Initiated by a mixed syndicate ⁽¹⁾, the Campus Industriel de Recherche et d’Innovation Appliquées aux Matériaux (Industrial Park for Research and Innovation Applied to Materials) has just seen the light in the town of Caligny near Flers, in Orne. Faurecia’s Mécapolis project will reunite the company’s three production sites, together with its international R&D centre focusing on car seat mechanisms. Introduction to a budding centre of excellence for Normandy’s automotive industry.

Integrated architecture | Yoshihiko Iida: openness personified

Integrated architecture
Faurecia’s production unit has been designed with the Normandy, and in particular the Orne bocage, climate in mind. Thus, both buildings and terraced car parks embrace the surrounding terrain, hence reducing their visual impact. An environmental approach which has also generated an optimal supply of natural light, together with natural ventilation and the recycling of heat produced during the manufacturing process. To reinforce the building’s interior harmony, the entire factory has been painted white; a colour which reflects light, whilst emphasising the impression of space and highlighting the importance of cleanliness. A clean, clear and tidy environment, which is also sure to reduce the risk of errors or accidents. Convinced that a clean factory generates a natural encouragement for quality organisation, rigour, security, continued improvement and productivity, Faurecia is clearly setting an example with its new production unit.

Yoshihiko Iida: openness personified

The various buildings comprising the Mécapolis site have been designed by the Japanese architect, Yoshihiko Iida. The project marks the architect’s inaugural “exportation” of his skill outside his home country. “The 20th Century was a time for functional space. Personally, I prefer creating free, nameless, spaces, capable of fulfilling different purposes and of being combined together to create a certain continuity, particularly from inside to out. Single floor buildings consequently favour the transparency between interior and exterior spaces, offices and manufacturing, hence encouraging exchange and conviviality between the people who occupy them. The buildings I design are characteristic of this desire for openness. The company can apply this principle to all of its process needs.”

It is one of Lower Normandy’s leading construction sites. The CIRIAM ⁽²⁾ or Industrial Park for Research and Innovation Applied to Materials is gradually taking shape in Caligny. And of the 68 million Euros invested, the Mécapolis project, initiated by Faurecia ⁽³⁾, a PSA Citroën subsidiary, weighs in at 40 million Euros alone. The parts manufacturer’s 1,800 workers are to move to the new site by the first quarter of 2009. “The company is investing in Normandy’s assets,” is pleased to announce Philipp Durand, Faurecia’s Flers-based site manager and director of the Mécapolis project. Reuniting the three sites within one modern unit will enable the company to accomplish its aim for lean manufacturing in order to guarantee Faurecia Flers sustainable resources to remain competitive compared to nations where manpower is at a lower cost.

In due course, CIRIAM, built and developed under the contracting authority of the SHEMA, will reunite, on a 60ha site, Faurecia’s Mécapolis project (production and international R&D centre specialising in car seat mechanisms), an engineering school and other businesses from the automobile sector. The motor vehicle equipment manufacturer’s production units will be reunited within a unique factory, covering a total surface area of 40,000m2. The future R&D centre, covering 10,000m2 (3,000m2 of which will be devoted to training), will be contiguous to the factory. “Bringing our R&D product and process and our industrial teams together is sure to facilitate both coordination and exchange. This will also offer us an improved innovation capacity and increased reactiveness with regard to our clients,” explains Philippe Durand. “We could not remain the world leader without a modern production site.”

A comprehensive training offer

The engineering school’s education and training offer will be designed to suit the specific needs of businesses and will rely on local and regional expertise. Engineering training through in-house apprenticeship (in partnership with ENSICAEN’s Flers-based school), will also offer young Normans a unique opportunity to join local partner businesses. “The engineering training programme through apprenticeship, entitled Mécanique et Génie des Matériaux (Material Mechanics and Engineering) is the product of a vast partnership between all regional players, authorities, chambers of commerce and businesses,” reiterates Daniel Guerreau, ENSICAEN’s Managing Director. “It satisfies a genuine demand from the same players to encourage and facilitate the economic development of the Flers basin, and is the expression of an overt desire to contribute towards the maintenance and the development of the region’s employment.” Mécapolis will also develop its own continuing education modules for its own employees and those from other businesses from the metal transformation sector. The centre also plans to rely on the PMSN (South Normandy Mechanical Engineering Cluster) reuniting industrial partners, essentially from the mechanical engineering sector, together with institutional partners. By reuniting high level skills within a unique site (industrial research on materials, industry and the university), the CIRIAM promises to become a truly strategic site dedicated to the automotive industry, sure to drive Lower Normandy into top gear.

(1) The mixed syndicate associates the Regional Council, the Orne Departmental Council and the CAPF (Flers district urban community).
(2) Presided by Laurent Beauvais, the PRÉA (Flers Motor Vehicle Equipment Manufacturer Regional Hub) met to rebaptise the project CIRIAM (Industrial Park for Research and Innovation Applied to Materials).
(3) Faurecia is one of the world leaders in motor vehicle equipment for six leading vehicle modules: seats, cockpit, doors, acoustic module, front end and exhaust. The group achieved a sales figure of 12.6 billion Euros in 2007. It has branches in 28 countries, employing some 60,000 workers across the globe.

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