JEAN-FRANÇOIS VINCHANT EPIC BRIEFING
In this interview, Antonio Castelo, EPIC’s Technology Manager for Bio-Medical and Lasers, talks to Jean-François Vinchant , CEO at SEDI-ATI, a French SME specialising in fibre optic assemblies for extreme environments. Jean-François Vinchant EPIC CEO BRIFING:
What’s the background to your appointment as CEO at SEDI-ATI?
marketing vocabulary and to promote our products as solutions for extreme environments. I also reviewed the financial situation in terms of how we defined margins and set standard prices, and in manufacturing, I had to introduce some measures for operational excellence, for example machines to do tasks like polishing connectors, which until then had been done manually.
negotiations with each one. This took several weeks as the owners wanted to be sure that my intentions were honourable - i.e., that I would look after the employees, that I had the experience and skills to grow the company and that I wasn’t just looking to asset strip the company and make a quick return. In this respect, my previous experience in finance, human resources as managing director, and what I’d learnt on my MBA course were a great help. In the end, I reached an agreement with SEDI-ATI, a company based a few miles south of Paris, that had been created in 2012, through a merger of ATI Optique and SEDI Fibres Optiques with the aim of expanding the manufacture of optical fibre-based components. When I took over in 2016, my goal was to continue this business but also to develop a new range of optical fibre components for use in extreme environments, i.e., 1000oC temperatures, cryogenic temperatures, pressures ranging from ultra-high vacuum to hyperbaric, and high levels of radiation in nuclear power stations.
AC
After completing an MSc, and then a PhD in Electronics, I worked for a year as a research engineer in
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Philips’ optoelectronics laboratory. In 1991, the laboratory was acquired by Alcatel, and I stayed on at Alcatel as a research engineer studying optical switching on InP and helping to develop the first 4x4 optical switch matrix. Over the next 12 years, I worked in a variety of positions for Alcatel Optronics, starting as Development Project Leader for the production of the first DWDM laser chip and the first integrated laser- modulator chips. I then worked as Director of Marketing and Product Lines, and for the last three years as Director Manufacturing and Development Components until 2003, when Alcatel Optronics was acquired by Avanex. I continued with Avanex as Director of New Product Introduction, until 2007 when I decided to leave the company and do an MBA with a view to eventually setting up my own company. From 2009, I was managing director of Polycaptil, a small opto-electronics SME in the Besançon area, of France. Then in 2016, I decided the time was right to fulfil my ambition, and with the help of IDF Capital, I bought SEDI-ATI, where I have been CEO ever since.
How has the company developed?
AC
Since 2016, we’ve focussed on building fibre-based assemblies for the niche market of extreme
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environment applications. These include highly achromatic multimode couplers for demanding metrology; multimode wavelength division multiplexers for sensing; miniature fibre-optic links and connectors for tight spaces, hermetic feedthroughs for pressure and vacuum applications; fibre-optic bundles and arrays for reflectance spectroscopy at very high temperatures; and fibre-optic patch cords for cryogeny, high-temperature, vacuum space-flight environments. Our main markets are defence, aerospace, industry, oil & gas, nuclear, medical, and research. Over this period, we’ve grown to a workforce of around 60 people, and our revenue in 2023 grew by 9.7% to €8 million.
What changes did you make when you became CEO?
AC
The first thing I did was to get rid of the concept of harsh environment and replace it with the concept of
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extreme environment. To my mind, a harsh environment is applied to environments where human survival is
What made you choose SEDI-ATI?
AC
difficult or impossible like in the -70°C temperatures in Russian Siberia, or the high temperatures of up to 57°C in the Sahara Desert. But our technology has to withstand much higher temperature variations from -150°C to 1000°C, as well as ultra-high vacuum pressures and massive radiation levels in nuclear power stations. So, I thought it would be more accurate and professional to change our
I first went to an acquisition specialist in Paris, and we drew up a list of criteria regarding the type of
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company I was looking for. It had to be medium sized, near Paris, with a technology I was reasonably familiar with, and with good potential for growth. Using these criteria, I drew up a short list of 30 targets which were contacted by the consultant on my behalf. A month later, I received positive feedback from seven of them, and I started
Finalising the assembly of optical fibres in the SEDI-ATI workshop.
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| ISSUE 36 | Q1 2024
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