THE ACHIEVEMENTS

 

The ‘Solutions for the Factory of the Future’ Ecosystem of Excellence is stepping up its commitment to supporting the aerospace and drone supply chain in order to meet the demands of this growing sector, and is proposing strategic initiatives to:

  • Accelerate the industrial transformation of the Cluster’s members,
  • Support the roll-out of the Aero Excellence™ industrial maturity framework amongst members,
  • Develop new, innovative solutions to serve manufacturers.

 

The progress made by the (E)² SUF Ecosystem of Excellence has contributed to:

  • The launch of two major regional projects focused on Operational Excellence (OPALE in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region and OCTIA in the Occitanie region);
  • Raising awareness and supporting members in the Aero Excellence™ initiative;
  • Identifying and promoting ‘Factory of the Future’ events across the regions, in France and in Europe to the wider community;
  • Monitoring funding opportunities and providing personalised support to relevant and eligible members;
  • Monitoring technology watch tools (AIF, CETIM, etc.) and producing articles on specific technological topics for members (e.g. intelligent logistics robots, the robotisation of dispensing, etc.).

 

To accelerate members’ industrial transformation, the Cluster has carried out the following actions:

  • Participation in and presentations at regional industrial trade fairs to showcase the support available to manufacturers;
  • Organising technical events and visits to manufacturing sites to familiarise members with and raise awareness of the technological building blocks of the Factory of the Future (with a focus on robotisation, notably in partnership with Aquitaine Robotics and Robotics Place);
  • Organisation of familiarisation sessions on the Industry of the Future, Lean Management and Aero Excellence™ with PAD’OCC, in the Occitanie region;
  • Organisation of technical workshops featuring feedback from manufacturers on the various aspects of the Aero Excellence™ approach;
  • Ongoing initiatives to direct our members towards regional and national support platforms and programmes (PAD’OCC, the Aero Excellence™ programme by Usine du Futur, the Usine du Futur Showcase Label, OCCITANIA, Dihnamic, Roboboost, etc.).

 

In terms of supporting the development of new solutions and value chains, the Ecosystem of Excellence continued its efforts to:

  • Provide technical support for all projects submitted to regional, national and European funding schemes on the ‘Factory 5.0’ theme, particularly European projects of significant interest to manufacturers;
  • Participation in the technical analysis of challenges launched by manufacturers in partnership with Aerospace Valley.

 

During this financial year, the SUF Ecosystem of Excellence continued its efforts to develop relationships with other clusters, competitiveness clusters and associations of interest through working groups led by the AIF (Alliance Industrie du Futur) at national level.

 

LOOKING BACK:

 

  •     December 2025 | Organisation of the technical seminar ‘Automated and Reconfigurable Quality Control for Greater Competitiveness’ in partnership with Aquitaine Robotics and Lectra: 50 participants.
  •     February 2026 | Organisation of the industry workshop “Focus on APQP – The APQP method in the aerospace, space and defence industries”, featuring, in particular, feedback from Dassault Aviation, ArianeGroup, Safran Aircraft Engines, Thales AVS and Mecadaq: 45 participants.