Sofradir and ULIS reorganize structure to boost efficiency

15 Jun 2018

But no job cuts or closures planned for France-based supplier of infrared systems for military, aerospace and commercial markets.

Sofradir, a developer of infrared sensors for military, space, commercial and industrial applications, and its subsidiaries Sofradir EC and Ulis have announced a structural reorganization with the aim of creating a single new organisation.

Sofradir group employs 900 staff; Safran and Thales are equal (50/50) shareholders.

The company statement, released this week, said the objective is “to improve overall efficiency, quality of service and time-to-market of its infrared technologies for commercial, aerospace and defense markets, as well as emerging automotive and smart buildings sectors.”

A spokeswoman for the company added, “There will be no layoffs nor office closings. The priority is to successfully integrate all employees into a single new organisation. We foresee no additional recruitment in 2018 in respect to the budget.”

Innovation and product development

The new organization will involve “activating operational synergies” between Sofradir and Ulis. This includes the creation of two new departments; one dedicated to innovation and strategic projects and the other to product development and maturity.

“Faced with growing competition, we need to be smarter and more efficient about how we manage our assets going forward; we are setting the stage to continue our longstanding success in infrared imaging,” said Jean-François Delepau, chairman of Sofradir, ULIS and Sofradir-EC.

“Fundamentally, we are reinvigorating our strengths, including extensive scientific knowledge and industrial expertise, and close relationships with our markets. These assets will enable us to take product quality beyond current market standards and raise the bar in speeding up innovation to market.”

The implications for Sofradir’s product ranges are improved time-to-market and the likely impact on future sales will be “Higher than average market growth, notably through the new synergies created with the sales teams at Ulis and Sofradir”.

Sofradir group’s portfolio of infrared and thermal imaging detectors and sensors, covering the electromagnetic spectrum from visible to far infrared, is targeted at aerospace, defense and commercial markets. The organization claims to be the leading European manufacturer for IR detectors deployed in space.