Philips had concentrated most of its business telephony French Le Mans. At its peak in 2001, the plant, which has affected large public subsidies, had 2 600 employees. Today, a ban from entering inside a site became oversized. The end of the adventure Philips at Le Mans Relocation requires, the last survivors of Sarthois site, which produced up to 25 million laptops per year, must leave. Epilogue of a fiasco. “It is now empty. “Caroline, secretary mailed to the home Philips, in Le Mans, has the blues. And for good reason. The company, which has seen up to 2 600 employees in 2001, will close. The 70 remaining employees lost on a site of 17 hectares, route dangers, should pack up before winter. No redundancies, but a “relocation”, indicates the direction.
The State subsidies
The marketing and service support is transferred to Amsterdam, activity function (supply, validation, commercial distribution) takes off for Hong Kong, the computer file in Sureness. “We present it as a transfer, the eve of holidays, but it is a cessation of activity disguised, said the secretary of the works council. Very few employees are interested to leave. “There will therefore reclassifications.
The coup of clubs is the epilogue of an industrial adventure became an economic fiasco. In 1996, Philips, in Le Mans for over twenty years, including televisions, embarks on mobile telephony. The plant sarthoise giant Dutch assemble up to 25 million laptops per year. And devour tens of millions of francs of public subsidies, via the Ministry of Research, then headed by Francois Filling.
Phones in China
“Everyone was ok. We were all very excited at the time. Nobody imagined that it would be such a failure, “says Jean-Claude Bollard, Socialist mayor of Le Mans. And for good reason. Within a decade, the numbers have shrunk, Philips has sold a portion of its activities, moved the production of mobile phones in China.
Today, the survivors, mainly engineers or technicians, provide the design of residential telephones, both fixed and wireless. Design, scope, quality of the recording: a specification sent to manufacturers … Asian. “This is a sector that remains beneficiary, assured the secretary of the works council, but there is no recognition of the group. ”
Even bitterness among the mayor, who wanted to buy pre-empting land and reindustrialize the site. The elected throw in the towel: “They are asking 4.2 million euros. It is not reasonable. The tradition of major groups has always been to make a gesture of reparation to encourage the establishment of new businesses. Philips should make the effort. I know that the Prime Minister has spent the same message.