GRYP was born 8 years ago in Gauthier Laviron's apartment. The goal was to remake spare parts when they are unavailable for his own collection cars, his passion. Then friends started asking him for help, followed by local car clubs. Before long, he found himself manufacturing parts, first for classic cars, then for increasingly modern vehicles. GRYP was born.
“It's not necessarily availability that brings people to us,” explains Gauthier Laviron. “It's mainly the fact that when you have a broken part in an assembly, like the rear shelf of a car, the dealer will replace everything for you. We only remake what is broken. How many times have we heard about 'economically non-repairable'? It doesn't make sense. It means it costs more to repair than to buy new. From there, we took on the challenge of remaking parts for cars.”
GRYP focuses on what is not, or no longer, manufactured by car manufacturers. Parts, especially those related to safety, must meet very strict standards. “When we make a part for a safety component like a headlight, for example, we take the original part and our manufactured part, and we put them through the same tests. We check that our parts break in the same way, at the same time. The idea is to have the same ability to deform and absorb shocks,” insists Gauthier Laviron.
A remanufacturing process that aims to be ecological for several reasons. First, production is localized. The goal is to install production units directly at repair shops. “When you go to a garage and need to replace a headlight, today that headlight might come from the far reaches of East Asia. We aim for the production tool to be at the repair shop.”
Additionally, additive manufacturing allows for the production of only what is needed, with between 60 and 80% less waste than all other manufacturing processes, because the material is used only where it is needed.
“We use much less raw material for the same part, especially internally, meaning that intrinsically within the part, we create voids, and all of this fits into the logic of consuming less material for the same outcome.”
Finally, there is the economic aspect for repairers. By producing closer to the point of need, repairs are expedited, and the vehicle is immobilized for less time. This is economically more viable for the repairer, who can handle more vehicles in the same week.
These savings benefit motorists as well, but also insurance companies, which, as Gauthier Laviron envisions, will benefit users.
