The PETIT thermoforming company: who are we?

LITTLE'S STORY

Originally: a manufacturer of industrial machines

It was in 1973 in the depths of the Savoyard mountains that Jacques Petit, an engineer by training, created the company PETIT, a company manufacturing machine tools for industrialists, among others for thermoforming, punching, cutting plastic strips for the automotive sector, welding…

Jacques PETIT, fondateur de l'entreprise PETIT thermoformage

The beginnings of thermoforming

One day, one of PETIT's customers had not received the machine tool that allowed him to produce his plastic molds; to do him a favor, Mr. Petit offered to thermoform his molds using his own machines, ready to operate in his workshop. It was from there that, while continuing to manufacture industrial and thermoforming machines, Petit began to produce thermoformed molds in parallel for its customers in the food and industrial sector.

A primarily industrial clientele

The company collaborated very early on with prestigious industrial brands in the pastry and ice cream sector for whom it produced large series of specific molds and support supports for their biscuits, chocolates and pastries. In the 2000's, the machine was launched, and with the son, Patrice Petit, the company completely reorganized the activity to no longer focus only on thermoforming. The PETIT teams had in fact acquired solid expertise in the design and manufacturing process as a whole: from the drawing to the 3D plan to the development of prototypes, tools to make the aluminum impressions which are used to form the molds of the thermoforming process of the material: in terms of the selection of materials and thicknesses adapted to the final use of the mold, or even in the precise adjustment of the machines to meet the tolerance and resistance requirements desired by the customer. This expertise has enabled PETIT to become in just a few years one of the French leaders in the supply of plastic molds to food manufacturers.

Adaptation to artisan pastry chefs and food professionals

It was from a catalog drawn up from standard products of the profession that PETIT began to target professionals in the catering trade. PETIT offered them baking molds to make their cold desserts and pastries, snack trays, macaron inserts and other specific products. Unlike manufacturers, artisans require quantities of molds adapted to their workforce and their production capacity; PETIT has also reworked its packaging to be able to offer them the option of purchasing their molds packaged by cardboard rather than by pallet or full truckload.

SMALL today: flexibility and responsiveness

The major advantage of PETIT is to be able to address both industrial customers who need large volumes and tailor-made creations, but also artisans in the catering trade who require lower quantities or custom molds. The PETIT industrial site is able to respond to all requests, whether in terms of creations or volume, within very short deadlines.

CSR as a common thread

Like all the entities of the NEXT Emballage group, PETIT has been following a Social and Environmental Responsibility approach for several years. The actions focus, in particular, on the well-being and safety of employees, favoring sourcing as close as possible to the manufacturing site, the eco-design of products and even post-industrial manufacturing recycling. The group has also obtained the LUCIE 26000 label, which rewards companies engaged in a corporate social responsibility approach, aligned with the international standard ISO 26000. See the CSR policy

SMALL TODAY

In numbers, SMALL is:

15 to 19 employees

Depending on seasonality, with a 3x8 production team

150μ to 1.6mm

Possible thicknesses in manufacturing

1 site of 2000m² in Savoie

And more than 100 references in permanent stock

And a tailor-made relationship for 4 markets:

Ultra specific

Petit's strength is to offer high quality of service, excellent responsiveness and an ability to comply with the logistics requirements linked to very small productions. The relationship and the productions are tailor-made.

Small series

Specializing in production ranging from very small to medium industrial series, PETIT has a compact and efficient production tool. Customers are specialized distributors, manufacturers, but also artisan pastry chefs, chefs, pastry trainers, etc.

Luxury & catering

The quality of our productions as well as the proximity we create with our customers have allowed us to specialize our customer portfolio towards high-demand markets, such as luxury or high-end catering.

Pastry standard

The range of packaging and molds for pastry is at the heart of the company's know-how. This is a historic area of expertise of which the products marketed on this site are an illustration.