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Private company

Société Alsacienne de Constructions Mécaniques

Defunct French manufacturing company

The Société Alsacienne de Constructions Mécaniques (the Alsatian Corporation of Mechanical Engineering), or SACM, is an engineering company with its headquarters in Mulhouse, Alsace, which produced railway locomotives, textile and printing machinery, diesel engines, boilers, lifting equipment, firearms and mining equipment. SACM also produced the first atomic reactor at Marcoule.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

Jun 1, 1872Founded1
  • IndustryManufacture of machinery for textile, apparel and leather production, industrial manufacturing, locomotive manufacturing, machinery industry and plant construction, manufacture of railway locomotives and rolling stock (NACE 30.2)1
  • HeadquartersMulhouse1
  • Founded inMulhouse1

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The Société Alsacienne de Constructions Mécaniques (the Alsatian Corporation of Mechanical Engineering), or SACM, is an engineering company with its headquarters in Mulhouse, Alsace, which produced railway locomotives, textile and printing machinery, diesel engines, boilers, lifting equipment, firearms and mining equipment. SACM also produced the first atomic reactor at Marcoule.2

The story

Foundation

The company was founded by André Koechlin in 1826 to produce textile machinery. In 1839, he opened a factory to build railway locomotives at Mulhouse in Alsace. The business grew rapidly but in 1871, the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine by Germany, brought about the transfer of some production to Belfort in France. In 1872 the company merged with the Graffenstaden company of Illkirch-Graffenstaden (a suburb of Strasbourg) to form SACM.

Alsthom

The new company diversified into the production of boilers, steel equipment, printing equipment, compressors, firearms and other engineering products growing to 4500 employees by 1910. A new foundry was built in 1922 for textile machinery. In 1928 the Compagnie Française Thomson-Houston merged with the Electrical Engineering division of SACM to form a new company named Alsthom, (Alsace-Thomson), later changed to Alstom.

Alcatel

In 1940, Alsace and Lorraine were again annexed/occupied to the German Reich, the production of locomotives for Germany began. After the war, the remaining divisions of SACM continued operating independently until 1966 when the company became a subsidiary of the Company's Hispano-Alsatian machine-building (SHACM) and Alsatian Society of Industrial Investments (ALSPI). In 1970 a new company Alcatel was created by merging The Industrial Telephone Company (a subsidiary of the General Electricity Company), with the Nuclear energy telecommunications and electronic Department of SACM.

Wärtsilä SACM Diesel

In 1982, the remaining parts of SACM separated the textile machinery division which closed in August 1986, and became SACM DIESEL in 1989. In 1993, the company changed its name to Wärtsilä SACM Diesel with the Finnish group Wärtsilä Diesel taking full control of the company Mulhouse.

Site changes

The historical Alsatian diesel engine plant closed in late 1999 and has been rehabilitated as an extension of the University of Haute Alsace. The conservation of the SACM foundry received a Europa Nostra award for outstanding heritage achievements on industrial and engineering structures and sites in 2010. A new plant devoted to diesel and gas engines has opened in Lyon SACM Power and does the manufacturing and refurbishing of diesel and gas engines and mini-power plants.

From Wikipedia’s article on Société Alsacienne de Constructions Mécaniques, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3

Leadership

Who has led Société Alsacienne de Constructions Mécaniques, and when. Pick a name to see everywhere that person has worked.

Acquisitions

  1. Succeeded André Koechlin & Cie1

Timeline

  1. 1966Dissolved Dissolved1
  2. Jun 1, 1872Founded Founded in Mulhouse1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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