The company
A living industrial heritage since 1899
Even before TPS was born, there was a story: that of the industrial revolution and metalworking.
Origins
In the 19th century, the growth of the steel industry, railways, mines and the first large industries created new needs. Materials had to be filtered, sorted, ventilated, protected and lightened… and above all these metal components had to be made faster, more precisely and in series.
Across Europe, several engineers and industrialists set out to mechanise metal perforation. Among them, Armand Ophoven stood out. From 1875, he developed and refined a mechanical perforation process that would help bring perforated sheet into the industrial age.
Presented at major international and world fairs, his innovation won 26 medals over the course of these exhibitions.
Exceptional recognition that reflects the technological lead of this new industry.
It was in this spirit that the Société Anonyme Maubeugeoise pour la Fabrication de Tôles Perforées was founded in Maubeuge in 1899.
The company is part of the industrial heritage of Armand Ophoven and the business developed in Liège around Perfo’Jaspar. While Liège focused on large series, the Maubeuge site developed its own speciality: small series, specific products and the design of perforating tools.
From the very beginning, a culture took shape: understand the need, master the process and find the right solution.
During the second half of the 20th century, TPS changed hands several times.
In the 1970s, the company joined the Krieg & Zivy group, before becoming part of the Bonduelle group in 1986.
This period marked a turning point in the company’s history. Its industrial facilities and long-standing perforation expertise were gradually weakened, even though TPS had rare industrial know-how deeply rooted in the region.
More than a century after it was founded, the company went through its most critical period.
Tôles Perforées de la Sambre was on the brink of disappearing.
For Michel Prissette, an entrepreneur born and raised in the Sambre industrial basin, it was unthinkable to let a company disappear that carried historic know-how and part of the region’s industrial heritage.
In 2003, he chose to take over TPS, restructuring, investing in and turning the company around. But his ambition went beyond a rescue: he wanted to give it an industrial future.
In 2008, TPS reached a new milestone with the creation of an industrial sheet metal business, complementing its long-standing expertise in perforation.
In 2017, Thierry Prissette became managing director and continued the family story with a new ambition.
He set out to grow the sheet metal business significantly, while continuing to modernise the perforation facilities, the historic core of TPS’s know-how.
Moving the company forward does not mean turning its back on its history. Quite the opposite: it means continuing to invest in perforation to stay competitive, improve performance and meet the market’s growing demands.
But his main driving force lies elsewhere: the customer.
With a keen sense of service and listening, Thierry Prissette gave the company new momentum. TPS was no longer to be just a manufacturer: it had to become a partner able to understand its customers’ constraints, adapt to their needs and provide a reliable industrial response.
A new philosophy took hold: customer satisfaction, service and controlled adaptability.
In 2018, this evolution led to TPS adopting the name Tôles Perforées Système.
The name reflects a profound transformation: we no longer simply supply perforated sheet, we develop solutions that can be integrated into our customers’ systems.
Perforation, forming, finishing and precision sheet metalwork gradually came together around a single ambition: to offer the most relevant solution, both technically and industrially.
At the same time, our perforation facilities continue to evolve. Machines, equipment and processes are gradually modernised to preserve our industrial edge and maintain a high level of performance in our core business.
In 2022, TPS took a new step with a major investment in laser cutting.
This new technology complements our long-standing expertise and strengthens our ability to produce complex, precise parts tailored to our customers’ specific needs.
This investment supports the development of precision sheet metalwork, as part of a broader drive to modernise our industrial facilities.
Perforation remains at the heart of our business and also continues to benefit from regular investment to keep us competitive and expand our capabilities.
The development of sheet metalwork and the modernisation of perforation are continuing.
New investments are under way to increase our capacity, modernise our equipment and improve our industrial performance.
This strategy is based on a simple conviction: to stay competitive in a constantly changing industry, you have to keep investing in your tools, technologies and skills.
TPS is thus developing two complementary strengths: the depth of its long-standing expertise in perforation and the ability to offer ever more complete sheet metal solutions.
In 2025, TPS obtained ISO 9001 certification.
Above all, this certification recognises and formalises a quality management system that has been proven for almost 15 years.
For many years, our working methods, our requirements for process control and our culture of continuous improvement have been deeply rooted in the company’s day-to-day operations.
The goal was therefore not to build a quality system to obtain a certification, but to have practices already mastered and embedded by our teams recognised against an international standard.
ISO 9001 is thus a natural step in our approach: a label that confirms a quality culture built over time, with an ambition that remains unchanged: to control our production, keep improving and guarantee customer satisfaction.
Today, TPS draws on more than a century of industrial experience and on industrial facilities that are constantly evolving.
Our business has broadened considerably, but our DNA remains intact.
Perforation remains our core expertise and precision sheet metalwork broadens our ability to support our customers. The continuous modernisation of our facilities keeps us competitive, and our service culture guides us in every project.
From the mechanical perforation developed by Armand Ophoven in the 19th century to today’s industrial technologies, the same ambition drives us: understand the need, master metal processing and build the right solution.
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