A few months ago, we were proud to announce that MILC was one of the laureates of the first call for proposals “Bicycle Industry” led by the ADEME, as part of the France 2030 project, among 27 other companies.
Thomas Lecompte further exchanges views on this project on the set of the programme ‘Focus on the bicycle industry: local ecosystem and regional expertise’ at the SIANE 2025 industry trade fair in October 2025.
And what exactly is this project?
This call for proposals reflects Milc’s commitment, upheld since 2013, to relocate production to France. To achieve this, MILC intends to move from the scale of a prototype developer to a full-scale industrial manufacturer. A project that addresses the challenge of reindustrialisation by investing in production facilities and in the skills rooted in our region, in Occitania.
Thanks to this call for proposals, we have already invested in our manufacturing facility, such as the improvement of our manufacturing process for tubular frames :
- the robotisation of welding,
- the preparation of parts before welding.
This first step will be followed by a second phase next year with the productive integration:
- the integration of tube processing and shaping upstream to create the frames of the various light-mobility vehicles that we produce.
A project that reflects Fler Group’s purpose
This call for proposals strengthens Fler Group’s position within the industry and ecosystem in its dedication to support brands with services ranging from shaping the initial concept (through Antidote Solutions design office) to delivering finished, ready-to-sell products (through MILC factory, at the foot of the Pyrenees). Thomas is sure that the expertise in our region can compete with Asian countries on supply times, especially given the current geopolitical situation.
We were delighted to meet and exchange on this subject with Alain Segura (co-founder and general manager of REF Bikes) and Thomas Couach (sales manager at ST COMPOSITES), two follow winners of this call for proposals.