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Saint-Gobain SEFPRO (Sintered and Electrofused Products), founded in 1929, produces refractories for the glass industry. The company consists of plants, sales offices and Research and Development Centers employing over 2200 people across four continents, with headquarters based in Le Pontet, Vaucluse, France. The group belongs to the ‘Innovative Materials’ division of the Saint-Gobain group. ==History== The first electro-fused product was invented and developed in the 1920s by the laboratory of Corning Glass Works, the American glassmaker partnered with Hartford Empire Co. Production began at Corhart Refractories Co., a Corning subsidiary, in 1927. In 1929, a joint venture between Corning and Saint-Gobain, another leading glassmaker, established ‘L’Electro-Réfractaire” in Modane, France, with their principal product the Corhart Standard.〔http://www.saint-gobain350ans.com/#!/fr/les-dates-clefs-de-notre-histoire/revolution-technologique-pour-les-fours-verriers〕 By 1940, the company was producing 2000 tons of the product per year. In 1942, a new, even more hard-wearing product was introduced: Corhart ZAC. New, pure raw materials were used, such as Zircon, Alumina and Silica (later known as AZS). During the Second World War, the Modane factory was destroyed. In 1947, a new production site was selected in Le Pontet, located in the department of Vaucluse in France, some 350 km from the original location. This would later become the group’s headquarters. Workers from the Modane plant relocated to Vaucluse to work in the new factory. The choice of location was due, in part, to the proximity of necessary raw materials, such as the purest white bauxite in Europe, alumina provided by the company Péchiney in Gardanne, and the silica sand of the Mont Ventoux region. It was also in close proximity to the port city of Marseille and the Rhone, valuable for its hydro-electric energy. In 1952, a Research and Development center was established next to the Le Pontet factory. The company focused on innovation and was granted multiple patents from the 1960s onwards.〔http://brevets-patents.ic.gc.ca/opic-cipo/cpd/fra/brevet/633153/sommaire.html?query=&start=&num=〕〔http://www.google.ne/patents/US4119472〕〔http://www.google.sn/patents/US4018864〕 In 1973, “L’Electro-Réfractaires” merged with the Société Générale de Produits Réfractaires, based in Vénissieux, France, to form the “Société Européenne des Produits Réfractaires” (SEPR). The group finally became Saint-Gobain SEFPRO in 2001. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Saint-Gobain SEFPRO」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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