A.C.E.M.

Ateliers de Constructions Électromécaniques: French vinyl pressing plant and sleeve manufacturing company in Tourouvre (Orne) in France, founded in 1950 by Eugene Willy Pelgrims de Bigard (head of Fonior). After a merger with distributor AREA (2) in May 1971 the plant was renamed A.R.E.A.C.E.M. In July 1969 the pressing plant, which had a capacity of producing 50,000 to 70,000 records daily on 70 presses, was destroyed by a fire (the printing company was spared). For a brief period of time production took place at other plants by ACEM employees, but due to the fact that sister company S.A. Fabeldis also manufactured presses and auxiliary equipment, normal activities in a temporary factory could be resumed in less than two months. Around 1970 the company was back at producing 50,000 records daily and a new modern plant with a capacity of 80,000 was under construction. The pressing plant employed about 325 people at the time. The general manager was Jean Brousses. ACEM has, for many years, exclusively pressed such important lines as Decca, RCA, Vega, Reader's Digest and Grands Musiciens (for Hachette). Some pressings can be identified by the delta symbol (△) symbol in the runouts. On items printed there, the company is often credited as "Imp. A.C.E.M." They used special codes to identify the printing date, e.g. 10-67 stands for October 1967. Please do not add the printing date in the cat.# field.