Useful Innovation at Leborgne
Safety, functionality and comfort of hand tools
Safety, functionality and comfort of hand tools
Since it was founded in 1829, the Leborgne company has always known how to sell the tools it produces in its Alpine valley. And this is not going to change now!
What is its main asset? : Product innovation, with its R&D department
What is its secret? : Observing users’ needs at their place of work aiming to improve health and safety, functional features and comfort. This is what we call useful innovation.
Useful innovation from the functional point of view with the Batipro® range
Useful innovation from the functional point of view with the Batipro® range
In practical terms useful innovation means creating tools which are still best-sellers today:
The Batipro hammer (1999) with magnet and lateral striking surfaces, for use in confined spaces
- The club hammer (2001) with its 2 upper edges at a sharp angle for scraping
- The heel bar (2001) fitted with an aluminium tube and a steel head, weighing in at only 4.5kilos instead of the traditional 12 kilos (for forged steel)
- The rake with reinforced lateral tines (2009) with a round socket sleeve for greater bending resistance and a rule on the top for levelling.
Useful innovation from the point of view of health and safety with the Nanovib® range
Useful innovation from the point of view of health and safety with the Nanovib® range
When the government undertook the reform on retirement in November 2010, the issue of reduction of physical strain was raised.
Along the same lines as these measures, the R&D department at Leborgne created a range of tools which would revolutionize the market because it aimed to preserve the health of users.
The expectations were fulfilled: the Nanovib range, with its first product the Nanovib anti-vibration hammer marked a revolution in the hand tool market by changing attitudes to tools.
From now on tool quality would be measured according to its capacity to guarantee user safety and preserve the user’s health.
This provided a new impetus. In 2015 the R&D department continued its analysis of the situation on the ground with a specialist in ergonomics. Product innovation immediately followed: the long reach striking tool, the latest in the Nanovib range which now includes 20 products, was launched in 2017.
Innovation from the point of view of sustainable development with the Duopro® range
Also, around the year 2000, the government raised the question of the environment by a series of discussions and measures known as the “Grenelle on the Environment”, a future objective began to emerge which was the total elimination of chemical products for gardening.
What solution could be better than a mechanical hand tool range, which could give the same efficiency for weeding as chemical products, and which, at the same time, could preserve the environment?
The Duopro range was created in 2009, with the hoe and scraper of the same name.
To create the Duopro scraper Leborgne’s R&D department used a new method “feeltesting”.
Prototypes were tested by gardeners in the Parks and Gardens department of the city of Lyon. The prototypes were assessed according to different criteria. Using the results of this feeltesting, Leborgne was able to select the most efficient blade.
