Welbees: Story of the compagny

       Welbees is a consultancy firm specialising in fatigue risk management for industries with staggered working hours. Its mission is to improve health, safety and performance in the workplace by tackling fatigue issues more effectively, in order to improve the way the workplace is organised. 

Philippe and Viravanh – how they met 

       Viravanh Somvang and Philippe Cabon met in 2012 during a previous professional project. Their first collaboration was on a joint project to assess pilot workload for the certification of a new aircraft. This was followed by three years spent working together with airlines, particularly from 2014 as the new requirements on fatigue risk management for flight crews, due to come into force in 2016, approached.

       Philippe and Viravanh gradually developed their data collection and analysis methods in response to airlines’ requests for fatigue risk management. Welbees was born in 2016, with the desire to stand on their own two feet and embark on an entrepreneurial adventure. 

Philippe’s profile

       Philippe Cabon is a scientific expert on sleep and fatigue. He holds a PhD in neuroscience and has over 25 years’ experience in fatigue risk assessment. He has worked on various FRMS (Fatigue Risk Management System) projects for numerous airlines in France and abroad. 

He is at the core of Welbees, where he develops the training programme and contributes his scientific expertise to consultancy projects. He is also at the forefront of customer contact, identifying clients’ needs and offering the most appropriate support. 

Viravanh’s profile

       Viravanh Somvang is an aeronautical engineer specialising in Human Factors. She has been working closely with Philippe Cabon for over 10 years on fatigue risk management for the aviation industry. She has carried out various consultancy projects and run training courses on fatigue risk management for a large number of airlines. Viravanh is an expert in fatigue modelling and prediction, including chronobiological analysis of work schedules. 

       As CEO (Chief Executive Officer) of Welbees, she is in charge of the company’s administrative and legal responsibilities (financial management, general organisation, recruitment, etc.). She is highly involved in consultancy projects, where she oversees the various tasks needed to manage and organise resources. In coordination with Philippe, she also runs business development. 

       As PO (Product Owner) of TimeWiks, the tool brand of the parent company Welbees, she is involved in the development of the various tools, from the specification (detailed list of functionalities) to the fatigue modelling algorithm. 

Welbees: the start-up 

       Welbees was created in February 2016 by two complementary profiles with the shared ambition of helping companies in the transport industry to better manage the risks associated with employee fatigue. Their objective: to prevent the risk of fatigue through better workplace organisation, by combining human sciences and data science. 

 

Did you know that…   Welbees comes from « bees », which evokes bees’ particular value to nature and their collective intelligence, recalling the company’s work on work-related fatigue. The founders quickly associated it with the notion of well-being, a central theme in their work.

       Viravanh and Philippe have developed a unique scientific approach at the crossroads of data science and risk analysis: innovative, collaborative management of work organisation, enabling companies to identify and prioritise their field actions. 

 

What does Welbees mean to you?   Philippe : « It’s a bit like a ‘baby’, it’s something we’ve been creating from the start and have watched grow. It’s a lot of fun, but also a lot of challenges. It’s a link between research and the business world: everything blends together ».   Viravanh : « Above all, it’s a great human adventure, which is what I was looking for at the start. The main reason I got involved in the project was to be part of a team, at the heart of a human experience ».