"These are specific skills and trades, since the EPV label, a State label, promotes rare or exceptional skills," explains Guillaume Fiévet, who chairs the association, which was set up almost 18 months ago in the South of France. "They are often heritage products or more technical products. Although they vary greatly in size - from very small companies to large SMEs - these 40 EPVs have one thing in common: they defend and pass on an expertise that could disappear because, as Guillaume Fiévet points out, there are often no schools to train these rare trades, which only continue to exist thanks to in-house transmission. The question of transmission is essential. We're all SMEs, we manufacture locally, we don't relocate. At Savonnerie du Midi, for example, we train new master soapmakers, because there is no school for that. It takes one or two years to train a new master soap-maker before he or she is autonomous. The question of transmission and the ability to spot talent within the younger generation is really an important aspect of our communication", stresses the president, who also explains that showing the general public what a living heritage company is does much to attract these local nuggets.
In addition to industrial tourism - which is a way of showing "for real" the heart of an SME with rare know-how - creating events, as was the case last year, is another way of playing on the attractiveness chord. In addition - and this is little-known - having the EPV label does not exempt you from innovation. In fact, it's one of the requirements for obtaining it. "There are several requirements. A commitment to sustainable development, the export of know-how and products, and indeed, innovation. We shouldn't pit innovation against tradition, or innovation against heritage. In each of our businesses, we have innovations in both processes and products. The younger generation is sensitive to these companies, which are local businesses that some of them have known since childhood. For a young person, it's both very local and very concrete".
Because they create and transform, these SMEs are necessarily directly impacted by everything to do with energy. "When you talk about manufacturing, you inevitably talk about the need for energy," says Guillaume Fiévet. "We need energy to transform". The association provides a forum for members to exchange views on their respective difficulties, "which are sometimes different, as, for example, raw materials issues did not arise at the same time in all segments. In the case of energy, on the other hand, everyone was involved from the second half of 2022. We're talking to each other, but we're not yet at the stage of negotiating together. That may come in the future."