The archive · Work & Ways of Doing · Operational decision · 1983–2009
FAVI's liberated foundry: trust instead of time clocks
A French foundry ran on trust: no time clocks, no managers; orders +30%, 30 years without a late delivery.
FAVI (Fonderie et Ateliers du Vimeu)
What it had to solve
In the early 1980s FAVI, a small brass foundry in Hallencourt supplying gearbox parts to carmakers, ran the classic control way: time clocks, several layers of 'petits chefs', bonuses and an HR department.
How it works
FAVI (Fonderie et Ateliers du Vimeu), a brass foundry in Hallencourt, northern France, supplied forged gearbox parts to the car industry. In the early 1980s it ran the Taylorist way: time clocks, layer upon layer of 'petits chefs', a bonus system, an HR department — a plant where workers punched in for a superior who relayed orders from above.
Jean-François Zobrist took charge in 1983. He spent four months walking the shop floor watching, then acted: bonuses, HR and middle managers were suppressed, the time clocks came out with a crowbar, and work was reorganized into client-based 'mini-usines' — a Ford plant, a Peugeot plant — whose teams co-opt their own leaders. Every employee works for the customer, not for a boss.
The results were measurable: orders jumped 30%, headcount grew to about 600, and for 30 years FAVI did not deliver a single order late. Zobrist's summary was 'no performance without happiness, and no happiness without responsibility.' By 2015 the foundry was celebrated as the reference case of 'l'entreprise libérée' (the liberated company): Zobrist opened a Lille forum on the concept that spring, telling companies the approach 'is not a fad.'
Why it lands
- The crowbar outweighed any memo: destroying the time clocks proved the boss was serious, so employees actually believed the new rules.
- Customer-based mini-factories give every worker a direct line of sight to the client; quality stops being the inspector's job and becomes everyone's.
- Co-opting leaders means authority comes from the team, so leadership is earned rather than appointed — workers get leaders they actually follow.
- Removing bonuses and middle managers cut overhead and conflict at once; only roles that created value for the customer survived.
What it did
Orders jumped 30%, headcount grew to about 600, and for 30 years the factory never delivered an order late. Zobrist's formula: 'no performance without happiness, no happiness without responsibility.' FAVI became the reference case of France's 'entreprise libérée' movement.
What you can take
Hierarchy is habit, not necessity: strip out roles that don't create value for the customer and let teams self-organize; trusted people outperform people controlled by clocks and supervisors.
Since then
Zobrist handed over leadership by the late 2000s, but the model kept spreading: a 2015 Lille forum on the liberated company treated FAVI as the national reference, and Zobrist kept insisting the approach 'is not a fad.' The foundry still runs in Hallencourt, grown to around 600 people organized into self-governing workshops.
Sources
- L'entreprise sans hiérarchie, ça marche !
- Jean-François Zobrist : «l'entreprise libérée n'est pas une mode»
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