CFT Industrie

CFT Industrie, a small company (17 employees) which belongs to the HTML holding, specialises in wire and tube bending. The key to success, as CFT Industrie’s CEO Antoine Honoré explains, lies in « Well trained and well paid employees using the right tools ». Various progress approaches were implemented to achieve this success: ISO9001:2000 certification, application of the 5S methodology, acquisition of a welding robot for faster and better manufacturing of medical carts and support baskets for Honda lawnmower grass bags. 

CFT Industrie was informed of the Robot Start PME programme by Yaskawa, the manufacturer of the 7-axis Motoman robot. « With this programme, we have been able to switch from the idea to manufacturing, with the assistance of Philippe Levesque, an RSPME expert », adds Antoine Honoré. 

The acquisition of the robot was finalised in May 2014, for an investment of 163 000 euros, of which 10% were funded by the Robot Start PME programme. This operation was carried out simultaneously with a Lean project. 

The welding robot was installed with two loaders on both sides of the robot to optimise concurrent operation times. The robot welds while the operator loads the next part to be welded. In the end, as Antoine Honoré asserts, « productivity resulted improved by a factor of four ». The robot is controlled by a single operator and can weld up to 30 baskets per hour, instead of 25 baskets with manual welding performed by two welders. « We now work in a cooler way, our lead times are more reliable and the tasks are less laborious », continues Antoine Honoré. Finally, the company explored and won new markets in the medical, building construction and office furniture sectors. 

And Antoine Honoré to add: « With this robot, we shifted gear. Until then, we were a small "artisanal" company, now we have jumped into the industrial era! ».