Primetals Technologies
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| Limited Company | |
| Industry | Metallurgy |
| Founded | 2015, as a joint venture between Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) and Siemens. |
| Headquarters | London, UK |
Key people |
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| Products | Metallurgy and rolling mill technology |
Number of employees | Approx. 7,000 |
| Website |
primetals |
Primetals Technologies Limited, is an engineering and plant construction company for clients in the metals industry, both the ferrous and the nonferrous metals sector. The firm, based in London (UK), is a joint venture established in 2015 by bringing together Siemens VAI Metals Technologies and Japan’s Mitsubishi Hitachi Metals Machinery (MHMM).
Mitsubishi Hitachi Metals Machinery (MHMM), an MHI consolidated group company with equity participation by Hitachi, Ltd. and IHI Corporation, holds a 51 percent stake and Siemens a 49 percent stake in the joint venture.
The combined company has some 7,000 employees worldwide.
History
Through its owners, Siemens and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), Primetals Technologies can draw on almost 170 years of experience. Its expertise covers the entire value chain in iron and steel production, thanks to the many acquisitions made during this time. The most significant invention remains the BOP process, which is now used in more than 70 percent of steel works worldwide. Other significant processes are Corex and Finex, which rely on the direct use of coal to produce pig iron.
History of MHMM
- 2000 – Joint venture MHI-Hitachi Metals Machinery, Inc. established
- 2002 – Name changed to Mitsubishi-Hitachi Metals Machinery, Inc.
- 2004 – Mitsubishi-Hitachi Metals Machinery, Inc. U.S.A. established
- 2005 – Acquisition of New Genecoat, Inc., U.S.A
- 2006 – MHMM receives contract for supply of pickling line-tandem cold mill from Shougang Jingtang Inc., China
- 2007 – Mitsubishi-Hitachi Metals Machinery, Inc., China established
- 2010 – Start-up of endless billet-welding and rolling mill at POSCO, South Korea
- 2010 – Founding of Mitsubishi-Hitachi Metals Machinery South Asia Private Ltd.
- 2012 – Start-up of No. 2 Hot-Rolling Mill at Usiminas Cubatão, Brazil
- 2013 – Integration of IHI Metaltech rolling mill business
- 2013 – Concast Ltd, India joins Mitsubishi-Hitachi Group
- 2013 – Acquisition of 100% shares of Hasegawa Gear Works, Ltd.
History of Siemens VAI Metals Technologies
1938 – 1945 Foundation of Linz Steelworks
The history of Siemens VAI is closely connected to the emergence of industrial plant engineering. British company Brassert & Co. began construction of the Linz Steelworks in 1938. After the beginning of World War II in 1939, the metallurgical division of Reichswerke Hermann Göring continued with the planning work, only to pass it on to the German Mining and Metallurgical association (DBHG) after a short time. The large-scale plant, which was originally planned for metallurgical purposes, was then modified for the arms industry.
1945 - 1956 Reconstruction and BOP process
The air raids of the allied forces in July 1944 left the entire facilities severely damaged. By the end of the war, production had basically stopped. In July 1945, the “Alpine Montan AG Hermann Göring” plant was renamed “Vereinigte Österreichische Eisen- und Stahlwerke” (VÖEST, United Iron and Steel Plants). For the plant’s reconstruction, some divisions were combined into the “New Construction Division,” which was tasked with rebuilding the metallurgical plant in Linz. As a result, by 1949, the most important metallurgical facilities could all be started up again: the coking plant, blast furnaces, SM-steel making plants (plant with a Siemens-Martin-furnace, named after inventors) and heavy plate mills (mills producing plates more than 3 mm thick). Many of the products were scarce commodities after the war. For this reason, the metallurgical plant was able to recover relatively quickly, investing largely in the expansion of its own facilities. Due to the shortage of steel scrap that was needed to operate the SM blast furnaces, the annual steel mill capacities of 220,000 tons soon proved to be insufficient. The solution was a new manufacturing process: the BOP process (basic oxygen process, or Linz-Donawitz-process), which began in Linz in 1952 and in Donawitz in 1953. The huge advantages of this process were cost-saving on the one hand (investment costs were only 65 percent of those of the SM blast furnace, and the operating costs only 55 percent), and larger production capacities on the other.
1956 – 1961 Growth to industrial plant engineering
The invention of the BOP process and experiences gained from the complete reconstruction after the war led to the first external large-scale commission in the area of industrial plant engineering in Rourkela, India, in 1956. It was a great success, and was followed by many commissions from different metallurgical plants on almost every continent. The construction of industrial plants in the steel mill sector soon grew further, with the addition of hot and cold rolling mills as well as the construction of blast furnaces and additional facilities for metallurgical plants such as granulation plants and dolomite plants.
1961 – 1974 Growth and economic conditions
Due to the increasing amount of tasks, the New Construction Division developed into the “Industrial Construction and Plant Development” Division, with a new focus on turnkey projects. In 1964, VÖEST expanded its portfolio once more, this time to include construction of chemical plants, which grew to account for more than two-thirds of total turnover within two years. Another milestone, in 1967, was the introduction of the continuous casting technology for the production of slabs. Many ongoing commissions and the increasing expansion of its own facilities led VÖEST to further increase its raw steel production from 2.3 to 3.1 million metric tons per year.
1974 – 1985 Steel crisis and restructuring
When the oil crisis started in 1974, the metallurgical industry was severely affected in all parts of the world. The consequence was a significant decline in prices within the steel sector, which also affected plant engineering. Still, the area of technology (industrial plant engineering and ready-to-use industry) became increasingly important for the company during the following years. Thus, while the metallurgical plant still accounted for 80 percent of turnover in 1973, by 1976 the share of the plant engineering and ready-to-use industries had reached 45 percent. The company found itself in a constant process of restructuring and new directions, but also gained the largest projects ever. In the early 1980s, the first steps were taken towards biotechnology, leading to the construction of a biomass utilization technology center in Linz in 1986. To adapt to market requirements, the Chemical Plant Engineering Division also took further measures in the area of environmental protection. A very important step in this area was the acquisition of Korf Engineering GesmbH as a wholly owned subsidiary, since it included the rights to the COREX process. The continued high volume of commissions mitigated losses brought about by the ongoing steel crisis, which grew to threatening proportions in 1985. In previous years, strong political pressure had already been put on the nationalized company with regard to job security. The company, which had meanwhile become a conglomerate, suffered a record loss of ATS 25 billion in 1984 (see Intertrading Scandal).
1985 – 1995 Separation and renewed upturn
In fall of 1986, the concept of Voest-Alpine NEU (Voest Alpine NEW) was introduced, under which the company now positioned itself as a market-oriented technology company, based on the knowledge gained previously in the key area of steel. This concept was intended to help the company recover as quickly as possible. Established strong areas (quality and technology) and creative projects launched by employees were fostered in the area of plant engineering. Thus, COREX, horizontal continuous casting, and converter and electric furnace processes were further developed, and the electric arc furnace was introduced. Finally, in 1988, Voest-Alpine Industrieanlagenbau (VAI) became a proper limited liability company (“GesmbH”) as part of the newly established Maschinen- und Anlagenbauholding AG, belonging to the parent company of ÖIAG.
1995 – 2005 VA Tech
In 1995, VAI became a wholly owned subsidiary of the new VA Technologie AG (“VA Tech”), which in turn grew out of the Austrian Industries conglomerate.
2005 – 2014 Siemens VAI
Siemens purchased VA Tech in 2005 and VAI became part of the Siemens Group as Siemens VAI Metals Technologies. In May 2014, Siemens announced that VAI would be hived off from the Group