Meet Our Experts: François Berger
At CRM Group, innovation is driven by people. Behind every breakthrough lies the expertise and passion of our teams. In this interview, we meet François, one of our dedicated experts, who shares his insights into pilot line and gives us a closer look at the challenges, ambitions, and technologies shaping his work.
First, can you introduce yourself, tell us how long you’ve been working at CRM Group, your career and explain your current role?
My name is François. I’m working in CRMgroup since almost 15 years now. I have a Ph.D. in chemistry specialty electrochemistry.
As soon as I began to work for CRMgroup, I have, step by step, expanded my skills in the field of surface treatment.
In 2013, I was pleased of integrating the JVD team and of participating to the industrialization of the Jet Vapour Deposition technology. My role in this story consisted of the development of the post-treatments on JVD substrates and to be the person in charge of the product characterization for the Industry market, role which continues Today.
During these 15 years, I have also transited by the OC department where I was responsible of the Optigal project.
In 2018, I joined the CASTL team and became in 2021, Team Leader of the CASTL team. I am therefore involving in many projects dealing with surface treatment.
Your current work covers a number of fields, but let's focus a little on pilot line which is a rather historical area within the CRM Group. Can you tell us more about it? About projects, expertise or equipment?
The Continuous Advanced Surface Treatment Line (CASTL) is a fabulous tool. One pilot line, it is a tool which ensures the transition between the lab research and the industrialization step.
As it is name says, this line is dedicated to the surface treatment. Product and process developments, surface preparation for the other pilot line of CRMgroup but also technical assistance for our customer.
The main advantage of this tool is to be very flexible and modular. In the field of surface treatment, many line configuration exists all around the world. It is therefore necessary to have a pilot which answers to this challenge. The CASTL line was therefore thought on this basis. All the equipments are fixed by quick connectors and each process section can be easily moved to another place.
As the line configurations are multiple, the types of projects are also multiple. Projects dealing with surface preparation (cleaning, pickling…), dealing with post-treatment (phosphatation, passivation, conversion before paint…) are possible on CASTL line. But we have also a laminator to laminate plastic film on moving strip. We have 2 electroplating cells and we have possibilities to apply powder coating. The possibilities are therefore really numerous.
You just mentioned technical assistance for customer, can you tell us more?
One day, one customer arrived with a surface treatment issue. During the production, some stains appeared on the strip with the use of a specific treatment solution. According to this customer, the staining was totally random and therefore difficult to solve. The use of this treatment solution was also mandatory to fulfill the requested specifications.
After different meetings to correctly understand the issue, the CASTL team decided to mimic the line configuration of the customer and to try to help the customer. Thanks to the expertise of the team, we succeeded to reproduce the defects on the CASTL pilot line.
And… after applying different sets of process parameters, we also succeeded to find a good setup for the application of this treatment solution and for preventing the staining.
On that day, I really saw, and I really understood why the CASTL pilot line is a so powerful tool.
Lastly, what advice would you give to a young student entering this field today?
« Don’t worry, be optimistic ». The world is in a constant state of evolution. This conclusion is also true for research. Something which is not possible Today can be possible Tomorrow. So, even if it is not easy every day, keep pushing.
The solution is not necessarily far, sometimes a detail can change everything.
Also don’t forget the team spirit. The strength of a group allows going further and feeling supported in the more challenging time.
