Testimony of Établissements Vigneau: from project to field validation

The Covid-19 disrupted the primary wood processing economy and slowed down its development projects. Despite this, high value-added and economically accessible innovations were implemented during this period, such as the TVS20. This tool for mobilising wood in sensitive areas has been successfully evaluated by FCBA. Nicolas Vigneau, manager of Établissements Vigneau in Norrois in the Marne region, talks about the support provided by our technological institute for this project. Other initiatives could be launched once the effects of the crisis have faded.

Specialising in the design, manufacture and marketing of agricultural machinery and forestry equipment, the Vigneau establishments largely cover the needs of the forestry and wood industry. Based on his experience and knowledge of the Grand Est’s massifs, its director Nicolas Vigneau had detected a concrete need for equipment with high added value. “The mobilisation of wood in sloping, very sloping or wet areas is low or non-existent. This work requires equipment that is too costly and generates too many implementation constraints. But the resource is there. This is how the idea of creating the TVS20 was born, i.e. the Vigneau Winch for Sensitive Environments with a pulling capacity of 20 tonnes. In other words, equipment that is financially accessible and technically usable by the greatest number of professionals. In order to move from idea to implementation, the project was first supported by a number of partners, including the Forêts & Bois de l’Est forestry cooperative and the Office National des Forêts du Grand Est. It also benefited from a field test campaign, a mission entrusted to FCBA.

Useful and valuable advice

 “FCBA was responsible for the entire evaluation of the equipment in this project, both technically and economically. The idea was really to propose an offer that was easy to access in terms of logistics and finance. The recommendations of its teams enabled us to rule out certain hypotheses that were not profitable and to move towards the most relevant and effective solution. We wanted to make sure that we didn’t make a mistake. In particular, I absolutely needed reliable field tests to validate the working times. Thanks to our TVS20 mobile equipment, the work site in hard-to-reach areas can be set up in about 1 hour to 1.5 hours. Nicolas Vigneau does not regret his voluntary decision to call on FCBA. “Given your legitimacy, no one can question the reliability of your controls. FCBA’s support has resulted in a complete study, of which you can find a detailed 6-page summary here.

Projects despite Covid-19

Like the majority of companies in the sector, Établissements Vigneau has suffered from the crisis, with its manager announcing a turnover divided by two over this period. In this context, we must salute the innovative spirit of Nicolas Vigneau, who had started another technically mature “bio-mobiliser” project for an innovative wood-energy resource that was not competitive with existing ones. This project was halted due to the magnitude of the health crisis, one of the effects of which can be seen here. Fortunately, even if the Covid-19 lag effect is still present, research and development projects are being pushed back. And FCBA is at your side to give them life!

Nicolas Vigneau
Director
Établissements Vigneau