1856-1970 Saint-Gobain
Industrial revolutions and modern times
Buoyant markets, international expansion and market diversification kept Saint-Gobain on an upward trend for three quarters of a century.
Glass enters its golden age
The glass industry blossomed during the second half of the 19th century. Worldwide production grew practically 9% a year from 1850 to 1870, and Saint-Gobain started honing its strategy to stay on the move and thereby fend off foreign competition. It merged with its main domestic rival, Saint-Quirin, in 1858. The new company’s name – Manufacture des Glaces et Produits Chimiques de Saint-Gobain, Chauny et Cirey – enjoyed handsome eminence in its day. Starting in 1853, gaps in domestic production opened up exciting opportunities in neighbouring Germany (Mannheim and Stolberg), Italy (Pisa in 1899), Belgium (1900) and Spain (1904). New products then created fresh markets in the first half of the 20th century: continuous flow process, glass-tempering technology (1929), the automotive industry (in the 1930s), electrofused refractories, and glass wool and glass fiber all helped.
Developing and diversifying
The chemical branch backed the company’s expansion in the glass industry, but also played its part in the chemical industry’s consolidation. By 1872, Saint-Gobain held 37% of France’s mineral-chemical capacity. It branched out into nitrogen, petroleum, wood and paper between the wars.
By the time the 1960s came around, it was a fast-growing diversified group, grappling with questions about where to steer its strategy next, and where to allocate its resources accordingly. It played a role shuffling up France’s chemical industry, by parenting its Péchiney-Saint-Gobain subsidiary in 1962. A bolt from the blue came in late 1968 and early 1969 when BSN bid to take over 300-year-old listed company – but failed.
