Thierry de la Tour d’Artaise, president of Seb

Don’t talk to him about planned obsolescence. The word scares him. “Repairability has always been part of our DNA,” Seb group president Thierry de la Tour d’Artise explains. Part of Burgundy, the company is today a global giant at the head of a portfolio of brands known as Krups, Moulinex, Krampoose, whose site has just been expanded to Plugfun in Finistère. Fourteen industrial sites in France employing 7,000 employees, the family-owned company has proven that we can continue to manufacture in France. Specializing in products with high added value and on condition of securing raw materials like the Chinese. “A subject we never talk about”He repents.

Last year you celebrated the 70th anniversary of the Seb pressure cooker. Isn’t she getting a little old?

Absolutely! We sell almost the same amount every year in France as well as in many other countries, for example in Germany, but also in Japan, which is a very big market. It is a product that, since 1953, is sold all over the world. It is absolutely indestructible. Those who buy them keep them sometimes for twenty or thirty years. We have been continuously improving it for seventy years.

What is your recipe for this success?

Understand customer needs. Pressure cookers speed up home cooked meals. This traditional meal, apparently, is making a comeback. People need to know that they are cooking with the raw materials they buy. Cooking is fast and therefore energy efficient. Finally, this product offers complete protection.

7,000 employees in France

what changed

We have changed the closure. You might still remember this hand gesture to open the pressure cooker. It’s not really practical if I have a baby in my arms. Today you just need to press with one finger.

Do you continue to make it in Burgundy?

It is still made in our factory in Lorsji (Côte-Doire), a village between Dijon and Langres. We produce for two brands Seb and WMF, a German brand of a company acquired in 2016. We have two factories in Burgundy. That’s where it all started. Seb is a burgundy stamping company. We also have another site ten kilometers away in Is-sur-Tille. He makes the fryers.

So can we manufacture in France?

Yes. We have fourteen industrial sites in France, with 7,000 employees. But you also have to be realistic. In the small kitchen equipment business, we can no longer manufacture basic products such as basic filter coffee makers, basic kettles or toasters in France and Europe. Our cost of production is very high compared to the prices at which these products are sold. We have chosen to establish ourselves in emerging countries and particularly in China, where 90% of the world’s household appliances are manufactured. At the same time, we specialized our French factories on products with high added value: iron and steam generators near Lyon, robots and coffee machines. Full auto

In Mayenne. You press a button and you choose a latte, an espresso… This is where we invent and innovate.

Component warning

How to facilitate reindustrialization?

Any reduction in production tax is significant. We appreciate that this tax…