FB Procédés celebrates its 30th anniversary! - Patrick Dupré

For 25 years, Patrick Dupré left many things aside to devote himself fully to the development of FB Procédés. In his role as company director, he set himself a course and had only one leitmotiv: customer satisfaction by offering quality products. A true enthusiast, he was able to switch with undisguised pleasure from "suit and tie", to convince buyers or engineers of the advantages of our bar screens, to "overalls", to assemble a sprinkler or troubleshoot a bar screen on site. Interview with a key figure, who handed over the reins of FB Procédés to his son Guillaume in 2015.

Hello Patrick. These days, FB Procédés will be celebrating its 30th anniversary. Since 1991, the company has made a name for itself in the sanitation sector. What does this mean to you?

Looking back, I like to say that things came together like a jigsaw puzzle. At some point, all the pieces came together to start this company, from a great product.

Success is above all collective. I was lucky enough to find the right people very quickly to provide me with the right support.

Secondly, I had the opportunity to take part in trade shows. I spent a lot of energy organizing, participating and making the most of the contacts I made. The first was at the end of 1992 (Pollutec Paris), when I rented half a stand with one of our neighbors from Nantes. We didn't have any machines on the stand. In a bit of a rush, I made a video cassette and printed a few photos. We had a big "vertical automatic bar screens" display and a small "FB Procédés" display. At the time, we were hardly known. That was a big help in getting our business off the ground.

And finally, in 1996-1997, we came up with the idea of creating a bar screen that was a little more standard than those in our range at the time. A small bar screen capable of meeting a maximum number of needs. So we created the SG400.

So you joined FB Procédés in 1991. Can you tell us how it all began?

In 1989, I was working for WORTHINGTON Batignolles, a manufacturer of industrial pumps. It had lost almost 30% of its employees, and things weren't going well. There was talk of relocation, unemployment and redundancies. At the time, I was playing rugby at SNUC and I knew that Fernand Barré, whom I knew from a previous job, lived between my house and the stadium. Then one evening, as I was leaving a training session, I bumped into his wife and she told me that he had set out on his own to design and sell his own bar screens.

After that, the situation in WORTHINGTON didn't improve, and in 1990 I saw Fernand several times in the meantime.

So he asked you to join him...

In fact, I was retraining at the time. He did one bar screen a month. I remember his stack of files represented 4 years of activity. He was working at home, and there was his drawing board, thumbtacks, cardboard boxes to simulate the movements of the bar screen, and his garden shed where he did tipping tests. And he said to me: I'd like someone to take over. We thought I could do something. Faced with competing technologies, he explained to me that he was convinced there was something to be done. There was a market.

In that time, every time I've been seriously approached for a job, something has always happened to prevent me from getting it. Looking back, I can say that fate guided me towards what I was destined to do.

And?

One thing led to another, and in 1990, during the summer of memory, I gave him the go-ahead. However, as part of my final assignment at WORTHINGTON, I had to go to Le Mans for two months to pass on my know-how. I even stayed two months longer because the initial two months were too short. In fact, they had offered me two other positions, but I had already given Fernand my consent.

At the time of the redundancy plan, all those setting up or taking over a business were offered a bonus, professional assessments and training. So I took a training course to learn how to run a company. For 3 months, I learned an enormous amount.

Did you have an avowed interest in all things technical?

Yes, when I was very young, I used to tinker with bikes and Solexes. On the latter, I'd have fun dismantling the engine and descaling it, so I was getting my first taste of mechanics. I'd also inherited a fine set of mechanics from my father, dating back to the 2nd World War. It may seem like nothing, but when you've never touched a bolt in your life, you don't understand things just by looking at them. It allowed me to use small engines, to build things.

Then, a little later, during the school vacations, I worked in a truck mechanics workshop. I was immersed in the world of mechanics.

I passed my baccalauréat and got my driving licence when I was 18-19. I chose a short course of study and opted for a DUT in mechanics.

When you joined FB Procédés, and took part in trade shows, you also had to develop your sales skills...

It's true, but at the end of my schooling, I'd done a little job that had awakened me to this point. I was a bit shy and reserved. I ended up selling postcards in Paris. I was a terrible salesman. I only sold 7-8 packs in a day, while my team leaders could sell up to 40 in a ½ day. They had extraordinary charisma and glibness. I didn't have the temperament to sell anything to anyone. It's not my thing, contrary to what you'd expect from a real salesman. Then the boss came up with the idea of setting up a branch in Nantes, and suggested to my two team leaders that they manage the branch. When I heard about it, I offered to go with them, suggesting that they teach me the job so that I, in turn, could become team leader.

So we moved to Nantes. They taught me how to pitch and how to recruit. While recruiting salesmen and women, I met the woman who was to become my wife.

It was a real experience. Being a team leader has given me a lot of fun and fulfillment.

What were your first years at FB Procédés like?

When I started with FB Procédés, all the indicators were green and everything came together naturally.

One point I've always been keen to defend is the importance of respecting the customer internally. The customer is not king, but he is the company's asset. I also think that the image of the automatic bar screen changed in the 90s, thanks in part to our technology. At the time, many of our competitors offered much more complicated models.

In 1993, Fernand's departure was an important moment in the life of the company, as a replacement had to be found. A fundamental choice for a young company.

Completely. I thought of several people I knew, but they all turned me down. Among them was Jean-Paul Planchot, who finally joined our team later in 1998. But he called me back and told me he might have someone for the job, and he said: "He's the son of Fernand Lobréau, the man you replaced at WORTHINGTON. Small world.

So I met the great Robert, who had just been laid off. We hit it off and he spent a few weeks working alongside Fernand. He was highly motivated, and had even built a model NI13 with a mechanic when he had just arrived. It was remarkable.

Robert Lobréau, Claude Martin, Fernand Barré and Patrick Dupré

As Fernand Barré put it, the commercial ball has grown over the months, as the FB Procédés bar screens have given satisfaction.

Success is also a story of encounters. It was a certain Mr. Rives, for example, who got us into the Compagnie Générale des Eaux around Rennes. It was the bar screen that was the best seller, thanks to "word of mouth". People had needs and started calling us, knowing about our equipment. Little by little, that's how we found our way into the STEP constructors' hands, because some operators began to show a preference for our bar screens. I've never rushed into any big sales campaigns, and I've let time take its course. Why go faster than the music? We progressed slowly.

The evolution of a company usually involves risk-taking, technical developments or breakthrough deals. Are there any memories that come to mind on this subject?

Whatever the customer's request, I've never had the feeling of taking risks. It's a question of state of mind. I've probably taken some, but it was all part of a very obvious process. With the experience I've gained in the past, it's like a sixth sense. You either feel things or you don't. When I decided on a technical evolution, for example, I knew I was right. This sometimes upset the habits of the way we worked, but I felt it was essential. For example, when designing a bar screen, I think I had a pretty good idea of the fine line between fragility, solidity and superfluousness. This is the result of practical experience in the field. I can tell you that when you spend many hours at the bottom of a canal straightening bars, it's good experience and you learn fast. Better still, you immediately know what you shouldn't do anymore.

In the early days, since there were two or three of us, we regularly moved around the site for various reasons. I took Robert along on the occasional big job. Like enlarging the holes in the 3 sprinklers in Annecy. Only to be told a few weeks later by the operator: "Mr Dupré, it's good what you've done, it improves output, but it wasn't necessarily useful". But hey, that was my purist side, on machines that were a good laboratory for the future.

The design and launch of the SG400 is a milestone. It got off to a slow start, with a design that was a little too simple, too light, and we optimized it. We also increased its maximum length to meet customer needs.

There was also the Livery bar screen in La Baule. Lever arms and weights had to be brought into play. We increased the weight of the carriage at the top, and it became standard.

Another milestone, thanks to Claude Martin. We were trying out a bar screen for a one-meter-wide living room in the workshop. The shape of the mobile support meant that it made too much noise when the jaw opened. He said to me: "couldn't this part be rounded instead of straight? Bingo, it became a standard.

You were talking about the good people you had surrounded yourself with previously, and in that sense, your duo with Robert really boosted and carried the company for twenty years.

Robert and I were complementary. He was more inclined to avoid reinventing the world with every job, and therefore advocated maximum standardization. And I was more inclined to try to optimize each machine and personalize it.

This enabled us to evolve and push back our limits, starting with a screen width of 500mm, then 800mm, 1000mm, 1500mm and finally 2000mm. I think I may have been annoyingly fussy at times about the design of certain bar screens, because for me, it was fundamental. As a planner, I was also a designer, because I was faced with new challenges, and I had to keep up with them in terms of ranges, profiles used, sheet thickness... We formed a great duo, and we succeeded in diversifying our equipment.