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Powering up in Poitiers

Saft is a worldwide battery manufacturing company that delivers innovative solutions used for a variety of industries including transport, space and defence. We’ve had the pleasure of working with Saft on a number of projects.

powering-up-in-poitiers

To gain a better understanding of what Saft does and the level of skilled work that goes into designing and manufacturing their batteries, we were invited for a tour around one of their factorys in Poitiers, France.

First, we were shown how combat batteries (e.g. submarine or torpedo) are made. Saft has two sections in the factory where these are assembled: automatic and (to our surprise) manual. The manual station is still fully operated by highly skilled staff and delivers batteries that have a minimum 20-year shelf life.

Automated machines have been introduced due to the increased popularity of Saft products, but the manual station has not become redundant. Both sections work now alongside each other, in order to support the production of a wide range of batteries for a variety of customers.

Our tour ended with a few jaw-dropping stories about batteries used in space (e.g. in rovers or satellites). We learned these batteries have a 20-year-long cycle life, can be remotely fixed and – the ones produced by Saft – have yet to fail.

At SOAK, we value relationships above anything else. We often meet our local and international clients to share our creative thoughts, but also to encourage close collaboration, introduce a more personal approach and learn about each other.