Bar turning: the challenges of the Arve valley

Here too, a river runs through the middle: the Arve gives its name to the valley between Chamonix and Bonneville, before flowing into the Rhône at Geneva. In this highly urbanized territory, the river is bordered by the “white highway” (the one that leads to the ski resorts), itself bordered by many factories. Haute-Savoie is strongly marked by industry – its weight there is more than double the national average – and the bar turning sector represents 20% of the department’s GDP. 70% of French bar turning companies are located in Haute-Savoie, mainly in the Arve valley (350 of the 635 companies in the sector nationally).

A specificity of this territory dating back to the XVIII^e century, where mechanical parts were made for the neighboring Geneva watch industry. The local industry was then structured before mutating during the First World War in order to supply parts for armaments.