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voestalpine Plans Streamlined Structure for Special Steel Division
09/24/2009 - voestalpine AG will extensively restructure its Special Steel Division in order to increase productivity and efficiency and form a stronger focus on fewer key areas.
voestalpine AG’s supervisory board has approved extensive restructuring of its Special Steel Division (Böhler-Uddeholm AG) that targets increased productivity and efficiency as well as a stronger focus on fewer key areas.
The restructured Special Steel Division will focus much more strongly on its key area as a highly specialized, global niche supplier of special steel. It will combine the companies of the High Performance Metals and Special Forgings areas under BÖHLER-UDDEHOLM AG as their own holding company. The Welding Consumables area—which represents an excellent complement to Railway Systems Division’s product range—will be assigned to that division as an independent area. The Precision Strip area will become part of the Profilform Division. The new structure will become effective at the beginning of the next financial year (April 1, 2010).
Until now the Böhler-Uddeholm Group has controlled the Welding Consumables, Precision Strip and Special Forgings areas through its own intermediate holding and leading companies, with the largest area (High Performance Metals) controlled directly by BÖHLER-UDDEHOLM AG. Strong growth in the past and the large number of companies has led to a very complex organizational structure with just short of 190 individual companies. The division started to decrease the number of affiliated companies when it launched an optimized sales structure earlier this year; these changes have helped the division begin to reduce complexity, tighten up operations and reduce costs.
Until now the Böhler-Uddeholm Group has controlled the Welding Consumables, Precision Strip and Special Forgings areas through its own intermediate holding and leading companies, with the largest area (High Performance Metals) controlled directly by BÖHLER-UDDEHOLM AG. Strong growth in the past and the large number of companies has led to a very complex organizational structure with just short of 190 individual companies. The division started to decrease the number of affiliated companies when it launched an optimized sales structure earlier this year; these changes have helped the division begin to reduce complexity, tighten up operations and reduce costs.
Reorganization of the Special Steel Division—The High Performance Metals and Special Forgings areas will be merged with BÖHLER-UDDEHOLM AG as the joint leading company because of strong mutual dependencies, including common key segments and customers in power engineering and aviation as well as High Performance Metals’ supply of semi-finished products to Special Forgings. In the future they will jointly form the “new” Special Steel Division, which will correspond to around 80% of the sales of the existing Special Steel Division. Responsibilities for production and sales, which have been managed jointly so far, will be separated in order to push ahead with the measures necessary in sales, production and logistics.
The Welding Consumables area is being reassigned because of its similarities with the Railway Systems Division’s wire rod activities - both in respect of the semi-finished products used and also in terms of processing. There are numerous cross connections and the intention is to develop them in order to improve the joint cost position in the future.
The same applies to the Precision Strip area, whose key competence is a special form of hot strip finishing: high-precision cold rolling and further additional processing steps. The Precision Strip area is being reassigned because it has only a few points of contact with the other areas of the Special Steel Division but fits well into the product range of the Profilform Division, which is a niche specialist in the finishing of hot strip.
The same applies to the Precision Strip area, whose key competence is a special form of hot strip finishing: high-precision cold rolling and further additional processing steps. The Precision Strip area is being reassigned because it has only a few points of contact with the other areas of the Special Steel Division but fits well into the product range of the Profilform Division, which is a niche specialist in the finishing of hot strip.
The Previous Special Steel Division’s Four Production Areas—The High Performance Metals area operates four steelworks in Austria, Brazil, Germany and Sweden, achieved sales of just under EUR 2.6 billion in the last financial year 2008/09 (as of the end of March), and employed a workforce of 10,631. Its main products include tool steel, high-speed steel, valve steel, powder-metallurgically manufactured steel, high-quality structural steel and special steels that have to be particularly heat-resistant, tough and corrosion-resistant.
The second area—the Special Forgings area—produces high-quality drop forged parts such as structural components and propulsive unit discs for the aviation industry or turbine blades for the power industry in addition to components for the commercial vehicles industry at two sites in Austria and Germany. In the last financial year, the area achieved sales of around EUR 300 million with a workforce of 866.
The Welding Consumables area—which will in the future be part of the Railway Systems Division—is one of the world’s largest universal suppliers of welding consumables with eight production sites in Austria, Belgium, Brazil, China, Germany, Indonesia, Mexico and Sweden. In the last financial year, it generated sales of around EUR 530 million with a workforce of 1,872.
The part of the Precision Strip area that will be assigned to the Profilform Division from April 2010 produces steel strip in Austria, Sweden and Spain for the manufacture of saws; special steel strip for the paper, knife and watchmaking industry; and final products for the shoe and paperboard industry. In the last financial year, the area employed a workforce of 944 and achieved sales of EUR 152 million.
voestalpine is a globally active group with a number of specialized and flexible companies that produce, process and further develop high-quality steel products. The Group is represented by 360 production and sales companies in more than 60 countries.
voestalpine is one of Europe's leading partners to the automotive, white goods and energy industries. It is also a world market leader in turnout technology, tool steel and special sections, as well as number one in Europe in the production of rails. The voestalpine Group generated revenues of EUR 11.6 billion in the business year 2008/09 and employs around 40,000 staff throughout the world.
voestalpine is one of Europe's leading partners to the automotive, white goods and energy industries. It is also a world market leader in turnout technology, tool steel and special sections, as well as number one in Europe in the production of rails. The voestalpine Group generated revenues of EUR 11.6 billion in the business year 2008/09 and employs around 40,000 staff throughout the world.
