History
Entrepreneurship, invention, engineering and technology are at the heart of Labaronne-Citaf history. Discover here the story of Labaronne-Citaf and the one of its flagship product, the flexible tank.
At the beginning of the company, the flexible tank. Also called bladder, soft cover, flexible pouch or flexible container, the flexible tank is a means of flexible storage for liquid which is more economical and practical than a rigid reserve. Once filled, it looks like a large “pillow” which explains its common name of “pillow tank”.
From the first prototypes to 2000 m3 tanks, from the expansion of flexible tank applications to the overall growth of the company, let's look back on 60 years of Labaronne-Citaf's history.
Since its origin, the logo created by André Labaronne had remained unchanged. On the occasion of the company’s anniversary, July 17, 2019, Labaronne-Citaf revealed a new logo. Without drawing a line on the past, based on the experience and dynamics of the new management, this visual identity brings together the the ingredients that make up the company’s DNA, while being firmly rooted in modernity!
In 2012, the company, now called Labaronne-Citaf, moved its premises to Pont-Evêque. Modern offices and a production workshop covering more than 8,000 m2 for the manufacture of tanks enabled the company to move up a gear and develop its international business, while perpetuating its spirit of innovation.
The company is slowly thriving. But André Labaronne is ill. His son Jacques, who was then 26 years old and already a director of the company since 1970, took over the management of the company.
In close collaboration with his brother Georges, a winegrower, André Labaronne has developed his tank and marketed it to farmers in the region. But contracts are not enough for the company to grow and CITAF is in difficulty. Always looking for improvements, he is looking to optimize his patent for a self-supporting flexible tank. He submitted a new draft of an improved flexible tank – a model similar to the one used today.
André Labaronne creates the company CITAF – “CITernes Algérie France”. Based in Algiers and determined to commercialize his invention, he began to manufacture his first prototype alone, which he managed to rent to Sahara, an oil company.
Son of French winegrowers living in Algeria, André Labaronne is fascinated by the conquest of the desert. However, he notes that the tankers that bring water back empty. It was then that he had the revolutionary idea of developing a “flexible tank” that – once emptied – took up less space and made it easier to transport other goods. In 1957, he filed his first patent (the first in a long series) entitled “Vehicle equipment device for the transport of various goods, liquid or heavy”.