Why the Ardennes ?

AN IDEAL GEOGRAPHICAL SITUATION RIGHT IN THE HEART OF INDUSTRIAL EUROPE


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THE ARDENNES IN A FEW FIGURES

A strong industry

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Source : INSEE - January 2014


An important positive trade balance…

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Source : lekiosque.finances.gouv.fr - 2013


... testifying an effective competitiveness !

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Source : lekiosque.finances.gouv.fr - 2013


The Ardennes : The department with a view to the future due to a strong technological potential

Thanks notably to the skilled, qualified and experienced workforce that ensures a renewal of expertise, the Ardennes has always been a department with a strong industrial tradition. From early on, massive investments have permitted the modernisation of production methods, resulting in an increase in value added. This has made the Ardennes a pioneering department in innovative technology.

The maintenance of important industrial sites in the Ardennes, made up of some of best world players has not come to pass by chance. It is the fruit of an environment, constructed over time, that is particularly favourable to the development of industries at the leading edge. Technology is at the heart of industrial competitivity in the Ardennes: 3D printing, robotics, automation and the internet. Industrialist in the Ardennes rely on their innovation more than ever.

In a world of constant change, industrial projects increase in number, however the pressure for cost reduction is not the growth engine. The drivers of competitivity have changed, and as a consequence companies in the Ardennes need access to innovation tools, from basic research to financial support to ensure their growth.

Key players are mobilising and organising to create a favourable environment for the high performance departmental industries with industrial networking, industrial centers, collaborative engineering, high level training and research laboratories. This is a fundamental step for the factories of the future.

Amongst the key elements that make this environment so conducive to the industrial development, professional training figures as the first step. Ardennes industries are served by training that is both complete and adapted to their needs locally, which can help their employees at all levels.

Another important element is the proximity between the industrial and research worlds. L’IFTS* is an establishment of the University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne (URCA) which hosts two laboratories : LISM (Laboratoire d’ingénierie et Sciences des Matériaux) and CRESTIC (Centre de Recherche en STIC) that maintain direct contact with Ardennes industry, and constitute for them a precious scientific and technological resources.

The CRITT-MDTS* (Matériaux Dépôts et Traitement de Surface), Centre Ressources Technologiques (CRT) is certified by the Ministry of Research and Higher Education and is the most important in its field.

With a strength of approximately fifty engineers and technicians dedicated to the service of industry, it allows Ardennes industrialists access to exceptional resources, enabling them to both respond efficiently and quickly to numerous types of problems, offering services from a simple industrial audit to an R&D programme, and access to expertise or specific tests. The CRITT MDTS also regularly organises technical and scientific meetings that provide opportunities for Ardennais industrialists to keep up to date.

PFT Génie Industriel – Mise en oeuvre des materiaux* is allied to the centre of competivity MATERALIA*, and many other players. This efficient environment constitutes a dynamic network which secures the present and prepares for the future. Thereby positioning Ardennes industry to be competitive in all technical sectors : aerospace, aeronautics, automotive, machine tool, railway, nuclear ... The multiple fields in which it cannot succeed without such an attention to detail, mastery and evolving improvement which characterises it.

* See detailed description in « Partners of industrial firms »