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Climbing high up the ladder
FOURNIER-DAFORIB, FRANCE, provides proof that even for a product as age-old as the wooden ladder, innovation plays a major role in competitive advantage. Moreover, the French family business demonstrates that intellectual property is an asset for an SME intent on innovation.
André Fournier, Fournier-Daforib: "To perpetuate their business activity, SMEs must be continuously creative. Therefore, patent protection is vital!"
The Fournier concern is a family business, established in 1945, supplying height access equipment. This limited liability partnership manufactures wooden ladders and also perates as a dealer, selling other equipment such as aluminium ladders, maintenance platforms and swinging scaffolds.
Quality and flexibility for safety
The wooden ladders are made in the 10 000 m2 of workshops located in Haubourdin, but since the company also deals in metal ladders it is able to respond to all types of demand. The customer base is very diverse, ranging from private individuals to large company structures. Fournier is notably the French National Railways S.N.C.F's main ladder supplier (ladders for catenary system maintenance). And both the French Electricity Board E.D.F. and Décathlon (for wall bars) also figure among its customers. These companies serve to vouch for the seriousness of the company as well as accounting for a significant proportion of sales, thereby enabling the company to finance its innovation developments.
Quality and flexibility are the key success factors in the height access equipment field, not forgetting safety, of course. This constant preoccupation with user safety issues is what in fact gradually led Mr André Fournier, owner-manager of the company, to seek to diversify his activities. In setting up the company Daforib in 1981, he started developing safety equipment for public works and civil engineering sectors, such as permanent facade or roof anchorage systems, and collective and/or individual protective equipment.
In focusing on innovation, Fournier and Daforib revive and adapt such age-old established products as wooden ladders to the developing needs of their customers: contact with the customer, for example with the companies working on power grids, represents a critical source in the innovation process.
The small size of the two companies, comprising around twenty people in total, enables maximum reactivity. For one of its products developed in 2005, the lead time between design and availability was trimmed to 6 months. This ability to react means a permanent flow of new products can be maintained, such as the “Haiechelle” (the “HedgeLadder” – garden ladders equipped with a stabilising system for hedge cutting), the Securitub (a permanent anchorage system enabling, for example, facade cleaning cradles to be secured), etc.
The company, which has won several innovation awards, publicises its products by regularly taking part in trade fairs, thereby enabling it to develop its customer contacts. It focuses on presenting its products in a specific visual environment, hence enhancing its visibility. For exhibitions devoted to gardening, for example, it stage sets the central character of “André the Gardener”.
Mr Fournier is also involved in numerous trade federations, such as the Timber Industries Union, and regulatory bodies responsible for security standards such as the Security Commission for the National Sickness Insurance Fund. This enables Mr Fournier to play an informative and advisory role in his dealings with decision makers (site managers, architects) and his customers.
By adhering to ISO 2002 specifications and receiving the stamp of approval from his large customers on specific safety systems, the company has built up its credibility level and is able to prospect for new markets abroad
Finding the right support
For André Fournier, investment in innovation is a must, while at the same time finding the right balance between improving age-old techniques (wooden ladders) and developing new products (particularly the systems developed within Daforib). Intellectual property naturally figures as a vital factor for the development of both companies.
The IP portfolio of the two companies consists of a dozen or so patents, including European patents, together with about fifteen trademarks (both French and international) as well as ladder designs.
For Mr Fournier, when one is an entrepreneur, it is essential to be able to clearly identify one’s skill-base and to find the right support for those skills one does not have in-house. In this way, while Mr Fournier is the principal inventor, the whole of the intellectual property function is outsourced to an IP attorney who takes charge of drafting the patent applications, all the procedural follow-up and, should there be any disputes, all the legal action.
Up to now, the company has not encountered any problems in relation to patent counterfeiting, only relating to trademarks and corporate name. In seeking to obtain industrial protection, the main difficulty, according to Mr Fournier, is the very short time period allowed for evaluating the protection decision.
It can be seen for Fournier and Daforib that not only do patents serve to protect the commercialisation of their products, they also facilitate official approval agreements for customers such as S.N.C.F. They also represent a source of revenue when they can be assigned.
Training in industrial creativity required
Creativity and innovation are a critical factor in the development and continuity of a company's business activities: they enable the regeneration of product life-cycles and act is an important vector in the company’s communication strategy.
In this innovation process, it is essential to clearly define the scope of one’s know-how and to be able to enlist the appropriate skills from outside the business for everything one cannot perform in-house.
According to André Fournier, the main problem encountered in France resides more in the system of innovation than in the intellectual property system itself: in his view, companies are lacking in training on the issues and use of industrial creativity. A lot more effort needs to be devoted to the learning curve in this field, in terms of public authority aid, because this is the very core of corporate dynamics.
The Haiechelle safety ladder is designed for work in parks and gardens. It is remarkably stable and
cannot fall over. The weight of the user remains within the support base.
Product information
Fournier and Daforib manufacture wooden ladders and supply aluminium
ladders, focusing on innovative safety and stabilising solutions for ladders used in catenary
system maintenance, working on power grids and in gardening, such as ladders for hedge cutting. They also produce collective and individual protective equipment, as well as systems for maintenance platforms, swinging scaffolds and permanent anchorage of facade or roof cleaning cradles.
Company profile
The family business Fournier specialises in innovative and safe height access equipment for private individuals and large companies. Established in 1945, it is managed by its owner-manager, Mr André Fournier, who set up Daforib in 1981 to concentrate on safety equipment for public works and civil engineering sectors
Staff: 16 staff work for Fournier, 5 for Daforib
Key product: Safe height access equipment (wooden ladders for maintenance of power grids, for the garden, retailing aluminium ladders and other goods). Safety equipment for public works and civil engineering sectors (permanent roof anchorage systems, swinging scaffolds)
Customers: Fournier’s customers range from private individuals to large public companies. Daforib focuses more on the public works and civil engineering sector and the building maintenance market
Fournier-Daforib
22 rue du Général DAME BP 104
59 482 Haubourdin Cedex Lille
France
www.fourniersecurite.com
IP background
Patent protection: Around 10 national patents, some of which are European patents.
Patent filing order: European and PCT applications are filed on the basis of national applications. One Eurodirect application.
IP Department: Uses an IP attorney.
Success factors: Quality (flexibility, after-sales service), safety (innovation and official approval) and communication.
Recommendations: Develop corporate awareness of the issues at stake in innovation.
Contact
European Patent Office
Erhardtstr. 27, 80469 Munich, Germany
Tel.: +49 89 2399 4636
e-mail: sme@epo.org
www.epo.org
Institut National de la Propriété Industrielle
Observatoire de la Propriété Intellectuelle
97, Boulevard Carnot, 59 040 Lille Cedex, France
Tel.: +33 328 363372/69
e-mail: observatoire@inpi.fr
www.inpi.fr