PSA Rennes Plant
Encyclopedia
The PSA Rennes Plant is one of the principal car plants in France, producing approximately 340,000 cars in 2005. The plant was acquired by the PSA Group
in 1976 when Peugeot
took a majority stake in the Citroën
company which had built the plant but then (not for the first time) run out of money. The plant is the largest private sector employer in the Rennes
conurbation, with approximately 6,900 people on the payroll in 2009.
, just beyond the Rennes city limits on a large site at Rennes-la-Janais, across the road from the city's airport.
The completion in 2010 of a €50 million investment in new model
production facilities will leave the total covered factory area at 500,000 m².
By 2008 the area under cover had grown to more than 700,000 m², but this was to be reduced in order "to reduce fixed costs and optimize logistical efficiencies". In practice, the site is a large one: where it was cheaper to build a new dedicated assembly hall that to refit an existing one it is likely that some of the older buildings included in the quoted 2008 figure will have been already unused for many years.
Before 1999 the company also owned a plant for the manufacture of rubber components on the city's western (Route de Lorient) Industrial Zone and statistics from that period concerning matters such as employment often aggregate the figures for the two plants together.
automobile construction was heavily dependent on a handful of traditional craft based skills, and the country's auto-industry, along with most heavy industry in France, was heavily concentrated in the Paris region. Having grown prosperous as a munitions producer during the war, when automobile pioneer André Citroën
was ready to start his own manufacturing business, applying revolutionary production techniques
which he had seen in development at Ford's
Detroit plant, the obvious place to base a new auto-business in France was Paris, which is where Citroën's car factory was established in 1919.
Forty years later, the production techniques pioneered by Citroën had permitted the auto-industry to become one of the most important sectors in the industrialising economy, and auto-production had become massively labour intensive. The artisanal skills of the Paris carriage maker were no longer of much relevance, however. Commercial success for the 2CV
and (more recently) DS
models left Citroën desperately short of production capacity in their cramped Paris site, and the decision was taken to build a new greenfield plant
. The Rennes
location was chosen in 1958 on account of its abundant supply of available labour and the low wages in an area where the economy was heavily dependent on the primary sector. Farming in the 1950s was beginning to shed labour fast as more and more agricultural tasks were transferred from men and women to machines. Citroën's decision to build their new plant on a Greenfield site in an area still dominated by agriculture mirrored auto-industry developments taking place at this time in Michigan
and several adjacent states in the USA.
The Rennes-la-Janais plant was opened in 1961 in a ceremony adorned by the dominating presence of the president
. Citroën products featured prominently in the presidential cortege, but the first cars produced at the Rennes plant were small Ami 6
models rather than the DS favoured for presidential use. The Ami continued in production for ten years, till 1971, having in 1967 been joined on the production line by the Dyane
and in 1970 by the GS
which launched Citroen into the middle market sector. It was the medium sized cars which would henceforth dominate the production lines at Rennes while almost all of the old 2 CVs continued to be produced at the company's Paris plant until the late 1980s after which that model's final years' production were increasingly concentrated on a small plant in Portugal.
In the 1980s, with Citroën's finances subjected by its new owners to a more rigorous cost control régime, financial stability returned. Investment was applied judiciously, however, and employment at the plant peaked at around 14,000 in the 1980s. This was also a period during which the company's Vigo
plant in north-west Spain was beginning to move away from exclusive concentration on small cars, reflecting rapidly rising incomes in Spain. This meant that during the 1990s the two plants would find themselves in increasingly direct competition to build the same cars, with the costs of France's generous social benefits, funded by employment taxes, leaving the Rennes plant looking in some respects expensive. One response, as in much of France's manufacturing industry, was increased dependence on new industrial robots for many routine assembly-line tasks. By the first decade of 21st century nevertheless Vigo was producing more cars than Rennes, and the Rennes plant's labour force had more than halved, to approximately 6,900 in 2009.
In 2004, after 42 years, the plant produced its ten millionth car. 2004 was also the year when, for the first time, the company produced a Peugeot badged vehicle, the 407
at the Rennes plant, joined in 2009 by the slow selling (and soon to be discontinued) 607
. The Peugeot 407
sold very strongly for several years, although demand tailed off quite sharply in 2008 and 2009: both the sales success of this important model, and its more recent decline, have been closely reflected in the level of activity at the plant in recent years.
In 2009 production of the Xsara Picasso
, hitherto shared between Spain and France, transferred fully to Vigo
. In 2010 the plant's output is concentrated on the company's Platform 3 models, being currently the Peugeot 407
and the Citroën C5
, along with the larger C6
. Preparations are well underway to assemble the forthcoming Peugeot 508
at Rennes, with production commencing on a highly automated production line - eventually at the rate of up to 45 vehicles per hour - after the 2010 summer break. Other reports apparently based on company press releases have suggested a rate of 55 cars per hours for the extensively upgraded new production line.
Of these four elements it is, of course, production that uses most of the space, and the production activities are in turn divided between four sections as follows:
The various parts of the production area are linked by an array of automated conveyors. At the end of the final assembly area the cars are welcomed first to the testing section and then to the dispatch area.
Models principally produced up to the end of 2005 (figures rounded):
based components for the automobile industry. This plant, known as the "Barre Thomas" (plant), is located in an industrial zone (ZI Ouest/Route de Lorient) to the west of Rennes. The plant was sold to an Italian company in 1999, since when its ownership structure has charted a far from simple course: currently "Barre Thomas" is owned by an investment fund called Silver Point. The plant, which dates originally from 1954, still employs more than 1,600 people (2005) and still sends more than 90% of its output to the PSA Rennes-la-Janais plant.
PSA Peugeot Citroën
PSA Peugeot Citroën is a French manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles sold under the Peugeot and Citroën marques. Headquartered in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, PSA is the second largest automaker based in Europe and the number eight in the world.-History:In December 1974 Peugeot S.A....
in 1976 when Peugeot
Peugeot
Peugeot is a major French car brand, part of PSA Peugeot Citroën, the second largest carmaker based in Europe.The family business that precedes the current Peugeot company was founded in 1810, and manufactured coffee mills and bicycles. On 20 November 1858, Emile Peugeot applied for the lion...
took a majority stake in the Citroën
Citroën
Citroën is a major French automobile manufacturer, part of the PSA Peugeot Citroën group.Founded in 1919 by French industrialist André-Gustave Citroën , Citroën was the first mass-production car company outside the USA and pioneered the modern concept of creating a sales and services network that...
company which had built the plant but then (not for the first time) run out of money. The plant is the largest private sector employer in the Rennes
Rennes
Rennes is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France. Rennes is the capital of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department.-History:...
conurbation, with approximately 6,900 people on the payroll in 2009.
Location and site
The plant is located to the south-west of Rennes in the commune of Chartres-de-BretagneChartres-de-Bretagne
Chartres-de-Bretagne is a commune in the Ille-et-Vilaine department of Brittany in north-western France.-Demographics:Inhabitants of Chartres-de-Bretagne are called in French Chartrains.As of the census of 1999, the town had a population of ....
, just beyond the Rennes city limits on a large site at Rennes-la-Janais, across the road from the city's airport.
The completion in 2010 of a €50 million investment in new model
Peugeot 508
The Peugeot 508 is a large family car launched in 2010 by French automaker Peugeot. It replaces the Peugeot 407 as well as the larger Peugeot 607, for which no more direct replacement is scheduled...
production facilities will leave the total covered factory area at 500,000 m².
By 2008 the area under cover had grown to more than 700,000 m², but this was to be reduced in order "to reduce fixed costs and optimize logistical efficiencies". In practice, the site is a large one: where it was cheaper to build a new dedicated assembly hall that to refit an existing one it is likely that some of the older buildings included in the quoted 2008 figure will have been already unused for many years.
Before 1999 the company also owned a plant for the manufacture of rubber components on the city's western (Route de Lorient) Industrial Zone and statistics from that period concerning matters such as employment often aggregate the figures for the two plants together.
History
At the beginning of the 20th century, with France producing more automobiles than any other country,automobile construction was heavily dependent on a handful of traditional craft based skills, and the country's auto-industry, along with most heavy industry in France, was heavily concentrated in the Paris region. Having grown prosperous as a munitions producer during the war, when automobile pioneer André Citroën
André Citroën
André-Gustave Citroën was a French industrialist. He is remembered chiefly for the make of car named after him, but also for his application of double helical gears.- Life and career :...
was ready to start his own manufacturing business, applying revolutionary production techniques
Assembly line
An assembly line is a manufacturing process in which parts are added to a product in a sequential manner using optimally planned logistics to create a finished product much faster than with handcrafting-type methods...
which he had seen in development at Ford's
Henry Ford
Henry Ford was an American industrialist, the founder of the Ford Motor Company, and sponsor of the development of the assembly line technique of mass production. His introduction of the Model T automobile revolutionized transportation and American industry...
Detroit plant, the obvious place to base a new auto-business in France was Paris, which is where Citroën's car factory was established in 1919.
Forty years later, the production techniques pioneered by Citroën had permitted the auto-industry to become one of the most important sectors in the industrialising economy, and auto-production had become massively labour intensive. The artisanal skills of the Paris carriage maker were no longer of much relevance, however. Commercial success for the 2CV
Citroën 2CV
The Citroën 2CV |tax horsepower]]”) was an economy car produced by the French automaker Citroën between 1948 and 1990. It was technologically advanced and innovative, but with uncompromisingly utilitarian unconventional looks, and deceptively simple Bauhaus inspired bodywork, that belied the sheer...
and (more recently) DS
Citroën DS
The Citroën DS is an executive car produced by the French manufacturer Citroën between 1955 and 1975. Styled by Italian sculptor and industrial designer Flaminio Bertoni and the French aeronautical engineer André Lefèbvre, the DS was known for its aerodynamic futuristic body design and innovative...
models left Citroën desperately short of production capacity in their cramped Paris site, and the decision was taken to build a new greenfield plant
Greenfield land
Greenfield land is a term used to describe undeveloped land in a city or rural area either used for agriculture, landscape design, or left to naturally evolve...
. The Rennes
Rennes
Rennes is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France. Rennes is the capital of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department.-History:...
location was chosen in 1958 on account of its abundant supply of available labour and the low wages in an area where the economy was heavily dependent on the primary sector. Farming in the 1950s was beginning to shed labour fast as more and more agricultural tasks were transferred from men and women to machines. Citroën's decision to build their new plant on a Greenfield site in an area still dominated by agriculture mirrored auto-industry developments taking place at this time in Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
and several adjacent states in the USA.
The Rennes-la-Janais plant was opened in 1961 in a ceremony adorned by the dominating presence of the president
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....
. Citroën products featured prominently in the presidential cortege, but the first cars produced at the Rennes plant were small Ami 6
Citroën Ami
The Citroën Ami is a supermini produced by the French automaker Citroën from 1961 to 1978. The Ami and stablemate Citroën Dyane were replaced by the Citroën Visa and Citroën Axel . The Ami was for some years the best-selling car model in France...
models rather than the DS favoured for presidential use. The Ami continued in production for ten years, till 1971, having in 1967 been joined on the production line by the Dyane
Citroën Dyane
The Citroën Dyane is an economy car/supermini produced by the French automaker Citroën from 1967 to 1983. Based on the Citroën 2CV, 1,444,583 examples were manufactured...
and in 1970 by the GS
Citroën GS
The Citroën GS and Citroën GSA are small family cars produced by the French automaker Citroën. The GS was voted European Car of the Year for 1971, and was probably the most technologically advanced car in its class when launched, with class leading comfort, safety and aerodynamics.-Market...
which launched Citroen into the middle market sector. It was the medium sized cars which would henceforth dominate the production lines at Rennes while almost all of the old 2 CVs continued to be produced at the company's Paris plant until the late 1980s after which that model's final years' production were increasingly concentrated on a small plant in Portugal.
In the 1980s, with Citroën's finances subjected by its new owners to a more rigorous cost control régime, financial stability returned. Investment was applied judiciously, however, and employment at the plant peaked at around 14,000 in the 1980s. This was also a period during which the company's Vigo
Vigo PSA Factory
In 1958 Citroën, responding to the high tariff barriers that protected Spain's domestic auto-makers, established a car plant in Galicia. Today the Peugeot - Citroën car plant at Vigo is the largest employer in the region, with 9,700 on the payroll in 2007...
plant in north-west Spain was beginning to move away from exclusive concentration on small cars, reflecting rapidly rising incomes in Spain. This meant that during the 1990s the two plants would find themselves in increasingly direct competition to build the same cars, with the costs of France's generous social benefits, funded by employment taxes, leaving the Rennes plant looking in some respects expensive. One response, as in much of France's manufacturing industry, was increased dependence on new industrial robots for many routine assembly-line tasks. By the first decade of 21st century nevertheless Vigo was producing more cars than Rennes, and the Rennes plant's labour force had more than halved, to approximately 6,900 in 2009.
In 2004, after 42 years, the plant produced its ten millionth car. 2004 was also the year when, for the first time, the company produced a Peugeot badged vehicle, the 407
Peugeot 407
The Peugeot 407 was a large family car produced by the French automaker Peugeot from 2004 to 2010. It is available in saloon, coupé and estate variants, with both Diesel and petrol engines...
at the Rennes plant, joined in 2009 by the slow selling (and soon to be discontinued) 607
Peugeot 607
The Peugeot 607 was an executive car produced by the French automaker Peugeot from September 1999 to June 2010.The 607, along with the smaller 407, was superseded by the 508 in early 2011.-History:...
. The Peugeot 407
Peugeot 407
The Peugeot 407 was a large family car produced by the French automaker Peugeot from 2004 to 2010. It is available in saloon, coupé and estate variants, with both Diesel and petrol engines...
sold very strongly for several years, although demand tailed off quite sharply in 2008 and 2009: both the sales success of this important model, and its more recent decline, have been closely reflected in the level of activity at the plant in recent years.
In 2009 production of the Xsara Picasso
Citroën Xsara Picasso
The Citroën Xsara Picasso is a compact MPV released by Citroën in 1999. At the time of its release, two trim levels were available, LX and SX, with a choice of three engines two 1.6 and 1.8 litre petrols, and a 2.0 Litre HDI engine, all shared with the smaller Citroën Xsara. The Executive trim...
, hitherto shared between Spain and France, transferred fully to Vigo
Vigo PSA Factory
In 1958 Citroën, responding to the high tariff barriers that protected Spain's domestic auto-makers, established a car plant in Galicia. Today the Peugeot - Citroën car plant at Vigo is the largest employer in the region, with 9,700 on the payroll in 2007...
. In 2010 the plant's output is concentrated on the company's Platform 3 models, being currently the Peugeot 407
Peugeot 407
The Peugeot 407 was a large family car produced by the French automaker Peugeot from 2004 to 2010. It is available in saloon, coupé and estate variants, with both Diesel and petrol engines...
and the Citroën C5
Citroën C5
The Citroën C5 is a large family car produced by the French manufacturer Citroën since early 2001. The C5 replaced the Citroën Xantia in the large family car class.-First generation :...
, along with the larger C6
Citroën C6
The Citroën C6 is an executive car produced by the French luxury marque Citroën since 2005.-Overview:Inspired by the C6 Lignage prototype which was first shown at the Geneva Motor Show in the spring of 1999, but differs from the concept car's styling in minor details...
. Preparations are well underway to assemble the forthcoming Peugeot 508
Peugeot 508
The Peugeot 508 is a large family car launched in 2010 by French automaker Peugeot. It replaces the Peugeot 407 as well as the larger Peugeot 607, for which no more direct replacement is scheduled...
at Rennes, with production commencing on a highly automated production line - eventually at the rate of up to 45 vehicles per hour - after the 2010 summer break. Other reports apparently based on company press releases have suggested a rate of 55 cars per hours for the extensively upgraded new production line.
Site layout
The site can be divided into four zones, covering respectively administration, logistics (with general support), quality and production.Of these four elements it is, of course, production that uses most of the space, and the production activities are in turn divided between four sections as follows:
- • Stamping: Then principal metal components of the body and chassis are stamped into shape using heavy (and noisy) hydraulic presses.
- • Body shop: The panels are welded together using robotic welding machines, and emerge as recognisable car bodies.
- • Paint shop: The painting process, which is also highly automated, involves immersion of each car body in a succession of basins with the final coats being robotically spray painted.
- • Final assembly: Engines and other sub-assemblies from other PSA plants are fitted to the painted bodies along with smaller more specialist component many of them sourced from third party suppliers. It is the coordination of all these elements that forms a major portion of the company's logistics activity.
The various parts of the production area are linked by an array of automated conveyors. At the end of the final assembly area the cars are welcomed first to the testing section and then to the dispatch area.
More statistics
- The site covers 240 hectares.
- The site contains 80 buildings.
- More than 300,000 vehicles are produced at the plant annually. The plant is claimed to have an annual capacity of 400,000 though annual output has never exceeded 350,000.
Models principally produced up to the end of 2005 (figures rounded):
- BXCitroën BXThe Citroën BX is a large family car that was produced by the French manufacturer Citroën from 1982 to 1994. In total, 2,315,739 BXs were built during its 12-year history. The hatchback was discontinued in 1993 with the arrival of the Xantia, but the estate continued for another year.-History:The...
(2,000,000) - GSCitroën GSThe Citroën GS and Citroën GSA are small family cars produced by the French automaker Citroën. The GS was voted European Car of the Year for 1971, and was probably the most technologically advanced car in its class when launched, with class leading comfort, safety and aerodynamics.-Market...
(1,980,000) - Ami 6Citroën AmiThe Citroën Ami is a supermini produced by the French automaker Citroën from 1961 to 1978. The Ami and stablemate Citroën Dyane were replaced by the Citroën Visa and Citroën Axel . The Ami was for some years the best-selling car model in France...
(1,500,000) - XantiaCitroën XantiaThe Citroën Xantia, pronounced 'Zan-tia' is a large family car produced by the French automaker Citroën. First seen at the end of 1992, the car was produced between 1993 and 2001, with a facelift in 1998. Citroën sold over 1.2 million Xantias during its 8 years of production...
(1,000,000) - XsaraCitroën XsaraThe Citroën Xsara is a small family car produced by French automaker Citroën from 1997 to 2006.Like its predecessor, the Citroën ZX, the Xsara shares running gear with the Peugeot 306....
(921,000) - C5Citroën C5The Citroën C5 is a large family car produced by the French manufacturer Citroën since early 2001. The C5 replaced the Citroën Xantia in the large family car class.-First generation :...
(750,000) - AXCitroën AXThe Citroën AX is a supermini built by the French manufacturer Citroën from 1986 to 1998. The AX was launched at the 1986 Paris Motor Show to replace the Citroën Visa and Citroën LNA.-Overview:...
(600,000) - VisaCitroën VisaThe Citroën Visa is a supermini that was produced by the French car marque Citroën from 1978 to 1988.-Development History:The Citroën Prototype Y to replace the 2CV based Citroën Ami that dated back to 1960 in the early seventies, was originally developed in co-operation with Fiat...
(561,000) - Peugeot 407Peugeot 407The Peugeot 407 was a large family car produced by the French automaker Peugeot from 2004 to 2010. It is available in saloon, coupé and estate variants, with both Diesel and petrol engines...
(500,000) - DyaneCitroën DyaneThe Citroën Dyane is an economy car/supermini produced by the French automaker Citroën from 1967 to 1983. Based on the Citroën 2CV, 1,444,583 examples were manufactured...
(373,000) - XMCitroën XMThe Citroën XM is an executive car that was produced by the French automaker Citroën between 1989 and 2000. Citroën sold 333,775 XMs during the model's 11 years of production...
(302,000) - ZXCitroën ZXThe Citroën ZX is a small family car produced by the French manufacturer Citroën between 1991 and 1998.During the 1990s, the ZX was Citroën's competitor in the class traditionally dominated in Europe by the Ford Escort and Vauxhall/Opel Astra, a market segment Citroën had moved away from when the...
(135,000) - MéhariCitroën MéhariThe Citroën Méhari is a utility car and off-roader produced by the French automaker Citroën. 144,953 Méharis were built between 1968 and 1988. A Méhari is a type of fast-running dromedary camel, which can be used for racing or transport...
(10,000) - 2CVCitroën 2CVThe Citroën 2CV |tax horsepower]]”) was an economy car produced by the French automaker Citroën between 1948 and 1990. It was technologically advanced and innovative, but with uncompromisingly utilitarian unconventional looks, and deceptively simple Bauhaus inspired bodywork, that belied the sheer...
(10,000)
The Barre Thomas Plant
Prior to 1999 the PSA group owned a second plant at Rennes dedicated to the production of rubberRubber
Natural rubber, also called India rubber or caoutchouc, is an elastomer that was originally derived from latex, a milky colloid produced by some plants. The plants would be ‘tapped’, that is, an incision made into the bark of the tree and the sticky, milk colored latex sap collected and refined...
based components for the automobile industry. This plant, known as the "Barre Thomas" (plant), is located in an industrial zone (ZI Ouest/Route de Lorient) to the west of Rennes. The plant was sold to an Italian company in 1999, since when its ownership structure has charted a far from simple course: currently "Barre Thomas" is owned by an investment fund called Silver Point. The plant, which dates originally from 1954, still employs more than 1,600 people (2005) and still sends more than 90% of its output to the PSA Rennes-la-Janais plant.