USINE POMPEIIIn 1972 it was decided to set up a factory for the production of graphite electrodes. T
USINE POMPEIIIn 1972 it was decided to set up a factory for the production of graphite electrodes. The original deed shows that the factory was founded on March 9, 1972 under the name CEGRAM, which stands for Compagnie de l'Électrographite de la Meuse. The construction of the factory took about a year and the new company delivered its first finished products, namely electrodes with a diameter between 400 and 500 mm, a length of 1800 mm and a maximum weight of 800 kilograms in 1973. These electrodes find an application in metallurgy, in particular in the steel industry. Over the next few years, improvements were made to the plant and to the production process, but in the mid-1980s the company was hit by an economic recession. With a major restructuring and numerous layoffs, the company tried to stay out of debt, but the oversupply of graphite on the market, especially competition from Asia, made these efforts very difficult. From the mid-1990s, the company begins to record significant losses and a few years later, the German parent company decides to cease operations on this site. The production process can no longer be brought into line with the increasingly strict environmental standards. Between 1996 and 1999, large parts of the factory, including the furnaces and graphite units, were demolished. In 2008, a second dismantling took place, focusing on the metal fraction. Today only a few empty sheds and silos and this “screening tower” remain of the immense factory. The 13-storey building fell victim to vandalism several times, but fortunately the higher floors were relatively spared. Curiously, the drab, black tower was known locally as the “greenshop”. An unknown artist found an ideal location in the tower ruin for a work of art of hanging figures. Two entwined figures on the ground floor, somewhat reminiscent of Pompeii’s illustrious lovers, were the inspiration for the name Usine Pompeii. -- source link
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