Reconciling respect for the environment and the imperatives of industrial productivity has been at the heart of the debates since the 1992 Earth Conference in Rio and the emergence of the concept of Sustainable Development*, based on establishing a balance between environmental, economic and social conditions in future societies. Few countries or companies have taken this approach any further than the constraints imposed by the regulations, however.

CHAUVIN ARNOUX, a major international industrial company proud of its 120 years of growth and its family values, is nevertheless one of the precursor in this field. Helping to offer future generations the economic and environmental context which they have the right to expect matches the company's founding ethos.

The CHAUVIN ARNOUX Group has thus set up a voluntary Eco-design approach (called Eco Conception in French) which complies with the ISO 14000 environmental standard. The aim is clear: to reduce the environmental impact of the Group's products.

From the design phase in our R&D units in Paris and Annecy through to recycling after use, the life cycle of a CHAUVIN ARNOUX®, METRIX®, ENERDIS® or PYROCONTROLE® product has already been adapted by our engineers to comply with the requirements in terms of:

> choice of recyclable and recoverable materials

> reduction of consumption by the products

> printed circuit-board size reduction, thus reducing the amounts of raw materials needed.

This environmental commitment by the CHAUVIN ARNOUX Group is as important as the functional, metrological and safety features of the measuring instruments designed.

However, the need to maintain our products' quality and price levels remains one of our core concerns.
.
The approach is formalized within the company by an environmental file (compliance details, dismantling sheet, etc.) drafted by the Quality Department which accompanies each measuring instrument.

To highlight this Eco-design commitment among its customers and partner distributors, the CHAUVIN ARNOUX Group has developed an "Eco conception" logo which is placed on the product literature and communication tools for its measuring instruments.

 

* As defined by AFNOR (French standardization organization) in 2012, a State is considered "sustainable" if "the components of the ecosystem and their functions are preserved for present and future generations". In this definition, the "components of the ecosystem" include plants and animals, as well as human beings and their physical environment. For human beings, the concept implies balance in the fulfilment of the essential requirements: economic, environmental, social and cultural living conditions within a society".

With nearly 11% of its revenues currently invested in Research and Development every year, the Chauvin Arnoux Group has always been proud of the priority given to in-house design and development of its electrical measuring instruments. An important part of the Group's strategy, R&D at Chauvin Arnoux is based on the two keywords "Engineer-Manufacturer" engraved on the marble plaque at the entrance to the company's headquarters in Paris.

In addition to their symbolic significance, these words evoke the expertise of the teams in the Group's six R&D departments who constantly monitor future technological trends: 

• Paris (France),
  
• Antony (France),
  
• Annecy (France),
  
• Lyon (France),
  
• Dover (USA),
  
• Milan (Italy)
  
  
  design and develop 80% of our measuring instruments.

More than 200 highly creative engineers work in Research and Development worldwide to design our future instruments and respond to users' needs. The Group's R&D expertise is spread across three countries: France, the USA and Italy.

The team in Milan works mainly on designing relays, particularly for the rail industry,  the team in Dover (USA) specializes in loggers and measuring instruments designed to meet the specific requirements in America and the French teams design most of the Group's products commercialized in Europe under the Group's brands.  

As soon as Chauvin Arnoux was set up in 1893, the two co-founders, René Arnoux and Raphaël Chauvin, decided to split the responsibilities, with Mr. Arnoux working to boost R&D while Mr. Chauvin handled series production of the measuring instruments.  In the first decades of the 20th century, this led to innovative instruments such as the Universal Tester (1927), the Hand-crank Ohmmeter, the Photo-electric Exposure Meter, etc. The years that followed also saw the launch of major classics, such as the wattmeters, the portable testers (Monoc 1959), the temperature controllers and the cut-off relays. When the first transistors arrived, they were naturally integrated into the design of new measuring instruments.

Under the guidance of expert engineers and spurred on by technical developments, the company has filed more than 350 patents to date. 

Chauvin Arnoux is the result of 120 years of technical discoveries, human passion, know-how passed from one generation to the next and adaptation to the changes in the markets and technologies.

An important part of the Group's strategy, R&D at Chauvin Arnoux is based on the two keywords "Engineer-Manufacturer" engraved on the marble plaque at the entrance to the company's headquarters in Paris.

Manumesure provides metrological verification, maintenance and management of test, inspection and measuring instrument fleets in its laboratories or on customers' sites.

The company also proposes regulatory testing covering environmental issues (atmopsheric pollutant emissions, noise, etc.), personal safety (inspection of electrical installations, etc.) and hazard prevention (thermography, etc.).

Manumesure has structured its service offering on three major market segments:

• Industry,
  
• Environment
  
• Health.

With 12 technical centres in France and a team of travelling experts, the company provides full national coverage, thus guaranteeing a quick response wherever customers need it. Our experts often also provide services abroad.

The services proposed are all performed in compliance with the standards and constraints for traceability to the national reference standards. All MANUMESURE's laboratories have COFRAC accreditation certifying the technical competence of our teams and guaranteeing their impartiality.

The company is certified  ISO 9001 and 14001 and MASE, and is approved by the French Ministry of the Environment and Ecology.

Manumesure is also a certified training organization, offering training courses in multiple technical fields to meet customers' needs.

For more than 65 years, Pyrocontrole has been developing highly technical products for advanced industrial sectors such as the Nuclear industry, Chemicals, Petrochemicals, manufacturers of construction materials (glass, cement, etc.) and Metallurgy. The vast majority of its activity involves drafting precise specifications, qualifying sensors and manufacturing probes for very high temperature (up to 1,800 °C).

Pyrocontrole also proposes control equipment such as temperature controllers, electrical power controllers, paperless recorders and Human-Machine Interfaces with associated I/O Modules.

Its expertise is acknowledged in France and has been exported internationally since the Chauvin Arnoux Group's acquisition of the company in 1997. Pyrocontrole's head office, now located in Meyzieu on the outskirts of Lyon (France), also houses the R&D infrastructure and the sales and marketing teams.

"Pyrocontrole service"  is now provided by an accessible, dynamic and professional team capable of finding suitable solutions to deal with any temperature measurement needs. They are backed by a high-performance Quality organization involved at every level, particularly in the very demanding Nuclear sector, and technical resources such as the COFRAC laboratory to guarantee the performance of the products delivered.

Chauvin Arnoux Energy completes the global offering from the Chauvin Arnoux Group by designing permanent measurement equipment for electrical installations. Its wide-ranging offering of products and systems covers all the measurement requirements from the energy production site through to the the final point of consumption, including all the transmission networks and distribution systems.

Every year, the Engineering Department at Antony (France), where the company has its headquarters, develops innovative products for metering (tarif meters or submeters), network supervision and network quality (power monitors, analysers,etc.), communication systems and software to monitor energy flows. 

A precursor in terms of energy management, Chauvin Arnoux Energy proposes global expertise covering everything from assistance with diagnostics through to implementation of complete solutions (products, software and services) adapted to each type of environment (industrial, tertiary sector, construction). These systems  comply with the international regulations and standards. 

Another important part of Chauvin Arnoux Energy's activity involves the automation relays used in "severe" industrial environments, some of which are designed specifically to meet the strict operating requirements of energy producers, energy distributors and railway equipment manufacturers and operators.

The strength of the teams at Chauvin Arnoux Energy lies in the way they support their customers throughout the project and in the technical expertise which they contribute.

Visit the brand website

In 1893, Raphael CHAUVIN and René ARNOUX joined together to found Chauvin Arnoux.
120 years later, the adventure continues and today the company is an expert in the measurement of electrical and physical quantities in industry and the tertiary sector.

The company's original industrial and entrepreneurial spirit remains, but the Chauvin Arnoux Group's influence now covers the whole world. Its expertise is structured and promoted through four companies:

CHAUVIN ARNOUX : portable measuring instruments in a wide variety of fields, including testing and inspection, physical measurements, laboratory instrumentation, power and energy

CHAUVIN ARNOUX ENERGY : fixed equipment for measuring and monitoring electrical networks, energy management and optimization systems, manufacturing of relays.

PYROCONTROLE : temperature sensors for industrial environments and control loops.

MANUMESURE : metrology and regualtory testing.

Every year, the Group invests 11% of its revenues in Research and Development of new products to confirm its expertise and respond effectively to its customers' requirement.

The Group's commercial and industrial subsidiaries give it worldwide coverage backed by its partner distributors. Each of our subsidiaries (United States, China, Italy, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, United Kingdom, Sweden and Lebanon) is responsible for selling all the Group's products in its business area.

Coverage of the other countries is provided by the Export Sales departments of Chauvin Arnoux, Pyrocontrole and Enerdis. They are backed locally by a vast network of specialized distributors, thus ensuring that they remain close to our customers.

Our industrial strategy is based on three production sites in France manufacturing the sub-assemblies and products for the Chauvin Arnoux® and Enerdis® brands, and a site specialized in manufacturing Pyrcocontrole temperature sensors. In addition to these core production facilities, there is also an industrial site in Italy for manufacturing industrial relays, as well as one in the United States and another in China to meet the specific requirements of those markets.

This industrial network reflects the Group's determination to control the supply and quality of its products so that it can respond quickly to the markets' requirements.

The Group's quality policy enables it to supply customers with products which meet its commitments and comply with both national and international standards, particularly in terms of metrology and the environment, while also ensuring user safety.

This approach is formalized by ISO 9001 and 14001 certifications and has led to the establishment of an "EcoConception" label (EcoDesign).