Société de Commentry, Fourchambault et Decazeville
Open pit coal mine in Decazeville
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| Manufacturer | |
| Industry | Integrated coal and metallurgy |
| Fate | Defunct |
| Founded | 1853 |
| Defunct | 1968 |
| Headquarters | France |
The Société de Commentry, Fourchambault et Decazeville was an integrated coal, iron and steel company in France.
In 1817 Jean-Georges Dufaud Père, director of the Grossouvre foundry in Cher, visited Wales on a commercial visit and noted the iron-making technology in use there. That year the Trezi foundry at Grossouvre was adapted to manufacturing iron using Welsh techniques, and delivered the first products in 1818. In 1819 the leases of the Grossouvre site and factories were ceded to Boigues & Fils, iron merchant in Paris, and M. Labbé. They decided to find a new site on the Loire to which it would be easier to transport coal, and decided on Fourchambault in Nièvre. A dock was built for cargo boats, and the Loire provided water for the steam engines.
Construction of the factory at Fourchambault began in 1821. The Charbonnières Raveaux and Cramain furnaces became annexes to the new building, and Boigues & Fils collected several furnaces from Nivernais and Berry. Manufacturing began in 1822. Almost 3,000 workers from the surrounding countryside were employed in the cast iron foundry. In the crisis year of 1848 Charles de Wendel and Eugène Schneider saved the foundry at Fourchambault from bankruptcy by co-signing a huge bank loan.
The Société de Commentry, Fourchambault et Decazeville was formed in 1853 through a merger of the Fourchambault foundry, Imphy (Nièvre) steelworks, Montluçon (Allier) foundry and Commentry (Allier) colliery. The Imphy steelworks was detached from the company and combined with the Saint-Seurin steelworks. They were adapted to use the Bessemer process. In 1869 the two steelworks were reunited with the company. In 1891 the company acquired the Brassac (Puy-de-Dôme) iron ore mines and in 1892 absorbed the Société des forges et fonderies de l'Aveyron. The Aveyron works, founded in 1826 and reorganized in 1868, was one of the first large integrated metallurgical factories in the country.
Henri Fayol (1841–1925) was a mining engineer who graduated in 1860. Henri Fayol was engineer at the Commentry coal mines from 1860 to 1866 and director of these mines from 1866 to 1872. He was director of the Commentry, Montvicq and Berry mines from 1872 to 1888. In 1888 he became director-general of the company, holding office until 1918. In 1900 Fayol became a member of the central committee of Houillères de France, member of the board of the Comité des forges and administrator of the Société de Commentry Fourchambault et Decazeville.
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