Four decades of industrial adventures
1979 - Creation of CICAL by Claude Seiler
Under the chairmanship of Antoine Riboud, the BSN group (Danone), where Claude Seiler was working as an engineer, decided to discontinue its engineering activities to concentrate on its core business.
This gave Claude Seiler - who took ten or so engineer and technician colleagues with him - the opportunity to start his own company: CICAL was born. (CICAL stood for Cabinet d’Ingénierie et de Cybernétique Alsace-Lorraine)
1986 - Prestigious clients in the agri-food world
The team soon gained a reputation for its skills and expertise and took on about thirty new staff. Clients in those early days included Mars, SEB (a brewing company) and Brasseries Kronenbourg, which has now been a loyal client of CICAL’s for thirty years.
1988 - Move into the international market and other industries
Contracts in the agri-food sector followed each other in quick succession, including, most notably, a contract for two breweries to be built from scratch in Belgium. At the same time, CICAL was widening the scope of its expertise to take in the chemical and petrochemical industries. Sixty new employees joined the firm.
1990 - Creation of the CICAL holding company and its subsidiaries
The company adopted a structure that reflected its different engineering activities. The CICAL holding company now had several subsidiaries: CICAL INGÉNIERIE, CICAL ÉTUDES, CICAL CYBERNÉTIQUE and CICAL PRODUCTIQUE.
1994 - Inauguration of the Interbrew breweries
CICAL took part in the inauguration in Belgium of two 4-million hectolitre capacity breweries, whose construction its teams had comprehensively project managed.
The quality of the buildings and the production equipment, which featured all the latest technologies, were highly commended by the client, now a world leader in its field.
1995 - Reorganisation and independence
After these successes, CICAL decided it was time to return to a solid base better adapted to the circumstances prevailing at the time. A reorganisation was needed to bring the company to manageable size (between 40 and 50 people) and preserve the independent family characters of the business.
1999 - New plans and a sustainable future
A gamble that paid off! The company flourished, with a steady stream of great projects with high-profile clients: Suchard, Perrier, Vitalevor, Rhône-Poulenc, Pierre Schmidt, Millenium, Alpro and many more. Framework contracts with Rhodia, Lanxess, Dow Chemical and Rohm and Haas enabled CICAL to maintain the high-performing design office that is still its main strength.
2000 - Opening of the Mulhouse branch
CICAL opened a branch in Mulhouse to offer local services and establish a solid name in Southern Alsace.
2011 - Opening of the Reims branch
Orders from the LVMH group, notably for Moët & Chandon. CICAL opened a branch in Reims and developed its clientèle in the wine sector (Veuve Clicquot, Mercier, wine-growing cooperatives, etc.).
2014 - Creation of CICAL SYNERGIES
KS GROUPE and CICAL pooled their skills (building & process) coming together to offer “turnkey” solutions. Very quickly, a number of major projects came to fruition: Didier Distribution, Alpro group, Synerlab, Fuchs Industrie, Pol Roger, etc.
2019: Takeover of Ingeflu
Cical Synergies took over engineering consultancy Ingeflu to extend its reach and enhance its skills, but above all to strengthen its capacity in the face of Ingeflu’s strong development and track record of successes.