Compin

COMPIN was founded in 1902. At the time, it supplied train seats. It then extended its business to the design and supply of interior fit-out systems for public transport. The interwar period was decisive for COMPIN. The company made railways its main business focus, together with bus seats. However, it also had a particular interest in aeroplane an... d theatre seating. The 1950s drew to a close and this period was, for COMPIN, the time when the creation and design of interior fit-out became all-important. This was the time of industrial projects in collaboration with major design agencies, such as the first moulded shell seat for Z 6400 Class trains, with MBD Design, or the first die-cast aluminium seat for the TGV Atlantique (the French Atlantic high-speed train), with Roger Tallon. In the early 1960s, few French companies the size of COMPIN exported their products. Nonetheless, COMPIN chose to enter into cooperation agreements abroad, directly and with local partners. "COMPIN and the TGV" could be used as the title for a wonderful tale of industrial collaboration, because the TGV had a major influence on the development of railway seat specifications and, consequently, on COMPIN seat design. Since their debut in 1976, on France's Corail intercity trains and the south-east line TGVs in 1981, SNCF's modern seating has continuously evolved to provide greater comfort. Each new generation of TGV has brought its own set of refinements, finally achieving fully velour-upholstered injected frame seats. During the 1990s, the company redoubled its efforts to develop and deliver a series of new products for equipment such as the following high-speed trainsets: TGV Réseau, Eurostar, Thalys, TGV PSE (Paris Southeast) or the double-deck TGV Duplex. For suburban trains, COMPIN has a presence on all the RER (Paris regional metro) and Paris metro lines. Together with this, the company has chalked up major international commercial successes, including Japan, Korea, China and the United States. The first decade of the 21st ...Read More