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23-meter anodizing tanks, 22.5-meter machining centers, powder coating, and indoor storage: Sparcraft is upgrading its industrial facilities. Its new plant in Sainte-Soulle brings together operations that were previously spread across several sites. This 22-million-euro investment is expected, among other things, to increase production capacity.
Sparcraft is consolidating its operations in Sainte-Soulle
For a mast manufacturer, a few extra meters of space in a workshop can make a big difference. Machining, anodizing, painting, storing, and moving profiles longer than twenty meters requires an industrial organization quite different from that of an equipment manufacturer producing parts of more conventional dimensions.
Sparcraft designed its new factory in Sainte-Soulle, in Charente-Maritime, with this constraint in mind. The manufacturer of masts, booms, and rigging?which has been part of the Wichard Group since 2013?has just transferred its operations there from Périgny, among other locations. The company?s website confirms that the relocation of machinery, equipment, and production lines is now complete.
Known internally as Spartacus, the project represents an investment of 22 million euros: 14.5 million for the real estate component and 7.5 million for industrial equipment, according to figures released by the Wichard Group.
The new site occupies a 25,000 m² plot of land. The workshops cover 8,000 m², which, according to the company, represents a production area 40% larger than that of its previous facilities.
However, the issue is not solely about real estate. Above all, Sparcraft has sought to bring together on a single site the various steps required to manufacture its spars: anodizing, painting, machining, welding, assembly, and rigging.
Facilities designed for long lengths
The plant?s distinctive feature is immediately apparent in the size of its equipment. The new anodizing tanks are 23 meters long. The powder-coating line also features a 23-meter spray booth and oven. For machining, Sparcraft reports having two machining centers capable of processing parts up to 22.5 meters long, one of which is a new machine.
These dimensions are directly determined by the manufacturing constraints of aluminum masts. The extruded profile must undergo various processes before it becomes a spar ready for rigging: cutting, machining the openings and passages needed for fittings, surface treatment, painting (depending on the model), and then outfitting and assembly.
Added to this is a logistical challenge: moving these profiles without increasing the number of handling operations and without damaging them.
The building was therefore designed with the flow of materials in mind. Loading and unloading can be carried out using 34-meter overhead cranes. More than 2,000 m² are also dedicated to indoor storage of profiles and work-in-progress.
For a company that serves both the construction industry and the aftermarket, this consolidation can reduce transfers between workshops and simplify production tracking. Sparcraft also cites a goal of reducing lead times, though the effects of this will need to be assessed once the factory is fully up and running.
Anodizing and painting reintegrated into the production process
Surface treatment is one of the project's major technical investments.
An aluminum mast is exposed for years to a particularly harsh environment: humidity, salt, ultraviolet radiation, friction, and contact with various materials. Anodizing creates a protective oxide layer on the surface of the aluminum, designed specifically to improve its corrosion resistance.
Sparcraft chose to combine this process with a powder coating procedure applied to unsealed anodized aluminum. The process involves applying powder coating to the anodized aluminum before curing it in an oven.
According to the press kit, the system is designed to meet the requirements of the Qualicoat certification and withstand exposure to a marine environment. The manufacturer highlights, in particular, its resistance to corrosion, abrasion, and UV rays. These performance characteristics are claimed by Sparcraft; the provided materials do not include test results to quantify them.
The industrial appeal also stems from the integration of the process. With the tanks, the powder-coating line, the oven, and the machining equipment all located in Sainte-Soulle, a significant portion of a profile?s manufacturing process can now be carried out in the same plant.
An on-site water treatment plant
Aluminum processing is also one of the environmentally sensitive aspects of this type of industrial activity. Anodizing baths use water and generate effluents that must be treated.
The new plant therefore has its own water treatment facility. The Wichard Group has announced plans to reduce water consumption, recycle the sludge produced during treatment, and limit pollutants. The building is also equipped with solar panels.
The report refers more broadly to a reduction in carbon emissions and energy consumption. However, it provides neither a baseline nor a specific target that would allow for a comparison of the new site with previous facilities. At this stage, therefore, it is possible to describe the measures that have been implemented, but not to quantify the actual environmental benefit.
This distinction is important. In the marine industry, investments in managing effluents, resource consumption, and waste are gradually becoming just as critical as the production machinery itself, particularly due to regulatory requirements applicable to industrial facilities.
Additional capacity to supply construction sites
The new plant should also enable Sparcraft to increase its production volume. The company reports that it produced 720 masts in 2024, with revenue of 14 million euros and 59 employees at that time. Its customer base includes boat builders and the replacement parts market, with international operations supported by a network of distributors.
The Sainte-Soulle site is expected to eventually employ approximately 70 people. Wichard Groupe has announced the creation of about 20 additional positions, particularly in specialized industrial fields.
This growth is already evident in the company?s hiring efforts. Sparcraft is currently seeking several positions in Sainte-Soulle, including aluminum TIG welders, powder coat painters, and crane operators responsible for handling structural sections. The job postings published by the company specify that some of these profiles can reach 26 meters in length, illustrating the unique handling challenges encountered in the workshop.
This investment will thus enable Sparcraft to meet the needs of both original equipment manufacturers and the rigging replacement market. The company?s official website also states that it maintains a database of manufacturers? drawings, which is updated through its relationships with shipyards.
An investment that fits into the Wichard Group's strategy
Sparcraft?s expansion is part of a much broader industrial landscape. The Wichard Group reports that it generated 110 million euros in revenue in 2024, employs 650 people, and generates 70% of its business from exports. According to the report, the boating sector accounts for 73% of its revenue. The group includes Wichard, Profurl, Facnor, Sparcraft, Lorima, Maillard, Ronstan, Andersen, and Axxon Composites.
This organizational structure gives the group a presence in several key areas of sailboat manufacturing: deck hardware, furling systems, rigging, and aluminum or carbon fiber spars. It also allows the group to pool certain industrial and commercial resources.
With Sainte-Soulle, the focus this time is on the production equipment for aluminum spars. This material continues to play an important role in production sailboats, despite the growing use of carbon fiber on vessels where weight savings and performance gains can justify its higher cost.
The La Rochelle plant is therefore not intended solely to manufacture more masts. Its goal is to manage a complex industrial chain?from the raw profile to the assembled spar?while reducing the movement of parts between different operations.
