How a factory in Morocco avoided a strategic loss in France

Speaking before the Committee on Economic Affairs on January 14th, the executive argued that the establishment of sites outside of France does not necessarily mean deindustrialization, but can on the contrary strengthen the overall competitiveness of the French factories.

To illustrate his point, Olivier Andriès detailed an episode that occurred in 2017 concerning the production of Airbus A320 nacelles. At that time, the European aircraft manufacturer was considering reintegrating this strategic activity in-house, thus threatening the future of Safran’s site in Le Havre. In order to retain this highly profitable contract while responding to a sharp increase in production, the equipment manufacturer had to urgently reduce its production costs, reports L’Usine Nouvelle.

The solution was to build a twin factory in Casablanca, Morocco, equipped with modern technologies but benefiting from lower labor costs. This distribution of assembly between Normandy and Morocco has allowed Safran to offer more competitive prices to Airbus and maintain the workload in Le Havre. "Casablanca allowed us to save Le Havre," said the Safran CEO to the senators, specifying that this strategy of doubling the sources of supply also helps to secure the supply chain in the face of geopolitical tensions.