.gif?width=220&height=200&mediaprotectionhash=b13da841472e6e7ed500ee35df2a350aaf53d75246118b33ea2095cc7e9a3fc4&ext=.gif)
SMS Demag to Become SMS Siemag
04/16/2009 -
SMS Demag is taking on a new identity with a familiar ring—SMS Siemag—effective immediately.
The new name reflects the historic roots of the company founded more than 130 years ago by the Weiss family of entrepreneurs. The company, a leading supplier of metallurgical plant and rolling mill technology for the steel and aluminum industry, is the largest company in the SMS group in terms of order intake and sales.
With all SMS group shares once again under the control of the Weiss family, SMS group Chairman, Heinrich Weiss, stated that “by taking this step, my family is continuing the tradition of our family-owned company.”
That tradition extends back to the second half of the 19th century when the Weiss family founded the company in the Siegerland region of Germany. Set up as a forging business in Siegen in 1871, the company eventually evolved into Siegener Maschinenbau AG (Siemag) in 1918, and started producing rolling mills in 1927.
Building on its own vigorous growth, the company also grew through the acquisition of leading companies in metallurgical machinery and plant construction, including the former Schloemann, Concast, MAN-GHH and Demag companies. From these beginnings, today’s SMS group now consists of Business Areas SMS Siemag (metallurgical plant and rolling mill technology) and SMS Meer (tube, long product, press and forging technology). Now that the metallurgical branch of the former Mannesmann Demag AG (acquired in 1999) is fully integrated, it is fitting that the SMS group’s largest Business Area has revived the traditional name of SMS Siemag.
SMS group is, under the holding SMS GmbH, a group of companies internationally active in plant construction and mechanical engineering for the steel and nonferrous metals industry. It consists of the two Business Areas SMS Siemag and SMS Meer, which jointly form SMS metallurgy. In 2008, some 8400 employees worldwide generated a turnover of more than EUR 3.5 billion.
