Par
Julien Berrier
Published on Oct 28, 2024 at 2:06 p.m.
See my news Follow Voix du Jura
A poster placed on the door of the small wooden chalet located at the entrance to the TP Saillard courtyard warns: the reception and offices have been moved just opposite. Either in the company’s new headquarters in Arbois, inaugurated on October 18built on two levels, lit by large bay windows.
Clearly, with these new premises, TP Saillard has changed dimension: “ We had very small offices for a very small company and now we have medium offices for a growing company », summarizes Robin Saillard, son of Jean-Michel Saillard, the founder of the company who left the reins to his son in 2012.
At the time, TP Saillard employed seven people; today, there are twenty-five of them fueling the company’s development. “We are going to have around three million turnover this year, or even a little more. This is a figure that has been constantly evolving over the last fifteen years,” notes Robin Saillard.
The new TP Saillard offices in Arbois, Ethole area. ©Julien Berrier
A family business
When Jean-Michel Saillard founded the company in 1975, you would have had to be clairvoyant to imagine that it would celebrate its fiftieth anniversary in 2025.
Videos: currently on Actu
For the record, it was my grandfather Henri who launched the idea. One day, he had his yard in front of his house redone. He was like, ‘Oh, that’s expensive! It must be a profession of the future.’ Dad then found himself with a backhoe loader and a small dump truck and onward!
Robin Saillard, PDG TP Saillard
In the following years, Jean-Michel Saillard developed his home-based business. While he is in the field, his wife manages the administration. No matter what, the small business grew to include seven employees. “It didn’t start too badly but without anything too flamboyant. There you go, it didn’t work too bad, it was a nice little family box », remembers Robin.
At the time, the son followed the evolution of the family business very closely. And for good reason: in working-class families, doing nothing, even during the holidays, is rarely tolerated.
You’re 15, it’s Wednesday afternoon, you tell yourself that you’re going to go see your friends… except that no. Now, you’re not going to go play with your friends. You’re going to come and pull the rake on the platform because we need someone. You say: ‘Well yes, no problem.’ And then you get on an excavator to make progress and then on a loader, a cylinder, and then off you go! You learned the trade and you immerse yourself in it
Robin Saillard, PDG TP Saillard
A drama and a legacy
However, Robin was not necessarily preparing to take over from his father. In any case, not so quickly. A family tragedy will precipitate things. “I was supposed to take over the business with my brother but he died in a car accident. I was just twenty years old, my father was 58 and he wanted to stop. Basically, it was: ‘Either you take over or we dissolve, we sell.’ I figured it would still be stupid to resell and let all that go. »
Consequence: here is Robin Saillard, business manager at twenty years old in a personal context complicated by family bereavement and the need to assume his father’s legacy.
We learn a lot, really a lot, from mistakes. Personally, I’ve done a lot. Like everyone else, I think. And I believe my father’s intelligence was to let me make my own mistakes. I was able to really learn and then, there you go, we evolve
Robin Saillard, PDG TP Saillard
The family method
But Robin Saillard did not take long to take stock of his new duties. So much so that in 2018, TP Saillard left the house in Mesnay, where Jean-Michel created the company, to settle in the Ethole area. Already the sign of a first change of status for TP Saillard.
What made it work for me was that we started working as a family business. That is to say, we first wanted to build customer loyalty. We didn’t want to do a project, do things halfway and then walk away and say: ‘Well, that’s good, it’s done. Either way, we’re going to get paid and if you don’t make us work, too bad.’ We also came across some very good employees, that must be admitted. Even today, we are lucky to have employees who are really very efficient, very involved in their profession. As a result, customers are fully satisfied with our work.
Robin Saillard, PDG TP Saillard
“Round eyes”
A logic that TP Saillard will apply to larger projects with the same rigor. Thus, the company slips a foot in the door of the group of grande distribution Schiever. “It’s a company with which we have worked on small files worth 60,000, 70,000, 80,000 euros. Then, in 2013, they gave us a slightly more important project which is the Maxi market in Arc-et-Senans. Or around 220,000 euros; At the time, we heard that, our eyes opened wide. And then, when it came out, it went really well. Schiever was very happy and behind this leads to projects costing more than two million. »
« There is a comparison… »
For its fifty years, TP Saillard will have the pleasure of participating in the construction of the highly anticipated future Ethole roundabout. As for the rest of the story:
My only wish is to continue working as we currently do. We have guys who work very well, a company which is now renowned in Jura and Franche-Comté. My goal is to continue to make our way in the world of public works, always try to work as hard as possible with excellence and we will see where all that will take us.
Robin Saillard, PDG TP Saillard
And to conclude: “I want that in twenty years, we will say: ‘The Saillard company carries out public works and works very well.’ So. And whether there are 50, whether there are always 25 or whether there are 10, let it be said that the people who work for TP Saillard are good. »
The challenge of learning
If TP Saillard has seen its workforce grow over the years, it is because the company has also been able to attract and retain its employees. In this matter, Robin Saillard defends one approach: learning. » I based my recruitment on apprenticeship. We do a lot of learning. To give you an idea, currently in the company, I have six employees on permanent contracts who have completed apprenticeships with us. And soon a seventh will return. “
Students come to apprentice with us, they graduate from schools in Besançon or Lons and, already, they are taking their first step into working life but also into our company. Which allows them to see how we work and to say to themselves I adhere to this principle where I do not adhere. Taking on a permanent employee who hasn’t particularly had the time to look at how the company works is easy, but it’s less easy to keep them. He can have disagreements by saying: ‘I don’t think like that.’ Which is not bad in itself. But when the apprentice says to himself: ‘Well, I want to stay.’ We know we’ve had him for two years, he’s not a guy who’s going to snap at us in three months.
Robin Saillard, PDG TP Saillard
Follow all the news from your favorite cities and media by subscribing to Mon Actu.
