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Industry |
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An industry linked to mixed farming |
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| In the early 20th century, Objat witnessed unprecedented economic growth. This boom could be explained by the introduction of mixed farming based on early fruit and vegetables thanks to the arrival of the railway, generating a small industry. |
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Coudert Canning Plant |
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It is to Joseph Coudert that the town of Objat owes the foundation, in 1903, of the canning factory that was to bear his name. But first let's go back a few years to the time when Joseph was a cook by trade. His family had been postmasters in Objat for several generations. Joseph's father, Ludovic Coudert, was a large-scale dispatcher of peas, which went by train to Bordeaux to be canned at Rödel, one of France's leading canning companies. Given the length of the train journey, the peas did not always arrive in Bordeaux perfectly fresh.
Having noted this, Joseph Coudert decided to set up his own canning company in 1903. At the beginning, the canning factory mainly processed two products - peas and Vars plums (greengages). Joseph later diversified production with peas and plums, green beans, wild mushrooms, cream of sweet chestnut, and apple compotes. However, there were several problems :
- This business was seasonal, with the canning operation taking place from May to October.
- There was virtually no mechanisation of the process, unlike in the USA where it had been used since the 1860s.
- In France, canning was multi-product and there was no specialisation in terms of formats or products. In the face of competition, the 150 different can formats made the company stand out, but such a plethora of sizes made the industry impossible to modernise.
Mechanisation arrived during the First World War. During this conflict the Coudert factory manufactured pâtés for soldiers on the front.
In the period between the wars, the production line became automated, and after the Second World War,
Coudert took a new direction because in order to ensure the lasting success of the company,
it was necessary to specialise. This revolution came about thanks to Jean Coudert, the grandson of Joseph.
In 1951, as part of a Marshall Plan assignment, Jean went to the USA to find out about developments
in the industry. On his trip he learnt about baby foods, which he adapted to the French market.
The first recipes were created by his governess and they gradually evolved with industrialisation.
The set-up of a distribution channel caused more difficulties.
From 1957 to 1962, chemists' shops were the only authorised outlet for products for young children.
At the time, there were two leading products: Blédine Jacquemaire and Phosphatine Falière.
Jean Coudert and his father Pierre had no other choice but to use the same distribution channel.
But the paediatricians of the time were strongly prejudiced against industrialised baby food,
which they considered to be harmful to the development of children.
Despite an extensive awareness-raising campaign among doctors, distribution in pharmacies did not generate
the results expected. In 1962, little pots of baby food hit the supermarkets and from that moment on,
production made a huge leap forward, going from 700,000 pots in 1957 to almost 50 million six years later.
The Coudert family business had difficulty following this exponential rise in production.
To cope with it, they sold the canning plant with all its staff to Phosphatine Falière.
The pots of baby food were sold under the name Repas Fali.
In 1965, the two competing companies Jacquemaire and Phosphatine were bought out by B.S.N.
and five years later, a new, higher-performance plant was built in Brive, bearing the generic name Blédina.
The Objat business was transferred to Brive - and remarkably, all 250 workmen were taken on at Blédina.
This sale did not stifle the spirit of enterprise of Jean Coudert and his father.
They set up new companies in the Brive area (refrigerated warehouses in Beauregard sold to S.T.E.F.F.
and Coudert Construction sold to the Macilly Group) and, above all,
they designed one of France's first thalassotherapy spa centres, on the Ile d'Oléron. |
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