Echo CCIF · September 2026

Physical authorisation: a start-up puts the key back at the centre

A key with no battery or connection that decides on the spot whether a machine or piece of equipment can start: that is the principle behind NLE.

Starting point

In May 2020, a backhoe loader is stolen even though it is fitted with a tracker. Franck Proux draws a conclusion: locating a machine and preventing its use are two separate problems. NLE was born in 2021, patented the same year and internationally in 2022, and matured until 2026 through several prototypes developed between France and Switzerland with his son Bastien.

The decision lies in the machine

The answer takes a familiar form: a key. No app, no badge linked to a server. Passive, with no battery or radio, the NLE key carries its information in the material itself, through conductive and insulating zones. Above all, it no longer applies to a single machine but to an authorisation: several pieces of equipment recognise it, and a machine accepts different keys. A lost key is revoked without changing the locks of the whole fleet.

The accessible reader does not store the secret: the decision is made by a lock module housed in a protected area of the equipment, which governs a start-up, a control power supply or maintenance access. No cloud, no network, no administration software. Authorisations remain physical: creating keys, regaining control, time-limited rights depending on the version.

Fribourg as an industrial base

The canton was chosen for its mechatronics subcontracting and precision manufacturing, which Bastien Proux knows well after ten years in Swiss industry. As manager and CEO of Maubuisson Sàrl, founded in 2026, he is driving the industrialisation of NLE from Marly. First markets: construction and agricultural machinery, rental and classic vehicles. Industry, robotics and sensitive infrastructure will follow. The solution will be presented at BATIMAT Paris at the end of September and at Bordeaux Classic in October.