Their inventions made in Plérin are a hit all over the world
Their inventions made in Plérin are a hit all over the world
In the Sainte-Croix business park in Plérin (Côtes-d’Armor), a small, little-known company designs and manufactures mechanical and electronic parts used internationally. Lithium batteries, carbon monoxide detectors, control panels, man overboard detection systems for boats…
DK Innovation designs, assembles and manufactures “technical parts for cutting-edge subjects, always with robotic, electronic and software intelligence,” summarizes Arnaud Dekytspotter, founder and manager.
Boats, hospitals, pipelines.
The DK adventure (for Dekytspotter and for Dunkirk, Arnaud’s home town) started in 2008 in a garage, reminiscent of Apple’s success story. After years of tests and inventions, Arnaud, then an engineer in aeronautics, and his partner Jade, in medical electronics, left Paris to settle in the bay of Saint-Brieuc. They officially launched the company there, with the first recruitments in 2013.
Nine years later, there are ten of them (eight employees, two trainees), in a team in full development. The 420m² building, divided between offices and workshops, has “already become too small”. It must be said that DK Innovation’s order book is constantly filling up. It is impossible to list all of their inventions made in Plérin, but let’s mention, among the recurrent productions: on-board electronic systems, for the maintenance of pipe networks, used in Canada, in the United States and in the agglomeration of Saint-Brieuc. Or “soft-start” systems for water makers, to make water drinkable, all over the world. DK Innovation has also invented an engine block to provide electrical assistance to motorized carts, used in several companies (forklifts) and hospitals (stretchers). The company has also equipped the trimaran of François Gabart, skipper of the Vendée Globe, with lithium batteries. The invention, which has been successful, could be adapted for other industrial uses, particularly in data centers.
“No shortage of ideas”
We are sometimes surprised by the success of our products,” says Arnaud Dekytspotter. They are often small projects that we tested on a corner of the table, because we needed them for a tool, and which in the end are of service to others and are worth marketing.
On the desks and between the machines, one finds “lots of wonders”. Here, a mechanical prototype, there, an electronic chip, there, plastic parts just out of the 3D printer … Some are busy on the computer, drawing software or ordering components, others are hands in the machines or electronic circuits. Like all companies in the sector, DK Innovation is not immune to shortage problems. All the more so since “as far as electronic components are concerned, not much is made in France anymore. Microconductors and metals come from deposits in Africa or Russia,
describes Alexis, who is in charge of purchasing raw materials. As a result, with the war in Ukraine, supply times have become longer or prices have tripled. Aluminum, for example, was worth 28 € per 4 kg in November, 37 € in April. Arnaud Dekytspotter and his team try to anticipate future inventions to have components in stock, and especially the time to make them, because… “there is no lack of ideas!
source : ” https://www.ouest-france.fr/bretagne/plerin-22190/leurs-inventions-made-in-plerin-cartonnent-dans-le-monde-entier-7ad3e964-c645-11ec-9d59-fb23aa78f5fe “
