START-UP ELLISTAT WON A TROPHY AT THE GLOBAL INDUSTRIE TRADE FAIR FOR ITS ELLISETTING SOFTWARE, A MAJOR INNOVATION FOR THE INDUSTRY. By Sandra Molloy in Eco Savoie Mont Blanc n°15.
Ellisetting, the beginnings
Originally, there was the wheel. " Back in 1985, I created software to control a bike wheel stripping machine for a company in Haute-Savoie. "This is the story of Professor Maurice Pillet, who, along with his team from the Systems and Materials for Mechatronics (SYMME) laboratory at Savoie Mont Blanc University, invented the concept of Automated Process Control (APC), which is the basis of Ellisetting's operation.
This applied research on the wheel was the starting point which, more than thirty years later, enabled him and his son Davy, a former Polytechnique student, to found the company Ellistat. Integrated into the system, the Ellisetting software controls industrial production and enables machined parts to be manufactured from their three-dimensional measurements, produced by conventional inspection tools. All you have to do is import a file and enter the values on the machine's numerical control. " Machine drift and lag are compensated for in the long term, at the same level as in the short term "says Maurice Pillet.
The innovation, which is of great interest to the mechanical engineering industry in Haute-Savoie, won a Global Industrie Award in the start-up category at Eurexpo Lyon in March.
Back in the field
As director of research, Maurice Pillet has been directing his skills towards practical applications in industry for some years now: " I've spent my whole career producing scientific publications; now I want to create jobs. "
In 2014, he and his son already launched Pillet Consulting, whose aim was to provide industries with quality advice. Based on this work at the heart of companies and their research, they developed an initial piece of software for a client, but the tandem wanted to go further. " What was lacking was a software package to support the setter in production "says Davy Pillet.
So in 2017 they created the intuitive Ellistat software, which gives their company its name, to help industries sort through their statistical data and guide them through the analysis (> Data Analysis module).
This is the first building block before launching Ellisetting, which generates a great deal of data and meets a business need in technical terms, but also in terms of human resources. As a side-effect, the software also addresses human resources issues. In the Arve Valley, where recruitment difficulties are particularly acute, especially for setter positions, Ellisetting can operate with the help of an operator, allowing the setter to concentrate on other tasks with greater technical added value.
Conquering the world
This spring, the start-up will be raising funds to support its growth and international expansion. We're profitable," says Davy Pillet. So we don't need funds to survive, but to grow. "The founding duo were joined by a third sidekick, before a wave of recruitment last autumn brought the workforce to ten."We're not looking for specialists, but people who can adapt".Davy Pillet explains.
The team has also taken on a PhD student who is working on a thesis on the subject, which fits in perfectly with the company's ethos of always being one step ahead. "Our development is driven by innovation".says Maurice Pillet. And Davy Pillet concludes: " Industry 4.0 is not a huge piece of software that can do everything, but a combination of specialised building blocks that interconnect easily with industry systems."