Over the past decade, employment in the French manufacturing sector has contracted at an annual rate of one percent, even if related services are included in the measure. This trend reflects not only economic conditions, but also a real loss of competitiveness. Supply shock appears to be vital to reestablishing French cost-competitiveness. Manufacturing 2.0 examines this and other levers available to enterprises themselves—both at the company and sector level—that could reverse the trend.
The report details five ways to do just this: carry out a “Copernican revolution” in product, process, and service innovation; exploit to its fullest the potential of the wired enterprise; attain a new age of “agile production” by optimizing the use of scarce resources; create a powerful sectoral dynamic by strengthening cooperation between the various actors; optimize localization of the different segments in the manufacturing value chain.
Government can act as a catalyst in this profound transformation to Manufacturing 2.0—not necessarily by dedicating more resources to the effort, but by targeting them better.