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 History |
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Each one of the companies forming a part of Seves boasts a long and fascinating history.
Vetroarredo's origins date back to 1928 when, on the initiative of Prince Pietro Ginori Conti, the "Istituto Sperimentale per lo Studio e l'Applicazione dei Prodotti del Boro e del Silicio" was established in Florence. This institute played a leading role in developing one of the most demanding production processes in terms of quality: optical glass. In 1940, the Institute became part of Italy's most important state-owned industrial group, IRI, which was involved in the manufacture of optical products taking on the name of S.a.i.v.o. After the Second World War the company broadened its production to include glass tiles (mosaics), ceramic enamel and tableware. In 1990, Fidenza Vetraria, a long-established Italian producer of glass insulators, tableware, lighting glass and glass blocks, took the company private. It was glass blocks, whose production was in 1991 transferred to the former S.a.i.v.o. plant in Florence, that marked the basis of Vetroarredo's future business. In March 1997, the management, with unflagging determination and with the support of private equity, took over the Florence company. The new company has achieved constant growth through a series of acquisitions and ongoing innovation. |
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| During the 1990s, Vetroarredo acquired the lighting glass business of Vetrerie Lodi, a company with a hundred-year long history, and the Czech company, Vitrablok, a specialist glass block manufacturer, steeped in the bohemian glassmaking tradition.
In order to expand its business to include glass insulators, in 2001 the company acquired the Italian firm, Dielve, a world-leading manufacturer of glass insulators, together with its Chinese joint-venture, Dielve Tianjin Insulators. In 2002, the acquisition of Sediver, the world's number one producer of glass and composite insulators, led to the birth of the Vetroarredo Sediver Group, the industry leader that subsequently, in 2004, took on the name of Seves. The origins of Sediver date back to 1898. The first glass insulators were manufactured in 1929 by a specially incorporated company, Electro Verre. In 1947, the application of the thermal toughening process to glass insulators resulted in a product offering exceptional performance, enabling the company to achieve international success. Automated production lines were introduced ten years later, in 1957. This was followed in 1959 by the merger of Electro Verre and Charbonneux, which led to the creation of Sediver. Having established itself in the French insulator market, the 1960s saw the company embark on its first international joint ventures. New products were launched during the 1970s, including a full range of composite insulators. Its Brazilian subsidiary, Electrovidro, was set up during this period. The establishment of two joint ventures in China took place in 1993: Sediver Zigong, specialising in the assembly of glass insulators, and the Safam Zigong foundry. In 2004, Seves started building a new state of the art glass making factory in the area of Shanghai to make glass shells for insulators, in joint-venture with Shanghai Glass Co., Ltd. In 2005, Seves acquired Solaris from Saint-Gobain Oberland, German company specialized in the manufacturing of high technological performance glass blocks. |
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