About Aufratech
Charmeux Jean-François
The Founder
After graduating from INSA Toulouse in Mechanical Engineering, I completed a PhD in Manufacturing engineering at Cardiff University, UK. This degree in micromanufacturing and replication technologies provided me with a sound knowledge in material sciences, rapid prototyping and state of the art manufacturing processes used in several cutting-edge engineering fields.
My strong interest in the field of medical engineering lead me to work in the neurostimulation field for 11 consecutive years first in France, and then in Austria. I started my career as a research engineer and then moved on to become a team leader in R&D. This helped me acquire an extensive experience in the development of neuroprosthesis in the field of active implantable medical devices.
I am an adventurous individual, who is fascinated by, and passionate about mechanical engineering and healthcare. In 2019, driven by a strong desire to become an entrepreneur, I have created the company Aufratech.
How everything started
A really bad mountain biking accident that occurred in 2016 left me with a permanently damaged radial head with no chances to heal. Even after 2 consecutive bone graft surgeries my performance was never going to be the same again.
Since quitting riding my mountain bike was out of the question and a third surgery with a prosthetic radial head replacement was not an ideal long-term solution, I started investigating what was available for sportsmen in the field of custom-made elbow braces.
The options were limited. The few manufacturers identified at the time would have provided me with a solution that was contradictory to my needs. The suggested braces would have been produced using stiff carbon fiber panels where I needed flexibility and comfort and would have been fitted together with a poorly designed, weak aluminum hinge system where I needed maximum protection and stiffness.
I therefore decided to design and produce my own stabilization and protective elbow brace.
A detailed explanation of the design methodology and manufacturing is provided in the research section.
The company
Aufratech is an engineering company working in B2B and B2C. It’s main focus is on the development, manufacturing and distribution of innovative solutions in the field of mobility assistance devices, mostly dedicated to the reduction of musculoskeletal disorders arising from physically intensive professional activity.
Aufratech offers to its customers a collaborative development methodology which is unique and custom to an individual or a company. Our innovative products are developed based on an advanced scientific approach which focuses on resolving physiological constraints while improving operating performances.
Aufratech strongly believes that the key to the success and customer’s satisfaction is its methodology for collaborative development, the assessment of gained benefits (quantification) and the follow up combined with the quality and pragmatism of our solutions.
Companies that choose to adopt our solutions will gain in competitivity and attractiveness while drastically improving the health conditions of their employees.
Values
As human beings we always search for meaningful connections which can than become a foundation to something that we value – trust.
This expectation of the meaningful connection and the trust are at the core of the Human Era and extend to organizations and brands. I am convinced that only strong human values based on mutual respect, trust and honest dialogue can lead to a successful and long-lasting collaboration. I wish to cultivate those values together with my passion for the job well done.
I will ensure that at Aufratech we always follow these fundamental values in order to guarantee mutual satisfaction and longevity of our collaboration.
