Joseph Ferrandez, founder of SOCMA, a Narbonne-based company specializing in the design and manufacture of wine-making and industrial equipment, located in the La Coupe industrial zone, was the 2007 winner in the "Technological Innovation" category.

The company has been rewarded several times with many prestigious awards thanks to its efforts and know-how. Joseph Ferrandez has been collecting awards and patents since 1997, with his first success: the Turbopigeur® with more than 2,000 units sold worldwide. A small retribution for him, who had his wine equipment distributor's license withdrawn one evening in 1996, like his fellow retailers in the network. SOCMA was about to celebrate its tenth anniversary. History proved him right. Right from its launch, the Turbopigeur®, acclaimed for its punch-down capabilities, won a prize and quickly forced him to leave the 400m² facility rented at Croix Sud. Off it to the La Coupe industrial zone, where a 940m² facility was waiting for him. Soon complemented by 240m² of additional space.

Ten awards later, SOCMA has a annual revenue of €2.7m, employs 16 full-time employees and almost as many temporary staff, depending on incoming orders.

The workshop roars, rumbles, whirrs, like an overheating engine. Here the metalworkers are welding, "a rare skill with our degree of excellence". There, the electro-mechanics, and further on, the Plastics Engineering station, incorporated for lack of a reliable partner, the welding robot, "the same as at Audi", or the cutting laser. All connected to the computers in the engineering and design department. The latest creation: the vibrating destemmer, christened The Cube®, is already being exported to the four corners of the world.