Posted on Sep 20, 2021 at 2:48 PMUpdated Sep 20, 2021, 5:17 PM
The French Fab Tour is back on the road. Stopped in 2020 due to Covid, this event dedicated to the industry restarted its Tour de France on September 13 from Metz. The objective is to promote the industry and its trades to young people with new arguments. The health crisis has revived the ambition for industrial sovereignty, while the economic recovery highlights a glaring lack of manpower.
The French Fab Tour will take place this year in 13 stages, each one to welcome around 300 young people, students and job seekers who will discover, during masterclasses, exhibitions or immersion in virtual reality, the changes and innovations of French industry. Starting from Metz on September 13, the French Fab Tour will stop at Valenciennes, Caen, Rennes, Le Mans, Niort, Bourges, Paris, Dijon, Annecy, Chambéry and Avignon, and will finish its race in Toulouse on October 21.
Rebuild a tribe of industrialists
The 2021 tour is placed under the sign of recovery and reconquest. The French Fab Tour pays tribute to the resilience of companies after the health crisis and works to encourage vocations to avoid the shortage of manpower. Come to inaugurate the event, at the foot of Metz Cathedral under a radiant sun, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, Minister Delegate for Industry, highlighted the 70,000 positions to be filled and invited the young girls to get started without fear in scientific and industrial careers.
The French Fab Tour is both high mass and fair. Vibrant to the sound of electronic music composed specially by the group The Penelopes, the 400 square meter tent hung in blue opens on the stands of Bpifrance and the union of industries and metallurgy trades (UIMM), organizers of the tour. The blue rooster, symbol of the French Fab brand, is available in all sizes.
The anthem of the French Fab Tour by The Penelopes
“Industry has lost its central place because manufacturers were very isolated. We want to restore confidence and rebuild a tribe of industrialists to offer young people a great and beautiful life in industry, ”promises Nicolas Dufourcq, CEO of Bpifrance. While the president of the UIMM and CEO of Dassault Aviation, Eric Trappier ensures for his part that national sovereignty can only be conceived on the basis of French design, manufacture and innovation.
Industry committed to the energy transition
Designed to carry high the banner of the national industry, the French Fab also gives pride of place, in each city, to the regional ones of the stage. In the Grand Est region, local elected officials did not fail to point out the secular nature of the industry, but also the performance of ecosystems. President of Metz Métropole, François Grosdidier thus recalls the presence, in Maizières-les-Metz, of the ArcelorMittal research & development center, described as “the steel industry NASA”.
As for the president of the Grand Est regional council, Jean Rottner, he evokes the Business Act by which the institution supports a thousand players towards the advent of a “5.0” industry. Standing on the podium in a suit, but without a tie, Hervé Bauduin, president of UIMM Lorraine, alerts him to the energy needs of local industries and reaffirms his support for nuclear power, presented as a pledge of sovereignty and carbon-free resources.
Omnipresent in speeches, the energy transition and environmental issues inspire Agnès Pannier-Runacher with a categorical assertion: “Industry is presented as dirty and polluting. However, it represents 20% of the problem and 100% of the solution, ”says the Secretary of State.
70,000 industrial jobs to be filled
Younger generations are invited to take an interest in the industry, and in particular young women. Presented as “those who want to save the world”, they are encouraged to take up industrial and scientific careers. The vice-president of the UIMM Lorraine, Nathalie Vaxelaire, CEO of the equipment manufacturer Trane Vosges, also a member of the council for diversity and professional equality, quotes the association Capital Filles, which allows companies to ” godfather ”of young girls to industry.
As for the Secretary of State, she invites all the youth to push the doors of the factories. “Be curious, go and see for yourselves: the industry pays rather well, offers international opportunities and provides a feeling of solidarity that cannot be found elsewhere”, assures the one who has a long experience in the sector. , in particular as director of the R&D division of Faurecia.
The recovery plan devotes around 35 billion euros to industry. In return, Agnès Pannier-Runacher asks companies to offer real internships to young people from the third year, to open up to apprenticeship, work-study, production schools or those of the second and third. luck. She also calls on the industry to dispel prejudices and welcome everyone, including former long-term unemployed, to fill its 70,000 vacancies.
“The health crisis has shown that industry constitutes the economic and social backbone of the region,” recalls Hervé Bauduin. The French Fab Tour is embarking on a tour so that it does not lack either heads or arms.
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