Carmes factory

"When after the armistice, he undertook to convert at a lightning speed his workshops on the Quai de Javel to make it the most modern automobile factory in Europe, he quickly got in touch with tire manufacturers. And Edouard spared neither his efforts nor his funds to provide him with these special tires and removable steel sheet wheels, lightweight and affordable, required by the Citroën “10 HP type A.” André Citroën completely shared the views of the founder of the Carmes factory and his brother, the Parisian, on the necessity of manufacturing automobiles on a very large scale — thanks to Taylorism in particular — in order to reduce the price and expand its distribution."

"The philosophy of the House, in any case, is present: a man, alone at first, who can freely pursue his project to the end, a team that enables him to achieve it, a boss who decides to take responsibility and the House’s heritage in a new direction. Michelin will remember this and find in this discovery, which will give birth a few years later to the X radial tire, a new justification for its choices: priority to technology and researchers who must impose their views, flexibility and mobility of the internal organization, the decisive importance of the Patron at the center of the system[28](private://read/01jkqdqdgs7t399cyecbezrhj0/#ftn_fn28). And, extraordinary confirmation, the “flytrap” being tested around the Carmes factory on a Citroën Traction that escaped requisition offers road holding superior to all the tires on the market and its resistance to wear is excellent."

"In Clermont, orders soon start to come in. The Carmes factory hires, expands, and equips itself with more recent tools. The bankers now relent. The rubber suppliers deliver without hesitation. The former student of Bouguereau, who gives up any idea of returning to his brushes, tackles the most thankless tasks: research, manufacturing, sales, management. He accepts—this will be his only concession—the presidency of the Véloce Club of Auvergne that is offered to him. But he will be seen less and less often leaving Clermont-Ferrand. The factory already, nothing but the factory, everything for the factory."