The success of Deltalab-SMT

Specializing in teaching equipment for technical, university or research education, the company, based in Carcassonne since 1967, has posted a 30% increase in its turnover. Taken over by three employees a few months ago, new avenues are available to it.

"What is this company and what is it doing in Carcassonne?" When they were recruited by Deltalab-SMT in 2015, it was the first thought that came to mind from Marie-Anne Carpéné and Audric Michelot. However, nothing necessarily predestined these two doctors in chemistry, who are the current co-managers with Sonia Martinez, to take the reins of a company devoted to educational material used for technical, university, scientific and industrial information.
The energy, the competence of the team in place and the diversity of the fields of intervention did the rest, under the leadership of the then director: Stéphane Tagliante. "He was one of Continental's alumni. Following his dismissal, he bought Deltalab in 2014, which he managed until his retirement in November 2020, "explains Audric Michelot.

A manager who had initiated an obvious dynamic, in particular in the search for new business which, until then, had not been able to be exploited. "We are seeing the results today," comments Marie-Anne Carpéné. Because Deltalab displays, for the year 2020, a turnover with double-digit growth.
And not just a little: almost 30%! "We are in a sector sensitive to the effects of inertia and delay in the realization of business, qualify the co-managers.
"What is certain is that today, thanks to the strategy implemented by Stéphane Tagliante, we are studying all the cases that are presented to us. and the size of our customers. "

Original article published in the independent from 03/23/2021
Consult / download the article in PDF
Journalist: Arnaud Chabé
Photo: Ch.B.

And it is undoubtedly there that lies the secret of the success of the company: the diversity of the fields of competences and the close relation with the customer.
More specifically, Deltalab offers a catalog of 300 machines dedicated to education and otherwise called pilots. Whether in the food industry, pharmaceuticals, mechanical engineering, thermodynamics, renewable energies, aerodynamics, chemistry ... The technicians and engineers of tomorrow need support to learn the actions to be performed. Machines which are not mass-produced, in a standard way, but which meet the specifications of the teaching teams: "The company, created in 1967 only around mechanical pilots, enjoys a certain notoriety for its seniority but also for the robustness of the repeated uses of a material which must be, in addition, at the forefront of safety.

Today, 80% of the production leaving the workshops on Avenue Gay-Lussacq is dedicated to pilots for education and vocational training (70% in France, the rest for export).
The remaining 20% ​​are intended for industry: pasteurization units, vacuum evaporators, fermenters-sterilizers, maturation tanks ... So many instruments developed in Carcassonne and the surrounding area: "We make sure to work with partners local, which allows us to be more responsive and allows us to maintain our ability to adapt "
Initially made up of eight people, Deltalab now employs 15 people: "In the space of 3 years, we have hired four people: two in the office; two others in the workshop.

And to cope with the surplus of activity, we took on 2 fixed-term contracts at the end of last year ", specify Marie-Arme Carpéné and Audric Michelot. And with Sonia Martinez, the trio of managers does not intend to stop there. Not necessarily to grow exponentially, but to take other paths, that of business consulting, through the establishment of a design office dedicated to industrial projects: "We have the experience and the know-how. on these areas: we are thinking about it. What is interesting in this company is that we learn every day, in all areas ".
Passion: the other key to success.

Original article published in the independent from 03/23/2021
Consult / download the article in PDF
Journalist: Arnaud Chabé
Photo: Ch.B.