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in Soustons, the Société nouvelle Caulonque masters the precise art of packaging

As proof, the adventure has existed for more than sixty years. Here, we only manufacture the molds that will allow the companies that buy them to produce thousands, even millions of copies, of the ideal container, from the tray to the pot, including the cup.

Behind these everyday objects, multiplied on the shelves of supermarkets, lies enormous precision work. “It’s paradoxical, we work on very high precision processes to manufacture things which, ultimately, end up in our trash,” smiles the entrepreneur.

Requirement and precision

47 people work in the warehouse of the Soustons craft zone, including eight in the design office. A place where computers and 3D software are legion. “We calculate a whole bunch of data… Concerning air circulation, hydraulic pressure to cool the injected plastic. It takes between a week to design the future molds for the most common models, and three weeks or a month for the others. » Then task the employees of the CAM (computer-aided manufacturing) department with developing, from these digital models, the programs necessary for the machines for manufacturing the molds.

In the workshop, the machine tools are under close surveillance. From fitters to fitters, everyone is at the bedside of the molds which, along the line, take shape. “Our requirements are enormous,” we specify. In the end, they will weigh between 3 and 5 tonnes. “Sometimes even more,” emphasizes Stéphane Rousseau, 60% of whose annual production is intended for export. A strong requirement for an eco-responsible component. Plastic packaging, yes, but increasingly thinner, and making the most of cutting-edge techniques to reduce their impact, thanks to better recycling.

Identity sheet

Innovation Prize
New Caulonque Society
Activity : design and production of large production molds for the plastics industry
Creation date: 1960
Leader : Stéphane Rousseau (president)
Workforce: 47 employees
Turnover: 10 million euros (in 2023)

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