60 years alongside oyster farmers

Roger Bertrand is only 23 when he sets up his marine forge in Bourcefranc in May 1957. He works alone at first, then hires a blacksmith and later more workers.

It is a time when oyster farming is booming but has few mechanical resources. Roger Bertrand grows close to the oyster farmers — and this is how he brings the first oyster tables to market.

In the 1970s, Roger Bertrand builds a tubular washer, the first oyster-farming machine and oyster farming’s first step towards mechanisation. A year after its launch, around a hundred tubular washers are sold.

In the 1980s comes the machine to destock collector tubes: a machine for cutting Brussels sprouts, seen in Belgium, gives Roger Bertrand the idea of building a destocker.

The 1990s put stainless steel in the spotlight, and the first electronic weight grader is born at Bertrand. This grader is never marketed, for lack of demand — it was too early.

Only delayed: in 2004, Charles Bertrand markets a vision grader with automatic feeding, also built by Bertrand, which this time enjoys well-deserved success!