"We broke a record with nearly 18 million euros in turnover": in Grimaud, Lapp Muller cables in conquest mode

Becoming a hunter rather than a farmer. This is how Marc Fernandes, general manager of the Lapp Muller company in Grimaud, sums up the strategy proposed two years ago to the German shareholder Lapp, owner of the Var-based SME for over twenty years.

"The group, which manufactures all types of cables in 27 factories, bought the company in court because it was interested in its expertise in robotic cables," sums up the manager, for whom the Var company, initially founded in Courbevoie in 1939 by Jean Muller before moving to Grimaud in 1992, had struggled for years to find its economic model.

"In 2022 and 2023, we broke a record with nearly 18 million euros in turnover, but I warned shareholders that we were driven by the market, and if it collapsed, so would the company."

Hence the plan to reconquer new segments, launched in 2022, which has made it possible to identify two areas of growth: Defense and the recharging of electric boats.

Enough to capitalize on the expertise of the SME with 116 employees, renowned for its ability to design "custom-made" products, even though 20% of its turnover is generated by the manufacture of standard cables marketed by the parent company, from Germany. Lapp Muller's 5,000m² of workshops produce an average of 200km of cables per month.

"Our sales representatives have a very technical profile to help customers refine their needs, depending on the environment in which the cable will be used," adds the manager.

Cables mishandled on the high seas to operate the valves of an oil platform, umbilical cords of ROVs [small remotely controlled underwater robots, editor's note] or the heart of the operation of robots or elevators...

Fiat 500 and Titanic

The uses and markets for Lapp Muller products are numerous, with real resistance to extreme conditions.

"We like to point out that we are the common point between the Fiat 500 and the Titanic because the cable connecting the robot to the wreck exploration rov came from us, just like those that drive the robots used to manufacture the Italian car!"

Today, 35% of turnover comes from robotics, 23% from nuclear power, 10% from oil and gas and 6% and 5% respectively from maritime and defense.

"But in this last sector, we expect to increase to 15% or 20% this year," estimates Marc Fernandes, who also mentions "good orders" in oil and gas.

At the end of April, the Grimaud-based company claimed orders totaling 7.5 million euros, "including more than 49% in Defense." The strategy also includes a human resources policy that encourages versatility, with a bonus system.

"We have reduced our production times from 16 to 8 to 10 weeks," says the general manager, quite proud of the workshop with its multiple production lines.

"A single cable can contain up to 65 elements," comments the manager, facing a 10m high machine, which generates 30% of the turnover, in the maintenance of which the SME has just invested 200,000 euros.

One of the curiosities of the open house organized on Friday, June 13, to strengthen the visibility of this industrial gem.