This June 21 was not only the 40th anniversary of the Fête de la Musique, it was also a big first for distributed manufacturing! The Banque des Territoires hosted a conference in its Hub des Territoires on "Microfactories at the heart of agile and sustainable industry in the territories". A number of prestigious players were on hand to speak. Among them were COSMYX and Distrifab, who gave a LIVE demonstration of distributed manufacturing that was a resounding success !
First of all, what is the Banque des Territoires ?
Created in 2018, Banque des Territoires is directly attached to Caisse des Dépôts. It is designed to facilitate the realization of projects by territorial players through advisory and financing expertise. Its aim is to build the territories of tomorrow by relying on the local fabric. Since its creation, the Banque des Territoires has injected 58 billion euros into the regions, including 9.6 billion since 2020 for economic recovery. The Banque des Territoires is a major player in the economic, social and ecological recovery of tomorrow's France. So it was only natural that the organization should host an event featuring distributed manufacturing.
Presentation of the June 21, 2022 event
The Hub des Territoires presented a new form of industry: microfactories. Microfactories, veritable "local factories", offer a flexible, connected way of producing that is as close as possible to needs. Their organization makes them genuine tools for territorial resilience, enabling the construction of efficient, distributed production chains. The event was organized by Territoires d'Industrie and France Tiers Lieux (editor's note : event description by the organizers).
Introducing the topic "Microfactories at the heart of agile, sustainable industry in the regions".
Initially scheduled to run from 9.30am to 11am, this conference took more than 2 hours to bring together all the players and address the various aspects of these new industrial models - microfactories and distributed manufacturing.
After an introduction by François Blouvac, head of the Territoires d'Industrie program for the Banque des Territoires, and a presentation of microfactories in territories and industry, Adélaïde Albouy-Kissi took over to go into more detail and really introduce distributed manufacturing. A lecturer in applied computer science, Adélaïde is an expert on the challenges of distributed manufacturing. Close to Fablabs and author of a study around microfactories, Adélaïde was able to explain the importance for Industry 4.0 of adopting the microfactory model and distributed manufacturing. She explains :
"What are microfactories? Basically, they're factories that fit into a local production paradigm. They can be fixed, they can be mobile, and in fact they will use resources that will be linked to the locality to be able to produce made-to-measure and above all close to consumption".
A simple, straightforward application of distributed manufacturing.
Speakers push microfactories and an idea of distributed manufacturing
The speakers gradually brought the subject and demonstration of distributed manufacturing to the fore. Their successive passages all led to the demonstration by COSMYX and Distrifab of our ability to manage and operationalize the economic and industrial model that is distributed manufacturing. Renan Devillieres took over from Adélaïde Albouy-Kissi to talk about the hybridization of technology in industry, a central theme of Industry 4.0 and the adoption of the microfactory and distributed manufacturing model by manufacturers. Representatives from Dassault Systèmes, the French Ministry of Defence, Gazelle Tech and Fermalab followed. These four entities apply microfactories from the food industry on a day-to-day basis, to their use on operating sites outside the automotive industry, all applying, sometimes without really knowing the term, distributed manufacturing.
Territories, local factories and Third Places at the heart of microfactories and distributed manufacturing
Anthony SEDDIKI, President of COSMYX, Visière Solidaire and the Val Solidaire local industrial factory, spoke about territorial issues and the added value of adopting distributed manufacturing. Third-Party Sites and local factories represent a way of developing these micro-factories and entering the industry of the future.
"I have the feeling that there may be the beginnings of a marriage between territories and industry, which have long been opposed. For a very long time, industry was able to grow and beautify itself because it made economies of scale because the environment cost nothing. Today, we realize that a liter of fuel is more expensive, and that the carbon tax must be paid. Inevitably, we'll see a return to the local ! "
Marc Laget, head of the New Places, New Links program at ANCTerritoires.
COSMYX, Distrifab and Bee's Dream set up for the distributed manufacturing show
After the various players present at the Banque des Territoires, the 3 French players take to the stage for what will be a European, if not world, first for distributed manufacturing. At this point, the entire distributed manufacturing chain is brought together at the Hub des Territoires microphone :
COSMYX, designer and manufacturer of professional French 3D printers
Bee's Dream, a startup that won first prize in the Lépine 2021 competition for the invention of its honeycombs for bees, designed to revolutionize honey consumption and reintroduce bees more easily to local areas
Distrifab, THE platform for distributed manufacturing
"I like to think that bees created the first microfactories. They also invented 3D printing. By vocation, beehives need to be installed all over the country for pollination purposes, and distributed manufacturing can be a vector for the development of beekeeping".
Charles-Olivier Oudin, Founder of Bee's Dream
For the demonstration, COSMYX had brought along a microfactory, which integrated our automatic ejector solution consisting of 6 NOVAs, which won a prize at the Global Industrie Awards 2022, as well as 7 other printers distributed throughout the country. For the COSMYX demonstration, Distrifab and Bee's Dream simulated a Bee's Kiss order. The effect was immediate, with the simultaneous launch of 13 NOVA professional 3D printers. In just under a quarter of an hour, all the printers were producing the part, and one ejection followed another at the Banque des Territoires. The demonstration impressed the audience, and highlighted the lead taken by COSMYX and Distrifab in distributed manufacturing. The event was also an opportunity to officially launch the first label for distributed manufacturing: Distrifab Inside.
