First manufacturer of firefighting equipment in France, POK has shown a remarkable development. Created in 1976 by Bruno Grandpierre, its current CEO, POK has currently an annual turnover of 15M including 50% of it from export in more than 90 countries. POK is a family business where the motivations are passion and conquest of new markets.
The CEO bequeaths to his children a strong company recognized throughout the world, in an industry constantly evolving. Fire trucks in France, international navies, airports and oil tankers are equipped with POK products, and they protect themselves with nozzles and remote control monitors. The company’s engineering department designs two new products each week while integrating new technologies to satisfy all customers. With its spectacular CNC machines and its 7000m² assembly plants, POK can make on site every device it designs.
Alexandra Grandpierre, MD of POK SAS:
What is POK’s motto?
Through decades, the strong values of POK brought by my parents and the people who have actively participated to its development, have been preserved and even strenghthened by countless challenges. POK’s motto is to create firefighting equipments with passion. Created by a genius, the company grew up thanks to his original and constant message: passion of invention, customer proximity, and desire of conquest and perfection. According to the breton dictionary, POK means “kiss”, which is the unconditional message of the most important thing in the world: love.
It is important to have a question that everyone can remember and ask at every moment: “Am I living my passion?”. I think that many POK’s employees answer positively because they are loyal to the company for many years. Each of them has contributed to build POK and to what it represents today. The results have been made possible thanks to a strong work environment and a strong and motivated management team.
Can you cite important projects of your company from the last three years?
The last three years, our company has innovated even more to pass through the economic crisis. POK has invested a lot in different projects such as a new motorised and very robust hose reel, a portable monitor – the Montmirail – very light and compact, power foam branchpipes with throw ranges 30% above what can be found on the market, a new automatic hand nozzle – the Legend – and many others.
Regarding remote controlled monitors, our engineering department has achieved historic sales and supply records of innovative products. These monitors allow to extinguish the fire with a remote control device a few hundred meters away, reducing human risks. At the beginning of 2014 we took over Sadamec’s activity specialised in designing, selling and in after sales service of HF remote control devices. We are now able to offer our customers a complete solution of remote control and its after sales service. This shows our commitment to offer high technologies and the best products of their category.
We need all the time to manufacture with lower costs and be one step ahead of the customers expectations about smaller and lighter products. Thus, POK has again invested in leading-edge CNC machines to increase the productivity and the precision of workpieces.
Despite the fact we were already certified ISO 9001, we are now certified by the German organisation DQS UL. The certification by such a rigorous institution has only been possible thanks to the revision of our performance indicators, and our 5S sites showing a strong will to become more efficient. ISO 14001 certification has easily been earned by the same organisation.
What is your greatest satisfaction?
We are thrilled when we see that each fire truck in France is equipped with POK products; each firefighter knows our equipment. Fires in France are extinguished with our nozzles. It is a wonderful reward for the efforts made for the last 39 years.
Thanks to our customer proximity and the fact that there is no room for mistakes, we have to test each merchandise which comes out of our factories. The production is part of a very rigorous environment where each mistake could be fatal. We have to continuously check and test our goods. However, there is no greatest satisfaction than to contemplate a finished product at the end of the day. We know that it will save lives, here or on another continent.
Do you wonder how we manage to make 2 new products per week and be the best in France? We never followed the 35 hours’ week.
