Ergosanté, the company that takes care of employees at work
From custom-made office chairs to exoskeletons, the Gard-based company manufactures equipment that takes care of employees at work. The company is experiencing strong growth and has solid social and environmental commitments. The Ergosanté building, a large cube at the end of the Anduze business park (Gard), does not attract much attention. However, the SME, with its 200 employees, half of whom work on the site at the gateway to the Cevennes, has enough to make the CSR managers of the CAC 40 envious. Founded ten years ago, Ergosanté, which employs 80% of disabled workers, first manufactures office chairs adapted to employees who themselves suffer from disabilities or are victims of too many hours of sitting. With 13,000 chairs a year, this industrial craftsman does not intend to compete with products made in China. Ergosanté focuses on high-end ergonomics and custom-made products. This individual adaptation is essential," explains Samuel Corgne, 39, founder of the company. Until now, occupational physicians have made recommendations for maintaining employment and improving working conditions, but this has been done in a vacuum, due to a lack of structured offers. It's as if general practitioners were writing prescriptions for the flu, but there was no pharmacy for the drugs." The market for adapted seats is partly solvent thanks to financing from the Association de gestion du fonds pour l'insertion professionnelle des personnes handicapées (Agefiph). However, this system does not prevent us from having to convince a demanding clientele. "We were able to create a 'telework package' with Ergosanté for our disabled employees," explains Dounia Esnault, disability coordinator at TotalEnergies. The offer is perfectly adapted with a concern for innovation, quality and employee follow-up." From this initial activity, Samuel Corgne has developed two variations. He started collecting and recycling used office chairs - either to reupholster them and resell them at 30% of their original price; or to strip them down and recycle the plastic. The demand for recycled or reconditioned chairs will take off, driven by public orders," enthuses Ergosanté's founder. But even if the activity is not profitable, it had to be launched: we can't let stocks of seats go to landfill every time a company moves."
International ambitions
Above all, Samuel Corgne is trying to grow another seed: Ergosanté sells 4,000 exoskeletons every year, intended to relieve oyster farmers moving bags of oysters and plumbers broken under sinks: "We needed simple products, not robot outfits that no one would ever wear." The result: no Terminator exoskeletons, with piston noise and shiny chrome; but harnesses extended with long plastic rods injected with fiberglass, which help the muscles in their work. Produced entirely in Anduze, thanks to an astonishing mix of 3D printers and traditional seamstresses, they are sold for about 500 euros. Enough to feed the curiosity at the international level. On September 20, salespeople from the United States, Benelux and Spain came to the Gard to test these devices. Ergosanté also wants to set up production centers in the United States, Australia and New Zealand in 2023 to limit the transportation of goods. This heterogeneous cocktail of activities, which would make any strategy consultant's mouth water, has been growing vigorously for the past ten years. For 2022, the turnover should jump by nearly 60% and exceed 20 million euros. The company remains more or less at break-even, without making a profit due to ongoing investments - particularly in human resources. No less than 15 people joined the company in September. So there is no problem in recruiting, whether it's a question of finding a solid security manager, a designer or a loom specialist: the sincerity of Ergosanté's social and environmental commitment and the beauty of the Cévennes region's living environment attract talent more surely than the esplanade of La Défense.
Grégoire Pinson
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