Internal Operations and Collaborations within the Aaton Company - Text 5
There were two study bureaus: the first in mechanics, tasked with designing the cameras in particular, and the second in electronics. The role of these bureaus was to carry out research towards developing various technical processes with the goal of creating new devices or to improve their performance. They were staffed by prototype creators, technicians and mechanical or electronics engineers, according to their specialization. Around 20 or 25 % of the company’s revenue was devoted to these study bureaus, enabling Aaton to invest in numerous projects. According to Bernard Rivoire, Jean-Pierre Beauviala could have as many as ten new research ideas per week. The engineers would get down to work, and quite often one of these research projects would prove fruitful. In addition, a maintenance office, under Bernard Dechaumel, handled very specific requests: to modify a camera so that it would work under extreme temperatures, prepare projects for cameras capable of being sent into space, etc. There was no sales outlet in the factory; every device was pre-ordered before being shipped to its buyer by the shipping department.
The Aaton employees who worked on developing new devices would occasionally receive a visit from a camera operator, but they also sometimes went to film shoots in order to understand the specificities of the group work found in filmmaking[3] and, of course, to observe their devices in use. The company’s modest size and Beauviala’s desire never to lose contact with the film world facilitated these exchanges considerably: this proximity played a major role in the recognition Aaton obtained both in France and abroad.