Florange
Florange is a commune in the Moselle department in Grand Est in north-eastern France.
History
Between 1870 and 1918, the German state occupied Florange, which was then known as Flörchingen. The blacksmith's art and then steelmaking have been a constant in the city ever since the De Wendel family installed itself and Jean-Martin Wendel, who founded the industrial fortune of the family.French president François Hollande and his associate Arnaud Montebourg in 2012 threatened to nationalize the steelmaking plant of ArcelorMittal, but backed down when they industrialists offered to revisit their plans to lay off more than 600 workers at two blast furnaces there and agreed to invest €180 million over five years in steel finishing.
Economy
Florange is the site of one of ArcelorMittal's steelmaking plants, and in September 2021 the company announced the investment of 89 million euros for a new galvanized steel production line. For a time in 2012, Florange was the supplier for PSA Peugeot Citroen's Sochaux and Mulhouse vehicle assembly plants and all of the supply for the German assembly plants of Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, BMW and Opel. Reportedly Mercedes has an entire production line of galvanized steel devoted to its exclusive use.Safran has a nacelle fabrication shop.