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Chapitre D'ouvrage Année : 2012

« Usinor : The First French Wide Mill Strip »

Résumé

Founded in 1948 in order to develop the continuous rolling mill technology in France, Usinor has been one of the most competitive French steel company until the 1970s crisis. Relying on post-war recovery, mass consumption, financial low rates or a combination of public and private control on French steel markets, Usinor never faced a profit loss from its first financial years till 1976. For almost 30 years, the company invested heavily. For instance, after1956, Usinor was the first in France to build a seashore plant in Dunkirk (North west of France). Just before the Oil crisis started, Sacilor, Usinor’s French eastern competitor launched the construction of its second continuous rolling mill plant in Fos-sur-Mer, near Marseille (South-East). This drastic jump of the national production capacities represented a 40% increase of the 1974 national market and a heavy burden as soon as the oil crisis started. For Usinor, the Dunkirk investment also led to a change in technology and supply strategy of raw materials. The new plant high competitivness progressively threatened the old factories of Northern France and Lorraine. Besides the technical aspects, the steel industry has created a social model since the XIXth century. It relied on long term employment, young workers and family recruitments, high wages and a housing policy.
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Dates et versions

hal-04527732 , version 1 (30-03-2024)

Identifiants

  • HAL Id : hal-04527732 , version 1

Citer

Eric Godelier. « Usinor : The First French Wide Mill Strip ». Ribbon of Fire. How Europe adopted and developed US Strip Mill technology (1920-2000), J.Aylen and R. Ranieri (eds.), Pendragon, 2012. ⟨hal-04527732⟩

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