Customer story
SETP: from stone blocks to automated cut-to-size stone slab production
Customer Stories showcase leading companies that have built long-term partnerships with Breton to grow their business.
The company featured in this Customer Story is a leading player in the French natural stone extraction and primary processing industry:
SETP (Comblanchien, Burgundy, France).
Full interview
Jean-Roch Deswarte, President of SETP, takes us inside the company’s quarry and its new automated stone processing plant.
An engaging conversation about the technologies required to transform natural stone from primary sawing into polished, cut-to-size products—and the reasons SETP chose Breton to integrate the entire production flow.
From stone blocks to finished products
Burgundy is known throughout the world for its wines, but natural stone is equally rooted in the region’s history.
Located in Comblanchien, SETP operates France’s largest dimension-stone quarry. The company extracts approximately 25,000 cubic metres of stone per year and processes it into flooring, cladding and other finished products for architectural, construction and urban landscaping projects.
Over the past three decades, SETP has progressively expanded its production capabilities. Its latest investment is a new 6,000-square-metre facility designed to connect the main stages of stone processing within a highly automated production flow.
The project covers the entire journey, from slabs produced through primary block sawing to automated handling, surface polishing, cut-to-size stone slab production and final palletising.
An integrated stone processing plant
The new facility was developed to replace separate production operations with a connected and more efficient process.
After primary sawing, the slabs are placed on racks and stored inside the facility. Automated guided vehicles identify and transport the required racks to the production line, reducing conventional forklift handling and ensuring that the right material reaches production at the right time.
A turntable allows a new slab rack to be prepared while another is already being processed, helping maintain a continuous production flow.
The slabs are then loaded onto the line by a Breton Jot handling robot. Its automated movements connect material storage with the polishing and cutting operations while limiting manual intervention.
Automated slab polishing and consistent surface quality
The slab polishing line is a critical part of the new plant. Here, a sequence of polishing heads processes each surface from the coarsest to the finest abrasive grain.
This controlled process enables SETP to achieve an even and consistent finish across every slab before it enters the cut-to-size stone slab production stage.
For companies evaluating an industrial slab polishing machine or a complete polishing line, the SETP project highlights several key requirements: consistent surface quality, continuous material flow, integration with automated handling and the ability to maintain productivity across different production batches.
Cut-to-size stone slab production with Breton Evonix
After polishing, the slabs are transferred to the Breton Evonix multiple cutting machines.
Each Evonix features six independently controlled cutting heads. The system can perform multiple parallel cuts simultaneously, while the rotary bridge allows right-angle, oblique, vertical and horizontal cuts.
This configuration enables SETP to produce standard rectangular pieces as well as trapezoidal, triangular and other non-standard geometries. Each cutting head can be activated independently according to the required layout, giving the company the flexibility to manage both repetitive production and more complex cut-to-size orders.
A high-resolution digital image of the slab supports automatic cutting optimisation. The system identifies the cuts to be performed and proposes the production layout, which the operator reviews and validates.
For SETP, this combination of multi-head cutting, digital slab acquisition and automatic optimisation means shorter cycle times, greater production flexibility and cutting accuracy below one millimetre.
Why SETP chose Breton
When evaluating machinery for the new plant, SETP needed more than individual machines for slab polishing, cutting or handling.
The company was looking for a technology partner capable of connecting the different production stages and managing the project as a complete industrial solution.
Breton integrated the processing machines, robots, AGVs and digital workflow into a coordinated plant. From slab storage and automatic loading to polishing, cut-to-size stone slab production and palletising, each stage was designed to communicate with the next.
This integrated approach was one of the main reasons behind SETP’s decision. It gave the company a single partner for plant engineering, technology integration, installation, commissioning and operator training.
Breton’s technicians remained present throughout the project, supporting SETP’s employees and helping them become confident with the new machinery and production processes.
What changes for SETP’s customers
The new production line gives SETP greater control over three factors that directly affect its customers: quality, precision and delivery time.
Automated slab polishing ensures consistent surface finishes, while the latest-generation cutting centres deliver sub-millimetre accuracy. Rapid setup and automatic cycle changes allow the company to move efficiently between different products, formats and order volumes.
From slab loading to final palletising, the process requires minimal manual handling. This improves production continuity, reduces the risk of damage and enables SETP to respond more quickly to changing customer requirements.
Automation also supports better use of natural resources by optimising cutting layouts, reducing waste and increasing the quantity of finished products obtained from each slab.
Looking ahead
The new facility represents an investment of approximately €10 million and strengthens SETP’s productivity, competitiveness and ability to serve its customers.
Once fully operational, the plant is expected to support annual production of approximately 150,000 square metres of cladding.
With extraction capacity estimated at around three centuries and a production system designed for flexibility and long-term growth, SETP can look confidently to the future—combining a valuable local resource with integrated Breton technology.
