Our history & transmission of know-how

At the origins: a real field need

Établissements Chevreuil, specialists in precision straightening, were born more than 70 years ago from a concrete market need, essentially oriented towards repair.

At the time, mechanical components were designed to last. A crankshaft had several lives: line and rod journal surfaces were remachined, diameters reduced, new bearings fitted. But before any grinding, one step was essential: straightening.

Cars and trucks often ended up in ditches. Axles and bridges deformed and had to be straightened to be put back in service. It is in this very concrete, very hands-on context that the company's trade was built.

Evolution with industry

Then the 1960s arrived, with the advent of new industries and new requirements.

The Caravelle marks a turning point: new alloys, new heat treatments, and above all ever more precise straightness requirements.

Concorde also knocked on our door. Landing gear pillars arrived in crates of incandescent charcoal, illustrating how critical material and thermal stresses were becoming.

At the same time, the Trente Glorieuses accompanied the industrial boom:

• mould plates,
• ball screws,
• ground plates,
• racks,
• actuator rods,
• welded mechanical assemblies.

So many parts with varied geometries, multiple materials, and increasingly high requirements.

A trade not limited to one material

Since its beginnings, the straightening practised at ETS Chevreuil has never been limited to a single material. As long as a part displays behaviour compatible with controlled correction, it falls within the company's developed expertise.

Steels, alloys, aluminium, copper, non-ferrous materials, various technical parts: the common thread is not the material, but the understanding of its behaviour under stress.

This capacity to adapt to varied shapes, materials and states has been built up progressively, in step with industrial developments and problems encountered in the field.

Transmission across four generations

This know-how has been passed down from generation to generation. Today, ETS Chevreuil continues the line of four generations, each having enriched the trade through experience, observations and understanding of limits.

Straightening has never been a trade of ready-made recipes. It rests on:

• reading the part,
• analysing its behaviour,
• mastering the technique,
• and the capacity to know how far to go… or when to stop.

This craft culture, forged over nearly a century, remains fully alive today.