Saftair, one of the leaders in smoke extraction in France and the main manufacturer of ventilation solutions for professional kitchens, has filed three patents in the last three years.
Publi-Information 
L’Saftair Ventilation factory is located in Normandy in Torcy-le-Petit, near Dieppe (76). We visited it on April 15, in the company of Ludovic Dournel, the sales director, and Florent Nothias, the technical and quality manager. On a site of 21,600 m2of which 8,800 m2 of production premises, 500 m2 of offices and 200 m2 R&D laboratory, the factory manufactures 30,000 ventilation and smoke extraction devices per year and ships 19,000 pallets/year.
Saftair achieved turnover of €26.5 million in 2025 and employs 100 people.
The Saftair factory has 4 trucks and employs 4 drivers for its deliveries, but also uses logisticians. © Saftair
The Saftair factory has been installed since 1988 on the site of a former spinning mill built in 1830. This explains the coexistence of brick buildings and new buildings. The space which contains the sheet metal stock was built in 2020. © PP
Five production areas
L’Saftair factory in Torcy-le-Petit is organized into five production areas: sheet metal work, assembly of ventilation hoods for kitchens, assembly of smoke extraction towers and electrical equipment.
THE smoke evacuation and ventilation of professional kitchens meet the same standard NF EN 1210-3but obey different regulations. In a ventilation and smoke extraction box factoryit all starts with a sheet metal workshop. Here, the factory consumes 1,630 t of metal per year, with a 30% scrap rate, and manufactures all the sheet metal necessary for production. It uses galvanized steel, pre-painted galvanized steel, aluminum and stainless steel sheets from 0.8 to 4 mm thick. The sheet metal stock ensures ten days of production. All scraps are valued. The same sheet metal part can be assembled in 4 to 7 different products. In a finished product, the sheet metal represents 30 to 80% of the material.
Saftair has invested in TruPunch 3000 punching machines, fully autonomous: loading, machining and unloading. They are controlled by integrated software which ensures the design of the parts, CAM (Computer Aided Manufacturing) and programming of the machines. © PP
Amada punching and folding machines are not self-contained. Installed for around twenty years, they are semi-autonomous: the operator must ensure the configuration for the progress of production. © PP
The VIPROS 368 Queen machine ensures work on the thickest sheets. They are not autonomous: the operator must load them, unload them and program the tasks. © PP
10% tailor-made
In ventilation of professional kitchensSaftair manufactures both classic hoods, induction or particularly aesthetic for chefs who are fans of kitchens visible from the restaurant room. The factory produces around 4,500 per year with growth of 13% in 2025.
She also manufactures filtering ceilingsfor kitchens whose appliances are mounted in the center of the space and not against the walls. Some of the hoods and all of the filtering ceilings are custom designed. A filtering ceiling is a ceiling covering with a stainless steel system that contains extraction sensors and filtered air blowing vents. Saftair itself installs the filtering ceilings and employs five installers for France, Belgium and Luxembourg. Compared to hoods, a filtering ceiling offers more comfortable working conditions with air flows at lower speed, no draft, UV lamps in all extractors to reduce odors, etc. Compared to hoods, as the entire kitchen surface is treated, this offers great freedom of installation and relocation of cooking appliances. For the same number of devices, the air flow rates are lower than those of a hood system: less energy consumption. You still need to maintain the filters once a week.
Made-to-measure represents around 10% of turnover.
The seasonality of the activity
L’professional kitchen ventilation activitya market valued at €60 million per year in France with around 800 to 1,000 specialized kitchen designers, according to Ludovic Dournel, the sales director, experiences seasonality: demand is greater from March to August for two reasons. Firstly, all seaside restaurants prepare before the holiday season.
Secondly, all renovations to kitchens linked to school buildings or centralized kitchens which serve school buildings take place during the summer, during vacations, so as not to interrupt service during class periods and to be ready to work when the school year begins in September. As a result, the factory works 5 days a week in 2/8 shifts all year round and in 3/8 shifts if it becomes necessary to deliver orders.
The average manufacturing time for a system is 3 to 5 days for common products, but can rise to 10 days for tailor-made solutions. Among the seven people employed by the integrated BE, one person is dedicated to tailor-made products and another only deals with filtering ceilings. The costing time varies from 15 minutes for current to a week for complex solutions. As the factory only manufactures to order, it has very little stock of finished products.
The sheet metal workshop supplies the assembly of the products. All the components necessary to manufacture a product are gathered on a cart filled by the assembler. The assemblers are versatile and ensure the assembly of different products, but always from their workstation. © PP
On the smoke extraction side, Saftair manufactures 400°C/2 hour extractors, around 3,000 per year and an average of 2.5 boxes sold per day. Traditional transmission boxes are cannibalized by more recent direct drive boxes, which already represent 1500 to 2000 sales per year.
Saftair also manufactures its own relay boxes, mounted on its smoke extraction boxes. When something is mounted on a smoke extraction box, the whole, here box + relay box, must be certified in one go. When a smoke extraction box or tower comes into operation, it is not possible to stop it. They are equipped with a stop box, for which only the firefighters have the key to stop the smoke extraction. © PP
Three patents filed in three years
The factory’s BE, active for a year, is responsible for the development, prototyping and testing of new solutions. Saftair filed three patents in three years : for the R’Chef box, the Dof+A/R box and the Otabrez misting hood.
The R’CHEF box is available with extraction flow rates from 500 to 16,000 m3/h for smoke extraction from professional kitchens. This product was developed taking into account current challenges in the sector, particularly in terms of size and adaptability. Its cubic shape and modularity optimize space and simplify installation. Its interchangeable panels offer maximum flexibility for tailor-made orientation, ensuring a perfect fit to the existing installation.
The DOF+ A/R smoke extraction box is certified F400/120 (400°C for two hours) and meets the regulatory constraints of Establishments Receiving the Public (ERP) and High-Rise Buildings. It covers a flow range of 800 to 110,000 m3/h with one or two extraction speeds. Saftair boxes are connected via BACnet or Modbus.
The Otabrez hood, marketed this month, is intended for cooking appliances with solid fuels generating smoke and flames. Thanks to its double row of filters, its misting system and its dynamic confinement, it ensures optimal safety while maintaining high capture efficiency. Made from brushed stainless steel and designed for easy maintenance, it meets the requirements of demanding culinary environments. It has a first row of stainless steel tile filters with a collection tray for misting water and soot and evacuation by 3/4” stainless steel plugged drain under the hood. Its second row of stainless steel impact filters includes a collection tray for grease and evacuation via a drain plug internal to the hood. © PP
Saftair belongs to the Airvance group. The Airvance Group was born in 2020 from the acquisition by the France Air Group, a family business founded in 1960 by the Dolbeau family, of the ventilation branch of the British SIG Plc. Airvance achieved a turnover of €603 million in 2025, employs 1,931 people, has 25 subsidiaries and ensures a presence in 50 countries. The group notably operates the Cairox, France Air, Saftair and Sufix brands. The Saftair factory also manufactures devices for the France Air and Cairox brands. © Airvance
