Digitisation and Corporate Social Responsibility in the ‘Factory of the Future’: the Alliansys experience

Will digital tools and automation open up the possibility for relocating industrial activity in France? This is what Alliansys is hoping will happen. Alliansys is a subcontracting electronic SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) in Normandy. In an original move, it chose to combine the approaches of the ‘Industry of the Future’ with Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), both of which put man and human interests at the centre of business. The arrival of new shareholders in February 2016, the families of Jean-Claude Cachat and Michel de Nonancourt, prompted the launch of a programme based on three major issues: the need for investment in order to buy next generation machines; overhauling the IT system in order to bring together all the specialised software, and to monitor closely the management of the twenty-five thousand supplier references; and, lastly, the implementation of an ambitious CSR policy to make the staff more involved in these changes, and to develop new relationships with clients and suppliers.