1789-1856
From legal monopoly to free competition
The end of the legal monopoly brought the days of privilege to an end, and forced the Manufacture to adjust its business model – and culture.
Fending for itself
Privileges were abolished and business competition was introduced. English and newer Belgian rivals took over half the European glass market when glassware casting technology became commonplace, and the legal and technical monopoly vanished. The company, however, reacted. It switched corporate status to become a société anonyme (joint-stock company), and thereby adjust to the new business environment more efficiently, in 1830. Facing the full glare of competition also entailed modernising its factories. It spent the following decade gradually bringing its production facilities up to par.
Branching out into chemicals
The company established a subsidiary to make the sodium carbonate (soda) that it needed to make glass, using the then revolutionary Leblanc process, in 1806. That was its first venture into the chemical industry. It invested heavily in its new plant, the Soudière de Chauny, from 1820 to 1835.
