With more than 4,000 employees in 10 countries, the French company Bontaz Centre has grown from a bar-turning workshop into a world-wide automotive supplier.
It was founded by Yves Bontaz from the Arve Valley, who decided (with his twin brother Florent) to join the prestigious National School of Clockmaking in Cluses.
In 1958, the brothers were conscripted to maintain aircraft for the French army; and after 30 months of military service, Yves Bontaz knew that he wanted to go into business for himself.
His parents helped him buy his first machine, and for 10 years his sub-contract company manufactured parts for the ‘big names’ of clock and watch making in the Arve Valley.
However, this kind of bar turning was poorly paid, so Mr Bontaz bought his first three multi-spindle lathes and his company became a supplier to Peugeot and Renault.
The margins were higher and the two customers ordered large volumes. When the purchasing agent of a major car manufacturer gave him a part that no other bar-turning company wanted to produce — an aluminium nozzle that was a key part of an engine’s cooling system — Bontaz began a period of sustained growth; and when ‘environmental protection’ became a central issue in the 1990s (the better the cooling system, the less polluting the engine), there was a 20-fold increase in the demand for these nozzles.
This was the beginning of globalisation for Bontaz. In response to a constant pressure on pricing, the company established its first subsidiary, in Eastern Europe; this was soon followed by a subsidiary in Shanghai.
After China, Bontaz established operations in the USA and South America — and then Tunisia, the Czech Republic, India, Japan and South Korea.
Today, over 400,000 new cars with components made by Bontaz roll off production lines each month.
Bontaz is now a major Tier One supplier to the automotive industry; and apart from the cooling nozzle, the company specialises in putting together various sub-assemblies.
These include electro-magnetic hand brakes, as well as a variety of fluid-control systems.
In Bontaz machine shops around the world, there are a large number of cam-type multi-spindle lathes from the Swiss company Tornos (
www.tornos.com), which has a UK subsidiary in Coalville.
Just recently, Bontaz has been buying various Tornos machines of different types, including five Tornos Swiss DT 13 machines. Yannick Bontaz (nephew of Yves) said: “The five-axis Swiss DT 13 machines were chosen for their competitive price, productivity and quality.
“They are a valuable alternative to cam-type lathes, offering the flexibility of numerical control and — thanks to their L-type kinematic system — high levels of productivity.
We have also purchased two Swiss GT 32 machines; these have a B-axis facility plus driven tools and can manufacture highly complex workpieces.
“We also have four MultiSwiss 6x16 machines, and a fifth is on order.
“These are very easy to operate and to set up. Given the success of the MultiSwiss 6x16, we did not hesitate when Tornos presented us with the MultiSwiss 8x26, which is giving us high levels of accuracy, thermal stability and surface finish.”