INNOVATIONS They manufacture, invent and export “made in France”. Overview of these SMEs and
PMI that "La Tribune" has just rewarded, in Nice, at the Grands Prix de l'industrie du futur.
For the second consecutive year, the Grands Prix de l'industrie du futur organized in Nice, highlight
light of know-how, expertise and often tortuous but ultimately always happy paths.
A jury made up of experts and industrialists decided between the candidates selected by the editorial staff of "La
Grandstand”. Among the fifteen companies selected, five were rewarded in different categories.
Here is the presentation of the winners.
Industry and Environment Award
La Compagnie du Midi rehabilitates organic washing
Location: Carros - Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
Sector of activity: manufacture of ecological products for home maintenance and personal hygiene
Manager: Guillaume Fievet
Staff: 65
Turnover: €25 million
Based in Carros, the SME employs a total of 65 people in two establishments: La Compagnie du Midi
(14.50 million euros turnover)
- specialized in the production and marketing of wiping products distributed in large
surfaces
- and La Savonnerie du Midi (8.50 million euros turnover), born in 1894 and which today constitutes one of the
last traditional soap factories in Marseille.
The Compagnie du Midi is divided into different brands. For soaps and cosmetics
organic and natural, we find the items Maître Savon, Maître Augustin, La Corvette and Oriental Care. While
that La Nénette, La Droguerie d'Amélie and Le Chêne & Le Roseau constitute the line of cleaning products
organic and eco-designed. Le Comptoir de Manon products - beauty and home - are available for sale at
residence.
In addition, 55% of the products made on the Provençal site are certified organic, whereas this type of
production was non-existent in 2013. An investment of €1.70 million was injected in order to reintroduce the
organic ancestral method, in a cauldron.
It is also on this site that an important work has been carried out in order to move the brands upmarket.
Maître Augustin (body hygiene), Maître Savon de Marseille (cleaning products) and La Corvette (circuit
organic). The latter two now represent 20 to 25% of its monthly export turnover,
covering some twenty countries, compared to three just six years ago. At the same time, in 2017 the SME launched La Droguerie d'Amélie, a brand of ecological cleaning products for the home, distributed in large
surfaces.
In 2012, La Compagnie du Midi relaunched La Veritable Nénette, a cotton dust swallower printed with a
absorbent and polishing liquid, washable and therefore reusable at will. Born in Lyon in 1947, this polisher has known
its heyday in the 1960s and 1970s before the democratization of car washes
automatic gradually pushes it into oblivion. ¦
The other candidates:
Safra Originally from Occitanie, the SME specializing in automobile repair employs 220 people. The company
launched Businova, a range of city buses, available in several engines: hybrid electric
rechargeable, 100% electric slow-charging or fast-charging, hydrogen engine. Safra makes a
turnover of 28.30 million euros and claims to be the leading manufacturer of hydrogen buses in
France. It equips the Artois-Gohelle conurbation (Pas-de-Calais).
Posson Packaging Based in Pays de la Loire, this company designs and manufactures cardboard packaging
compact and wavy. It avoids bankruptcy by turning to eco-design in 1995. Its customers come from
food, parapharmacy and industry. It generates a turnover of 28 million euros.
Industry 4.0 Award
EMS Proto: electronic boards in the blink of an eye
Created in 2015
Location: Martillac - New Aquitaine
Sector of activity: manufacture of electronic board prototypes
Directors: Pierre-Yves Sempère -Damien Michaud
Staff: 30
Turnover: €1.60 million
Both engineers, Pierre-Yves Sempère and Damien Michaud created EMS Proto when they were still
in office. The first is at the head of his own design office, while the second works within a
large industrial group. This is to respond to a problem of excessively long lead times and excessively high costs
during the production of electronic cards - in the prototyping phase and not the industrialization phase - that the duo
creates its own structure. Anxious to respond to this well-identified lack among manufacturers, EMS Proto
shortens the deadlines to 72 hours maximum, against 20 days usually. It is this feature that makes
small business success quickly. Especially since it combines this idea with a web platform, which
allows customers to indicate the technical constraints and quantify the cost of making a card
electronic. A service particularly appreciated by engineers. In 2018, Pierre-Yves' company
Sempère and Damien Michaud is already on the right track: EMS Proto shows 77% growth. And for
cope with this increase in activity, it is a brand new production site which welcomes the small
business. This one also multiplies its production surface by 7. What to accompany the
development of the company which, anxious to remain in a good dynamic and in order to continue to be
efficient, is planning a new version of its platform. EMS Proto R&D team is working on it
currently.
Already 20% export-oriented, the SME intends to continue its growth through
the internationalization of its market, and particularly the European continent.
The other candidates:
Biotech Dental The company, born in 1987 in Salon-de-Provence, specializes in dental implants
personalized thanks to additive manufacturing. To grow, the company founded and managed by Philippe
Véran is investing 15 million euros in a new production site in Salon-de-Provence. This real
factory 4.0 employs 619 people for a turnover of 73 million euros.
Baud Industries The family bar turning company from Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes created the program
Usitronic, in which it has invested 1 million euros. This brings together production machines and
control. Baud Industrie employs 500 people and posted, in 2018, a turnover of 96 million
euros.
Price of the industrial nugget

Daan Technologies will make you love its dishwasher
Created in 2016
Location: Montreuil - Ile-de-France
Sector of activity: design and production of household appliances
Manager: Damien Py
Staff: 10
Turnover: NC
It measures 47 cm in height and depth, 33 cm in width and weighs 10 kg. Its slogan is also playful
speaking: "With Bob, throw in the towel". Any reference to the cartoon character is not
obviously not accidental.
Bob was born from the mind of Damian Py, originally from Vaucluse, and his partner, Antoine Fichet. But Bob the
dishwasher came up against the fact that dishwashers are no longer manufactured in France.
Nevertheless, in January 2018, the two entrepreneurs approached S20Industries, on the former site of
Fagor-Brandt, in Vendée, and benefit from the expertise of the dishwasher expert during a
half day per week. Because the duo has a specific idea: “to make a premium product that is affordable”
but also made in France. Aini, S20 Industries is in charge of assembly and plastic injection,
the electronics also come from a Vendée subcontractor, while the tank comes from
Rhône-Alpes. In addition to its French manufacture, Bob was designed to be repairable after ten years
of use.
The closure of S20 Industries last May could have destabilized or even stopped Daan's adventure
Technologies. On the contrary, this turnaround confirms the young company in its desire to
control the whole chain. Since then, it has therefore taken over part of the staff, including a manager
technician and two engineers with twenty years of experience in the manufacture of dishwashers. Yes
this closure postpones the production of the 6,300 orders received by a few months, it allows the
startup to own its own factory in Vendée. This decision places Daan Technologies in a
well-structured ecosystem. ¦
The other candidates:
Francofil Created almost three years ago in Normandy, it specializes in the production of filaments
for 3D printing. A market that is already very competitive but in which the Norman VSE is positioned with
a differentiation. She chose to produce filament with PLA, a plastic made from corn starch,
enriched with upgraded co-products such as scallops, wheat, catering coffee and cocoa.
Tibot Technologies Originally from Rennes and born in 2016, she designed Spoutnic, an assistance robot
autonomous for poultry farms. Its mission is to educate the hens to go to the nest. This process
makes it possible to reduce the rate of laying on the ground, in order to avoid a loss of exploitation and the difficulty of collection
eggs. The company now employs seven people.
Cottage Industry Award
Maison Dumée, the innovative miller
Created in 1960
Location: Gron - Burgundy Franche-Comté
Sector of activity: manufacture of flour for the bakery
Manager: Hervé de Romémont, CEO
Staff: 70
Turnover: €32 million
The know-how has been passed down from father to son - and even beyond - since 1703. Today, the Dumée house
claims the title of the most modern mill in France. In 1960, the company headed by Roger Dumée
passes into the hands of his son Gérard. New evolution in the organization of the SME, in 1998. Hervé
de Romémont, Gérard's son-in-law, becomes chairman of the board.

The practice of the miller trade will then evolve within the family business. In order to respond to a
growing demand, the SME will combine its three production sites into one, in Gron (Yonne), in
2015. An investment of 25 million euros has been devoted to this new, high-performance tool in terms of
automation and computerization. This financing will then boost production, which increases by 200%.
The permitted capacity also increases by 25%. At the same time, a new process allowing
mixing up to ten varieties of wheat is also developed.
To promote its products, the company even created its own brand - Blonde de Pain - visible via
communication media made available to bakeries wishing to highlight this news
range.
Moulins Dumée products consist of bread-making flours, compound flours, organic flours
as well as pastry flours. A new product is created every year in order to always create
consumer appetite.
Attached to tradition, the SME trains in its own bakery and has also joined the GIE Culture raisonnée
controlled (CRC). Moulins Dumée is also expanding internationally, exporting its flour to West Africa
the West, in sub-Saharan Africa as well as in Madagascar.
The other candidates:
La Compagnie Dumas Born in 1880 and originally from Paris, the company specializes in the manufacture
small bedding items. Its production workshops are located in Bourgogne Franche-Comté. In 2000,
it is developing a patented process called GSD.
This innovation consists in adding an inner lining, treated against dust mites and bacteria, in order to
to guarantee total safety and harmlessness to the consumer.
Tartière & Fils Established in New Aquitaine and born in 1965, it is managed by Stéphane Tartière,
representative of the third generation of the family business. Initially a user of large timber, it produces
now pallets made from small wood. Its customers are manufacturers who use pallets for
their productions. The company supplies factories in France, but also in Italy and Switzerland.
International Industry Award
Nutriset fights against malnutrition
Created in 1986
Location: Malaunay - Normandy
Sector of activity: manufacture of food supplements for humanitarian purposes
Directors: Michel Lescanne, President - Adeline Lescanne-Gautier (CEO)
Workforce: 207
Turnover: €115 million
Michel Lescanne creates his company with the objective of feeding children in the countries of the South, but
also to provide humanitarian actors with innovative and effective nutritional products. In 1993, he put
point two therapeutic milks and rehydration salts. It is thanks to the partnership with the Institute of
research for development (IRD), that it is developing a ready-to-use nutritious paste, called
Plumpy'Nut. The company set up its production site in 2001 in Normandy.
In 2005, a new stage in the development of the company which contributes to the creation of the network
PlumpyField. This unifies the countries of the South distributing Nutriset products. The goal is not only to
distribute the goods of the French company, but also to contribute to the local development of
agricultural and agro-industrial sectors, in order to contribute to the fight against malnutrition. Since then, the range
Plumpy developed with Plumpy'Sup and Plumpy'Doz. In total, Nutriset has different families
products concerning severe, moderate and chronic acute malnutrition, in prevention... but also the
nutritional support, water treatment or rehydration. The company is also developing a
important component of research and development, via Tweed, a research center in science of
food, inaugurated in 2014. Its missions are to acquire new knowledge and know-how in
food sciences, developing products based on plant materials available in the countries of the
South, and finally transfer - to industrial partners in these countries - know-how on these new
products. Nutriset's customers today are Unicef, the World Food Program (UN), the
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The company also collaborates with the NGOs Médecins sans frontières,
Action Against Hunger or Save the Children.

The other winners:
Argeville Specializing in perfumes, food flavorings and natural ingredients, it is based in
Sophia-Antipolis. She quickly turned to international markets, particularly in the Middle East and South Asia.
South East. The group (250 employees, 65 million euros in turnover), has offices in Colombia and
in China, a creative center in Dubai and has just inaugurated a new factory in Bangkok.
Wirquin The name of this company is synonymous with the push button that activates the flush or the drain
which opens and closes by simple pressure. Based in Pays de la Loire, it is notably present in
Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, Italy, the United Kingdom, Romania and China. through ten
subsidiaries and six production sites, Wirquin sells its goods in 60 countries.