Latécoère held the ground-breaking ceremony for its future smart factory at Toulouse-Montredon on 13th July. Launched as part of Latécoère's Transformation 2020 programme, the new facility aims to accelerate the digital transformation process within the company.

The French aerostructures and systems specialist plans to invest €25-30m in the new facility, which will enter service in early 2018 and ultimately employ over 100 people. The factory will bring together skills and competences that already exist within the company. Application of lean production principles will reduce production cycles from several weeks to a few days.

The paperless factory will combine automation and innovative processes based on the Internet of things (IoT) and cyber-physical systems.  The result will be intelligent collaboration between the different production units and the factory ecosystem.

France’s Industry of the Future Alliance (AIF) has approved the project as a showcase for the industry of the future in terms of its production organisation and the use of the latest digital technologies.