ground, this return to grace of the factory, shared by industrialists and the public authorities, must however come to terms with the need to investigate increasingly complex cases.
The executive continues to highlight the reduction of production taxes, a relaxation of the rules of the labor market to remove the brakes on the resumption of industrial activity. “Business leaders are recognizing this and these macroeconomic analyses, without disappearing, are fading into the background, says François Blouvac, head of the “industrial territories” program at the Banque des Territoires. Their concerns are more oriented towards accessibility to land, the speed of installation, training and the challenges of the environmental impact of the activity. »
Expertise “over four seasons”
For an industrialist, obtaining a building permit is only one element of the installation project. The biggest work consists in the instruction of an ICPE file (installation classified for the protection of the environment), whose thickness will be determined by the type of activity and several technical criteria: surface of storage, quantity of materials stored, level of electrical power required… Expertise that is usually spread over four seasons.
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“Each of our files is between 1,000 and 1,500 pages, smiles Fabien Charbonnel, CEO of Cem’In’Eu. Resources must be devoted to it. » After a first site in Tonneins (Lot-et-Garonne) opened in 2018, this young cement production specialist opened a second in Portes-les-Valence (Drôme) in 2021: he was then called upon to find solutions to protect an endemic species of butterfly, the blue thyme. « We positioned the buildings to protect this species and created embankments around the rainwater retention basin, explains Fabien Charbonnel. To compensate for our impact, we have signed an agreement with the Compagnie Nationale du Rhône (CNR), which owns the land, and an environmental association, to recreate a habitat for the azure. »
Explain in advance
In recent years, the requirements have become “increasingly important”according to the manager, who nevertheless judges them « normal ». “Manufacturers still tend to see these constraints as insurmountable, believes Fabien Charbonnel. Wanting to go too quickly runs the risk of ending up in the administrative court. We must anticipate, in particular by talking with elected officials and the regional management of the environment, planning and housing (the Dreal is the interlocutor of the ICPE files, editor’s note) ».
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An observation widely shared by Fanny Rolet, founder and president of Antofenol, which aims to replace pesticides with natural products made from vine wood. After an initial installation in Brittany, it plans to build a factory in Le Thor (Vaucluse) of 6,700 square meters. “Local elected officials are more than enthusiastic about the idea of hosting a factoryexplains the young woman, and I am very helped by the recovery prefect who helps me to decode the institutional actors to contact. But an effort would be welcome to make the links between the different actors of the Dreal more fluid. »
127 “turnkey” sites
The manager is also attentive to her future labor needs. Agreements with training organizations delivering BTS or offering the possibility of an apprenticeship have already been made, while the plant will only operate from 2024.
The creation of an industrial site is therefore a collective adventure, which should not be considered alone. “In Brittany, we learned from the mistake of doing everything ourselvessummarizes Fanny Rolet. For example, managing different trades to fit out the factory is a job in itself, and we preferred to call on a firm for that of Vaucluse. » To encourage the establishment of factories, the government has labeled 127 so-called “turnkey” sites, whose procedures relating to archaeological and environmental research, included in the IPCE file, have been carried out upstream.
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In 2021, more factories created than closed
Last year, France has opened a hundred more factories than it has closed.
Such a positive balance had only been recorded in 2017 and 2018 since the explosion of factory closures in 2009, following the 2008 crisis. From 2010 to 2015, the loss had been 400 factories in total; between 2016 and 2021, the gain had been 120 factories.
on name just over 3 million jobs in industry, spread over 260,000 companies, 90% of which are SMEs and VSEs.
The weight of industry in GDP is 13.5%.