MVGA: striking the hot iron of innovation…
Replacing the forge with a digital control: the idea began to germinate in the blacksmith, Antony Gouya’s mind four years ago.

“I was shoeing horses for one of my clients who works in high precision part machining for aeronautics and industry,” he recalls.
“When I saw the machining centre he used, I immediately realised it was the tool for me.” Antony Gouya consequently invested 100,000 Euros to equip his blacksmith company, MVGA. And his wife trained “in just a day and a half” on the 2 and 3D software package to design the shoes requiring machining. “No-one really believed that we would finally get the machine going…”. Indeed, the project was making slow progress. But two and a half years later, the results are there. Today, MVGA is the only European company to produce made-to-measure shoes via digital control, using a radio and a sketch of a horse’s foot. A process that enables shoes to be adapted to suit equine pathologies or specific disciplines. And in record time. Antony Gouya’s project is not only certified by the “horse industry competitiveness cluster”, but was also rewarded, on the 27th of February, by the Equi’défi competition, in the R&D category. However, the blacksmith doesn’t plan to stop there. He is now looking to open his own training centre. “In our field of expertise, materials have evolved, but not methods,” he notes. “Yet, we still need to train young blacksmiths on digital technologies, to ensure that our profession continues to progress.”

Antony Gouya / MVGA
Chemin des pèlerins
14 610 Anguerny
Tél. : 06 07 53 76 58

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