Legrand is rationalizing its industrial facilities. During a central Economic and Social Committee (CSE) organized on November 19, the electrical equipment manufacturer presented a project for the redeployment of industrial activities between French sites, and the transfer of certain “low added value” production to factories located abroad.
The measures will be gradually deployed by 2028. The Valprod factories in Limoges (Haute-Vienne) and Fontaine-le-Bourg (Seine-Maritime) must close, while the Guise site (Aisne) will be transformed. According to Legrand, no layoffs or early retirement are planned, and all employees concerned should be reclassified to other sites “located nearby”.
The company “will put in place appropriate training, the objective being to enable each impacted employee to find a job within the group,” she specifies.
Disaggregated production in France and abroad
According to information communicated by the CGT Legrand Limousin, the Valprod site in Limoges (54 people) should be shut down between 2026 and 2028. It manufactures recessed boxes, switch plates from the Céliane range and switching devices. lighting connection. Production must be transferred between Hungary and its sites in Magré, Limoges as well as Chabanais (Charente) and Sillé-le-Guillaume (Sarthe), whose buildings were renovated in 2023.
End of game also for the Fontaine-le-Bourg site (99 people) where Colson and Colring clamps are manufactured (which allow cables to be held in place and the organization of electrical cabinets), terminal blocks, cabinets and bars, with production broken down between subcontracting in Asia and sites located in Malaunay (Seine-Maritime), Italy, Turkey and Estonia.
As for the Guise site (currently 22 people), part of its production (electrical equipment from the Hypra range, cabinets and distributors) should be transferred to Malaunay. “The current oversized workshop will be closed in favor of a smaller site nearby.” Management does not plan any layoffs, but a reclassification of employees in the new Guise factory or on other sites. The site should ultimately retain only around ten jobs.
A building market in crisis
With this plan, the group (37,800 people including 5,000 in France; 8.4 billion euros in turnover in 2023) intends to “retain its positions as a leading French manufacturer and its competitiveness, by strengthening the efficiency of its industrial system in France. Legrand justifies its decision by the decline in the French building market for the third consecutive year, with a drop in volume of building activity estimated at 7.5%. Another figure put forward is the 43% decline in construction starts in the residential sector and 32% in the tertiary sector compared to 2019, with no prospect of recovery in 2025. Legrand generates 15% of its global turnover in France.
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