3. Birth of the cement industry

The first cement factory was set up by Dupont and Demarle in Boulogne-sur-Mer in 1846. Development was only possible thanks to the introduction of new equipment: rotary kiln and ball mill, in particular.

Manufacturing processes were constantly being perfected. In 1870, it took 40 hours to produce one tonne of clinker (the basic ingredient of cement). Today, it takes about 3 minutes. In France, before the last war, production was low, as the following statistics show:

• 1880 : 100 000 t ;

• 1920 : 800 000 t ;

• 1938 : 3,800,000 t.

Cement production rose sharply from 1950 onwards (7.4 Mt), reflecting the boom in concrete production...