Bouncing back through greater competitiveness!

The measures announced in the government’s restart plan include aid to productive investment, which could persuade first- and second-stage timber conversion businesses to step up their modernization and digitalization of production tools. SYMOP executive officer Olivier Dario reckons the initiatives taken in this measure can open the door for timber sector small businesses to join the industry of the future, with assistance to machine manufacturers that addresses real company needs.

SYMOP executive officer Olivier Dario

What’s behind this “industry of the future” subsidy?

A study conducted last year by change consultants Accenture showed production lines in French SMBs across all sectors to be under-equipped, with little in the way of automation or robotics. If we want to reindustrialize our country, businesses need help to be more competitive, and that means new production tools. The government’s expanded depreciation allowance for inciting businesses to invest in production tooling proved insufficient and arcane. When the restart plan was being drafted, SYMOP pleaded with the French directorate of businesses to replace this allowance by a subsidy. And we got to put our case to minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher. This unprecedented measure is vital if we want industrial companies, especially in timber, to bounce back.  Businesses will be able to acquire high performance machines offering greater productivity and versatility. Thanks to industrial technologies of the future, they will become more competitive and extract opportunity from crisis. 

How does the subsidy work?

The aid is directed at 1-to-5000 employee companies investing in equipment relevant to the industry of the future for installation in a factory on France soil. It also sets out to create local jobs. By thus investing, businesses can enjoy a subsidy according to their size and situation* for purchase and installation of the machines, a very interesting proposition.  The news gets even better knowing the subsidy will continue through 2021 and 2022. This measure, which has no equivalent in Europe, will enable industrial businesses to catch up, notably in the timber sector.

And for timber & woodworking in particular?

SYMOP is currently putting forward sectorial contract No.19, “Machines and intelligent industrial solutions”, to minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher. This contract, put together with software and machine technology companies, is designed to mesh with the contracts for the other 18 sectors in order to offer them intelligent solutions to meet their requirements. For the timber and woodworking sector, we will be developing the “Timber & digital” project with the FBIE, who represents 1st and 2nd stage timber conversion stakeholders. It will provide a concrete path and assistance to timber & woodworking businesses wanting to digitalize their activities.

What will be the form and scope of this assistance? 

There are a huge number of industry-of-the-future technologies that are a potential good fit with timber and woodworking; but what we are seeking first at SYMOP is knowledge of the issues and usage cases to pair them with appropriate tools and technologies. It’s not a case of “pushing” the machines and the technology. A few years back, the talk was all about IOT, big data, digitalization, predictive maintenance, a universe that meant very little to timber production units. Many of the sector’s companies didn’t really feel concerned. Productive investment still scares directors, who need reassurance and assistance in their decisions. To make the technology accessible, its mystery needs removing. We must start with a company’s needs and abandon the old sales methods whereby machines were promoted in the hope takers would came along. I want machine makers to build on a platform of real, concrete usage cases in order to offer the best technological solutions. That’s market pull, not sales push. It’s not a case of being way ahead of market expectations but being in tune with them. The companies who are gaining market share are those who listen and align their products with needs. We have to ignite a real culture change in sales. Instead of “machines for sale” we need a global service that meets expectations on issues like productivity, safety, strenuousness, and even recruitment. Businesses must maintain a 360° vision of their activity and define their investment strategy accordingly. That’s how we will assist timber and woodworking sector stakeholders powering up to the industry of the future. 

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* “Industry of the future” subsidy is scaled to company size:  from 10% for SMBs to 20% for micro-enterprises and up to 40% for the most affected businesses.