Edilians Group, French leader in clay tiles, presented in the Landes a modernized oven intended to accelerate its decarbonization, vital in an energy-intensive sector weakened by sluggish demand.
THE French clay tile manufacturer Edilians has just invested in a new generation of industrial ovens intended to reduce gas consumption and CO emissions2while maintaining high production rates in a market that has become particularly unstable.
Modernized ovens to reduce dependence on fossil fuels
“If we want to be there in a hundred years, our main challenge is to get away from fossil fuels.“, says Maxime Coutoulythe CEO ofEdilians Group. Since 2021, the group has undertaken an investment program of 100 million euros over ten years in order to “reduce (its) CO emissions2 by 30% by 2030“. A strategy focused primarily on drying and cooking stagesthe most energy consumers in the manufacture of tiles.
On the site of Saint-Geours-d’Auribatwhere 85 employees produce nearly 10,000 m2 of tiles per day, the modernization of the industrial oven represents an investment of 7 million euros, supported to the tune of one million euros by the region New Aquitaine. This development made it possible to reduce the site’s gas consumption by 11%, or around 1,000 tonnes of CO.2 avoided each year.
The results are even more marked on the site of Saint-Germer-de-Flywhere the installation of new equipment resulted in a 33% drop in natural gas consumption.
The Edilians industrial site in Saint-Gerours-d’Auribat, in the Landes. © Edilians group
Automated production in a tense market
“Here, in Saint-Geours, it’s a different oven, which bakes the tiles in 28 hours“, explain Giovanni Zamparothe general director of CerithermFrench manufacturer of industrial ovens bought by Edilians Group in 2023. The company sought “to reduce dead masses – everything that goes into the oven and is not a tile -, and to rethink air circulation by exploiting hot smoke and hot air from the oven“.
Only three people work on the gigantic production line, where robots arrange the tiles, dried individuallyon brand new wagons intended to enter the oven. Pierre Dugay, the France industrial director of Edilians Groupdetails:
– a “monitors presses and molds” ;
– Another one “feeds the raw material” ;
– And the third removes defective tiles based on noise.
However, this transformation takes place in a weakened economic environment. “The market has been extremely volatile since 2020“, underlines Maxime Coutouly. “After stabilization in 2025, we had hopes for 2026 but we did not foresee the war in Iran“, he adds, evoking a 5% increase in the price of tiles.
In 2024, Edilians Group sold approximately 670,000 tons of tiles, a volume comparable to that of 1973. “In comparison, in 2000-2001, we sold 1.3 million tonnes.“, recalls the manager.
