BE_Info_1_2008_engl.pdf

Buderus Edelstahl GmbH Buderusstraße 25 D-35576 WetzlarPhone +49 (0) 64 41/3 74-0 Fax +49 (0) 64 41/3 74-28 [email protected] Year· Issue 1 · May 2008

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Magazine for Customers and

Employees

1/2008

Edelstahl

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EDELSTAHL Info 1/20082

€ 2.3 million investment in steel mill energy-saving project4

Contents

l The Company

4 Evaporation cooling at electric furnace 6€ 2.3 million investment in steel mill energy-saving project

6 Continuous Improvement programme launched“Better is best”

8 € 15,000 for children’s projectsDonations instead of Christmas presents

9 Africa hammer celebrates its second birthdayProject in Togo, West Africa, successfully under way

10 Classic water tower makes way for progress

12 Aircraft, travel, and timeBernhard Pauly retired at the end of the year

13 Buderus Edelstahl donates prize moneyFröbel school in Wetzlar welcomes donation

14 Tough steel imagesIndustrial photographers at Buderus Edelstahl

16 Celikmetal boosts Buderus Edelstahl activities in the BosporusPresence in Turkey expanded

l Tool Steel/Engineering Steel18 Global Meeting 2007

Buderus Edelstahl’s international sales partners welcomed in Weilburg

20 Special steel bondsBuderus and Bogner: A successful international partnership over many years

22 Finnish Polarputki Oy managers in WetzlarThree-day trainee programme at Buderus Edelstahl

24 Fifth International Gear Steel Symposium in the Wetzlar civic hall

Classic water tower makes way for progress10

Africa hammer celebrates its second birthday

Tough steel images

9

14

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Dear Readers,

As we look back on a successful 2007, we wish to thank our customers for the confi dence they have placed in us, and for our constructive collaboration. We also wish to thank our employees, whose commitment and dedi-cation made it possible to achieve this goal. We have a full pro-gramme for 2008, and have set ourselves fur-ther goals.

In this issue we want to bring you some highlights from our company’s activities. These include intro ducing a continuous improvement process to replace the existing com-pany suggestion scheme. We also introduce two of our sales partners – Celik Metal, and Bogner – and report on various symposiums and profes-sional development events.

One new feature in this magazine is the series “Career profi les at Buderus Edelstahl”, regularly introducing employees in various vocations.

We also include reports on the causes that Buderus Edelstahl has supported over the past year.

We trust you enjoy reading this issue.

With our sincere best wishes,

The Management TeamKarl-Peter JohannJens Mohr

26 International meeting around the Buderus Edelstahl towerAnother successful year for the Euro-mold expo

l Employees27 CR & T Board Meeting

Special steel for commercial vehicles on the agenda

27 Buderus Edelstahl becomes a member of the Drive Technology Research Association

28 Introducing Jennifer SchneiderHeat Treatment SupervisorCareer profi les at Buderus Edelstahl

29 Böhler-Uddeholm Management Academy Stage 1 welcomed at Buderus Edelstahl

30 Series of lectures on “Recent devel-opments in metal forming” at the IBF

30 Long service awards

30 Deaths

l News31 Recommended reading

“Tool making in plastics processing”

31 2008 dates

31 Imprint

Editorial

EDELSTAHL Info 1/2008 3

Celik metal boosts Buderus Edelstahl activities at the Bosporus

Buderus and Bogner: special steel bonds

16

20



The Company

€ 2.3 million investment in steel mill energy-saving project

Evaporation cooling at electric furnace 6



The Company

Wolfgang Wichert has headed the Bu-derus Edelstahl steel mill since 1 January 2008. The previous incumbent, Dr Klaus Schäfers, has left the company. Wolfgang Wichert has 18 years’ experience of the steel industry, and was previously head of the steel mill at Lech-Stahlwerke GmbH in Meitingen, Bavaria.

Wolfgang Wichert is 46 years old, and comes from the Emsland district. He has found it easy to adapt to the typical hearty Hessian style of the local area, and after barely three months in Wetzlar has been able to conclude, “The decision to come to Buderus Edelstahl was the right one. I’m pleased to contribute to the suc-cess of this innovative company.”

Previously this process steam had to be generated by a gas boiler. The new plant generates 100% of the process steam itself, and also contributes to the plant’s steam network. On average throughout the year it generates at least 5 tonnes of steam per hour. This represents a saving of about 3.8 million standard cubic metres of gas a year, and more than 7,000 tonnes of CO2.

In addition to constant improvement of technological processes to achieve eco-nomic goals and enhance quality, saving energy is a key task when it comes to environment protection and resource husbandry. Climate change and its con-sequences call for rapid action.

Buderus Edelstahl has risen to this chal-lenge by investing € 2.3 million this year in new plant to generate process steam and make it available for downstream use.

The company has invested in an evapo-ration cooling system for the exhaust gas fl ow from electric arc furnace 6 in the Buderus Edelstahl steel mill. The system pumps pressurised water through the exhaust gas pipe of the furnace (connected load 57MW; oxygen gas burner 18 MW); the water is heated up by the exhaust gas, and some of it evaporates. The steam-water mix is separated in the steel mill, and the steam is stored, to be drawn off as required by steel degassing (steam jet).

Turning the coarse separator in situ

Coarse separator delivered from Turkey by truck



The Company

The new Continuous Improvement pro-gramme replaces the previous company suggestion scheme system, providing a uniform structure for the whole company. By systematically and continuously work-ing on improvements, whilst constantly reducing defects, the Continuous Improve-ment programme ensures high process ori-entation and process reliability. The pro-gramme provides the right tools to estab-lish appropriate measures and implement the results effectively. This creates greater fl exibility and enables rapid response to changed conditions in the marketplace, with customers and with competitors – a

factor that will secure Buderus Edelstahl’s continued position as a market leader in the fi eld of high-grade special steels.

Kai-Zen: change for the betterContinuous Improvement was in principle developed from the Japanese Kai-Zen, a management concept that involves all levels of a company to achieve gradual improvement by increased involvement of employees, strengthening the company’s competitive position. Process quality, pro-duct quality and service quality are the main focus of continuous teamwork.

Buderus Edelstahl is using its Continu-

ous Improvement programme to pursue a corporate culture that expressly welcomes the involvement of each employee, in which ideas are contributed and rewarded. “We developed the programme jointly with the works council”, says Jens Mohr, Com-mercial Director of Buderus Edelstahl, “and we are convinced that every employee can contribute good ideas to promote the com-pany’s prosperity.

All employees will be able to engage in the Continuous Improvement programme, and to make a truly personal contribution to the company’s ongoing development.”

The Technical Director Karl-Peter Johann comments, “We are sure all our employees will be fully committed to this as well – after all this enables them to make a long term contribution to our competitiveness and thus also to secure their own jobs.”

The company’s Continuous Improve-ment Offi cer Manfred Becker believes that the programme will harness much positive energy. “Playing an active role in shaping the future of Buderus Edelstahl, being able to contribute suggestions, seeing your ideas become reality, that is a great feeling – and you get paid for it.” Manfred Becker

“Better is best”

Continuous Improvement programme launchedBuderus Edelstahl initiated the establishment of a systematic continuous improve-ment process (KVP) with the help of external advisers in late 2007, which will benefi t employees and customers throughout the world. The aims are to further intensify customer orientation, process optimisation and cross-departmental communication on the use of resources and synergies.

Directors Jens Mohr, Karl-Peter Johann with Continuous Improvement representatives Stefan Schmidt, Sebastian Zimmermann, Rolf Schmidt (works council), and Manfred Becker (from left to right)



The Company

and his team are working together with many other people on systematic imple-mentation of the programme. Six Continu-ous Improvement teams will be formed in the pilot phase.

Coordination for the steel mill is being handled by Karl-Heinz Spengler, Ralf Rech is responsible for the forge, and Sebastian Zimmermann is coordinating the adminis-trative sector.”

The Continuous Improvement teams report through the coordinators to the Continuous Improvement offi cer, receiving direct technical support through contacts in the Human Resource, Controlling, Qual-ity Assurance, Process Engineering, Tech-nology and IT departments. The Continuous Improvement programme is managed by a control group made up of senior manage-ment, divisional management, departmen-tal management, divisional management,

departmental management, the works council, and the Continuous Improvement representatives team. Their task is to moni-tor the progress of the Continuous Improve-ment programme, and to ensure favourable conditions for close cooperation by remov-ing barriers.

Good ideas are rewardedIdeas contributed are fi rst logged by the Continuous Improvement team concerned according to standardised criteria, then action is formulated, and reviewed by divi-sional and departmental management. Every measure that is implemented is rewarded. The reward is received by the Continuous Improvement team that con-tributed and developed the proposal. The amount of the reward relates to the annual net benefi t that the improved measure brings. It is paid to all team members in

equal parts. Implemented ideas that can-not be measured in concrete fi gures are rewarded according to a standardised reward table, and those that cannot mean-ingfully be implemented in a foreseeable timeframe receive a recognition award.

Uniform, clearly structured checklists for recording improvement ideas are avail-able to employees, for example in a Con-tinuous Improvement box at the main entrance, in the workshops, foreman’s offi ces and secretariats, and on the intra-net

“For us Continuous Improvement is now an integral component of the Buderus Edelstahl corporate strategy”, says Jens Mohr, “for which we set aside time and resources to support and drive forward this continuous process. The more intensively we do this, the stronger Buderus Edelstahl will become.”

The Continuous Improvement organization structureTh C ti I t i ti t t

Continuous Improvement control group/core team

Administration coordinatorSteel Mill Coordinator

Continuous Improvement contacts Continuous Improvement representative team

Mohr, Johann, Rech, Hammer, Spengler,Becker, Schmidt, Zimmermann, works council

Becker, Schmidt, Zimmermann

Spengler Rech Zimmermann

Human Resources ⇒ KisonControlling ⇒ GrünenQuality Planning/ ⇒ Bartzsch, Vetter, CaspariProcess Engineering ⇒ MauritzEngineering ⇒ Veit, Daniel, PhilippIT ⇒ Holland

Forge coordinator



The Company

In 2007 Buderus Edelstahl donated € 3,000 to each of fi ve children’s projects, instead of sending Christmas gifts to customers. The cheques were handed over at the end of December in the main administrative block at Buderus Edelstahl.

For several years now Buderus Edelstahl has been providing fi nancial support to welfare causes instead of sending Christmas pre-sents to customers. For example a donation went to the children’s heart centre in Gies-sen in 2005, and to 4 crèches in Wetzlar in 2006. Several projects will all benefi t in 2007. “We are doing this to promote young talent”, emphasised Jens Mohr, Commercial Director of Buderus Edelstahl, at the cheque presentation ceremony. Together with the Technical Director Karl-Peter Johann, he took the opportunity to explain briefl y to the representatives of the children’s projects what Buderus Edelstahl is about – making

input material for crankshafts and steering knuckles, gear steel for wind power gener-ators, structural steels for bumpers, and turbine and generator shafts for power stations. But Buderus Edelstahl has nothing to do with stainless steel coffee pots. The smallest visitors, two children from the Dandelion day nursery, listened with fasci-nation and amazement.

Climbing wall, car, video projector, and moreThe Dandelion day nursery in the Naun-heim district of Wetzlar was delighted with the generous support, as was the Naunheim

€ 15,000 for children’s projectsDonations instead of Christmas presents

parents’ association Patchwork, the Nie-dergirmes Protestant Church Children’s Panel, the Marienheim nursery and the Aßlar crèche groups. The money is needed urgently everywhere to improve childcare. The Dandelion day nursery wanted to con-vert its roof space and install a children’s kitchen, said the leader Petra Schönfeldt. The vicar Marion Kunz reported dire family circumstances where the children are neglected, do not get a hot meal or any help with their homework when they come home. She intends to use the money to fi nance a new vehicle to support the Chil-dren’s Panel and bring food to the needy. New furniture and a video projector will be provided to support the increasing need for help with homework, says Suzanne Pilz of the Patchwork parents’ association. And as Karin Knoth reported, the children at the Marienheim crèche will soon be able to enjoy a new climbing wall. The mayor Roland Esch accepted the donation on behalf of the nursery groups of the town of Aßlar, indicating he would like to invest the money in early musical education for new nursery groups for the under threes. Karl-Peter Johann commented on the Buderus Edelstahl commitment, “Thanks to the re commendation of the Youth Offi ce Manager Heike Grotstollen, we have been able to distribute the donation very appro-priately to a range of projects to benefi t the children. We are pleased about that.”

Susanne Pilz, Heike Grotstollen, Petra Schönfeldt, accompanied by the children Joline Keller (left ) and Sophie Aranega from the “Dandelion” nursery, Karin Knoth, Marion Kunz and Roland Esch (from left to right) appreciate the donation from Buderus Edelstahl. The cheques were presented by Karl-Peter Johann, Anne Kuhlmann (1st and 2nd from the left) and Jens Mohr (third from the left)

The new children’s kitchen in the Dandelion day nursery



Buderus Edelstahl donated the unusual hammer head in support of the “Genera-tional artwork – forging the future” spon-sored by UNICEF, on the initiative of the artist Andreas Rimkus. The Africa hammer is one of seven gigantic hammerheads to be installed on all the continents of the Earth, with a typical local tree planted in the eye of each hammerhead. The trees will form the handles of the continental ham-mers when they are fully grown.

This world-spanning project has attract-ed a lot of attention. For example the tele-vision channel Arte has reported four times on the Africa hammer and the village of Yohonou, where the creation myth has it that everyone is born a smith. Buderus Edelstahl also supported Andreas Rimkus in creating the documentary fi lm “The fl am-ing tree” that is available on DVD in Ger-man, English, French and Ewe.

“The Africa hammer has already set sev-

Project in Togo, West Africa, successfully under way

Africa hammer celebrates its second birthdayThe Africa hammer forged by Buderus Edelstahl was set in place in Yohonou, Togo, two years ago, on 16 April 2006. This work of art by the forging artist Andreas Rimkus weighs 19 tonnes and is 4.5 metres long; it was brought to this village of 6,000 smiths by hope and effort. One initial order has already been completed – 500 hand forged “good luck hammers” for Buderus Edelstahl.

The hammerhead with its massive dimensions was forged by the specialists at the Buderus Edelstahl open-die forge on 17 and 18 March 2004 from a 26-tonne ingot. “Not an easy job”, smiles Jens Mohr, “but one we were pleased to tackle, as always when required to achieve the almost impos-sible.”

The Company

Andreas Rimkus is pleased how well the tree is growing

Master smiths present their hammers

The fi re tree growing through the Africa hammer

eral things in motion”, says Andreas Rimkus with satisfaction. There are plans for a chil-dren’s house. In 2007 an optician from Düs-seldorf spent two weeks in Yohonou exam-ining the residents’ eyes to have spectacles made for them in Germany. In March 2008 I am fl ying back to Togo with him.” Andreas Rimkus was particularly pleased about the order placed by Buderus Edelstahl for 500 traditional hand-forged hammerheads. This gave the local population their fi rst opportunity to export goods to Europe. The forged products from Yohonou were a pub-licity magnet at the Buderus Edelstahl exhibition stand at Euromold 2007 in Frankfurt am Main last December. The good luck hammers with the inscription “Every-one forges his own good luck”, are being sold by Buderus Edelstahl for € 10 each to support the project. The proceeds will go to selected master smiths in Yohonou, who will make special forgings for the proposed museum of forging.

It’s about the children’s futureJens Mohr, the Commercial Director of Buderus Edelstahl, comments “The idea that the hammers can give children all around the world a pointer to the future, and stimulate them to forge their own good fortune pleases us so much that we are continuing to support the project. The children of Yohonou now have better pros-pects thanks to the Africa hammer, and if everything we are planning comes to frui-tion, they can look to the future with con-fi dence.”



The Company

Classic water tower makes way for progressThe old water tower in the water supply area of the Buderus Edelstahl site was demolished at the end of last year. The tower was shuttered and constructed in con-crete at a central location on the site in 1923, and has been out of service for more than 20 years, latterly surrounded an all sides by water treatment plant. Its function at the time was to maintain pressure in the company’s water circuits. The structure was built in the contemporary style, incorporating aesthetic aspects as well as func-tional features. Curves and struts gave the tower a balanced and harmonious appear-ance. Strips running horizontally around the tank refl ected contemporary concepts of architectural decoration for such a conspicuous location.

As the component cross-sections suggest, the structure had signifi cant statical toler-ance, which was customary at the time. However the use of reinforced concrete was sparing. The tower was restored several times over the decades, but damage had gradually accumulated that would have necessitated fundamental renovation.

The central water supply plant had his-torically always been located at this point. This central location had the advantage of short pipe runs and low energy demand. The demands on the output of the water treatment plant have increased many times since it was built, because of the increased production volume. There was also a need to constantly improve the quality of the

service water to be treated and disposed of. A large cooling plant had to be installed and constantly expanded over the years to achieve constant low output temperatures to ensure reliable technological parameters for production. This enabled the strict limits for service water discharged directly into the river Dill to be reliably complied with. Environmental aspects have gradual-ly become more important over recent years, leading to further intensifi cation of water treatment. Consequently the central water treatment plant has increasingly en-croached on the water tower, fi nally com-pletely surrounding it on all sides. The tower was then standing in the way of any further expansion.

The decision to demolish it was not an easy one. The tower was a familiar sight, and was a distinctive visual feature of our works; it was associated with history. The conservation authorities also reviewed the demolition application very critically and thoroughly.

Before the tower could fi nally be demol-ished, some very diffi cult problems had to be solved. It could not be demolished in situ, because of the surrounding plant and pipework that had to remain in operation. We enlisted the assistance of ATR, which developed a concept that was both safe and spectacular. The tower was to be lifted off completely in two parts.

After thorough long-term project plan-ning, statical studies and model trials, work commenced in mid December 2007. A mobile crane with a load rating of 600 tonnes was delivered and assembled with 20 low loaders.

Each chain of the crane alone weighed over 40 tonnes. It took four days to assem-ble it, and required its own auxiliary crane just for this purpose.

In the meantime ATR constructed a supporting framework at the tower below


The Company

the tank with the aid of another auxiliary crane; this supporting framework could be lifted hydraulically, keeping the tank safe-ly braced. The frame was later to be attached to the crane to carry the tank after the other part had been separated. Connecting rods passing through holes drilled in the roof and tank created a link between the supporting framework and the lifting points of the slings above the tank.

Several core drill holes were drilled through the eight supporting pillars to separate the upper part. The aim of this procedure was to avoid having the upper part in an undefi ned position on the crane hook at any time, and to avoid any sudden compensating or swinging movements. The cores of the drill holes remained in place,

acting as fi xing until the lower part could be lifted off.

An auxiliary crane mounted on the tower worked constantly to transport fi t-ters and tools to the platform at a height of over 30 metres. There was no longer any foot access to the tower at this stage.

On 28 December at around midday, the balance installed in the mobile crane regis-tered a change in the preset tensile force. The upper part of the tower had come loose. 230 tonnes of concrete were hang-ing from the crane hook, and were being lifted very slowly. An auxiliary crane had to constantly apply counterweights to adapt to the changing deployment situation of the Superlift. The upper part of the tower was then soon deposited gently on the pre-pared spot. Construction machines imme-diately started work to break up the huge concrete block and take it away. This took a few hours.

Slinging the bottom part was a very dif-

fi cult operation for the slingers, conducted in icy cold and with no hard standing. Huge slings had to be attached to the structure from a basket hanging from the hook of an auxiliary crane. The personnel involved were at limit of their physical endurance.

At midday on 30 December, this 200 tonne component had also been safely deposited, and could be taken away for recycling. The dismantling team celebrated safe completion of the operation on the spot, with a glass of champagne. After many tense hours of strenuous effort, every one was visibly relieved that the dif-fi cult project had gone according to plan. But the satisfaction was tinged with some regret about the loss of the old tower. Tobi-as Besser, Head of Technical Services at Buderus Edelstahl GmbH, thanked all those involved for their committed contribution. But he recalled the achievements of those who had built the water tower 84 years ago using much simpler means.

Overall view (on the left) – The head of the tower hangs free (centre) – Wrecking the tower head (on the right)

The lower part suspended from the crane (on the left) – Excavators start the demolition work (centre) – Thanks for a job well done (on the right)



The Company

“Now I no longer spend Sunday thinking about the tasks of the coming Monday. A new quality of life”, observes Bernhard Pauly, as he describes his plans with enthu-siasm. He talks of conversion work on the house, of new space for an old hobby – building model aircraft, which the experi-enced former motor aircraft pilot now wishes to devote himself to. Talks of trips to the philharmonic orchestras in Vienna, Berlin and elsewhere around the world, of time and joint activities with his Hiltrud – a very nice lady, his “better half” and also his right hand; she undoubtedly contrib-uted a great deal over past decades to the success of her husband and of Buderus Edelstahl.

Prize exhibit: an eraserThings were different when Bernhard Pauly joined the Buderus Edelstahl time manage-ment function in 1970. His fi rst tools were a pencil split in the middle with a wooden extension, and half an eraser given to him

Bernhard Pauly retired at the end of the year

Aircraft, travel, and time

Bernhard Pauly joined Buderus Edelstahl in 1970. He has now retired almost 38 years later. His departure with record sales for bar stock and the stockholding service is impressive, as is his career in the company. “I’m glad it all worked out like this”, he says in the interview, and smiles – as well he might.

by the then offi ce supervisor, with the sol-emn admonition that it was the only eraser he would be given here, and it had to last until he retired. Because people who erase a lot think too little beforehand, and peo-ple who think too little are no use in the long term.

Bernhard Pauly still has his eraser. Partly because it was he who introduced EDP into time management, which saved more than just pencil costs. On the basis of his achieve-ments, he soon became Team Leader and then Work Scheduling Manager at the forge; in 1980 he was appointed Head of Central Operations Scheduling. What fol-lowed was the development of a CAQ sys-tem unique at that time in the steel indus-try, and a PS system – “two highlights of my creation” – is what Bernhard Pauly calls them. In 1988 he became Head of the then Tool Steel Sales division, and was appointed commercial attorney.

With the construction and relocation to the “blue workshop” in 1991, the growth of

the tool steel and structural steel sectors under Pauly’s leadership increased explo-sively worldwide. “The number of employ-ees here grew very rapidly from 25 to more than 60 people. An excellent team, a group that worked very well; all our success was due to them”, he emphasises.

Travelling the worldIn the course of his long activity for Buderus Edelstahl, Bernhard Pauly got to know the metropolises of the world, travelling through Europe, Asia, the USA and Canada. Interesting experiences, valuable contacts and occasional hilarious events remain as good memories. One of the latter was a three-day Indian wedding feast that he attended dressed traditionally in a long silk robe. “As I went up the stairs”, he says with a smile, “I trod on the robe and suddenly I was standing there in my shirt and black socks and shoes.” But he soon found a solu-tion for this problem as well – the belt of his trousers served to secure the unaccus-tomed garment above his hips.

Bernhard Pauly takes a positive view of Buderus Edelstahl’s future, “Buderus Edel-stahl is very well positioned and has a fan-tastic future, particularly with the high level of investment that is still ongoing. Providing everyone pulls together, the company will be unbeatable in the long term, making its customers also unbeat-able.” Nodding, smiling and speaking from experience that is what he says.

We say many thanks, Bernhard Pauly, good luck, and all the best.

Bernhard Pauly

Michael Hammer, 45, has taken on overall management of sales for Buderus Edelstahl GmbH with effect from 1 Janu-ary 2008. Since August 1981 he has worked in various sales functions at home and abroad for Buderus Edelstahl. Since March 1995 he has been very successfully managing the Open-Die Forgings sales sector, and is now also res-ponsible for the Steel Bar and Billets sales sector. This sec-tor was managed by Bernhard Pauly until he retired on 31 December 2007. Considering his new expanded role, Mr Hammer says, “The worldwide sales prospects for our very sophisticated products and the constantly changing

market conditions present great challenges for a sales team, and extremely interesting tasks that I am thoroughly looking forward to.”



The number of students at the Fröbel School has grown by 50 % since the year 2000, says the school head Ingrid Lang. In 2004 a cluster of containers had been installed to house three additional classes, which is evidently not a satisfactory state of affairs. The school has long sought a solution to the space problem, and now funds for building an extension have fi nal-ly been approved, the planning application is to be submitted shortly. “We hope”, says Ms Lang, “that we will have a suffi cient number of classrooms and staff rooms within a year at the latest.” With the lim-ited public funds available, the new build-ings could be equipped only with the bare necessities. With the Buderus Edelstahl donation the intention is to acquire equip-ment and items such as table football or an amplifi er and lighting equipment for the school disco to equip the recreation

hall. Ingrid Lang thanked Buderus Edelstahl for its support on behalf of the school community, represented by members of the Fröbel School Development Associa-tion, the chairperson of the PTA, and the school representatives.

The Fröbel School is a special needs school for practical skills development, with a department for the physically disa-bled. The aim is to facilitate learning both by the severely disabled and by mobile stu-dents. The main focus is on individual advancement of the students with their various disabilities. Teachers, educators, therapists and social pedagogues teach life skills, cultural techniques and specialist subjects, and develop the motor and sen-sory abilities of the students.

Buderus Edelstahl is pleased to support this commitment, and donated the prize money received from the LWV to the Fröbel

School. Buderus Edelstahl was one of 10 companies in Hesse to receive an award, in recognition of its particular commitment to re-integrating sick and disabled people into work. The health management system practised in the company in combination with a works agreement on integrating seriously disabled people concluded between the works council and company management enables employees to be re-integrated even after long illness, and pro-vides jobs designed and equipped to be suitable for handicapped people.

Fröbel school in Wetzlar welcomes donation

Buderus Edelstahl passes on prize moneyLast year the Hesse State Welfare Association (LWV) awarded Buderus Edelstahl a prize for its exemplary company integration management. The associated prize money of € 3,000 was handed over to the Development Association of the Fröbel special needs school in Wetzlar by the Human Resource Manager Holger Kison and the Works Council chairperson Heidi Koster on 27 February 2008.

The students at the Fröbel school welcomed the donation

The Company

Holger Kison, Heidi Koster, Jochen Schmidt, Chair of the Development Association; Roland Bauer, Treasurer of the Development Association; Doris Boklage, Chair of the PTA (back row, from left to right); Ingrid Lang, School Head; Eva-Maria Zlof and Markus Reichel, School Representatives (front row, from left to right)


The Company

The German industrial photographer Uwe Niggemeier and his American col-league Mike Schultz visited Buderus Edelstahl in Wetzlar on 25 February 2008. They photographed the various production workshops to document the art of steel processing.

Uwe Niggemeier and Mike Schultz spent a whole day going round the Buderus Edel-stahl works accompanied by Anne Kuhl-mann, the Commercial Management Team Assistant. They photographed the closed-die forge, the steel mill, the rolling mill, the machine shop, and witnessed a 60-tonne

Industrial photographers at Buderus Edelstahl

Tough steel images


ingot being forged. Previously they had both been able to watch a 150-tonne ingot being poured in the steel mill.

The enthusiastic industrial photographer Uwe Niggemeier, who has been document-ing European heavy industry photographi-cally for more than a decade, and exhibits

Discharging the residual steel

View of the arc furnace

Forging on the 55 MN open-die forging press

Harald Lackmann operates the horizontal boring machine during face milling


The Company

his works in Germany and Belgium, has specialised in the subjects of steel and iron. His American colleague Mike Schultz has devoted himself to motifs from foundries and forges for 20 years. Uwe Niggemeier presents his work on his Internet site www.stahlseite.de, which contains an impressive collection of photographs from European and American steel mills. The Internet site of Mike Schultz, www.MSIphoto.net, also presents an impressive record of the graph-ic fascination of steel.

Both of them are enthusiastic about what they do. Uwe Niggemeier says it is his hobby, and he fi nances his trips to the steel mills from his own pocket. “Others invest in big cars, I invest in my trips to the world’s steel mills”, says the industrial geographer born in 1964 who studied in Hagen. He works for the Zollverein museum, an aban-doned mine in Essen that was designated a world cultural heritage site by UNESCO in 2001, and as a guide for the iron and steel museum landscape park north in Duisburg.

So much passion for the steel sides of life also convinced Jens Mohr, Commercial Director at Buderus Edelstahl, to readily comply with Uwe Niggemeier’s written request to be permitted to photograph in Wetzlar. The results of the photographic tour of the Wetzlar site will shortly be dis-played on www.stahlseite.de.


Tool steel undergoing heat treatment in the annealing shop

Removing slag during secondary metallurgy

Forging grade ingot on the 55 MN open-die forging press

Jürgen Cross conducting an axial boring operation



Buderus Edelstahl’s decision followed the recommendation of Mehmet Pinar Aran. The chartered mechanical and industrial engineer with his company Aritas Ltd. has been trustfully and very successfully man-aging the activities of Buderus Edelstahl in Turkey for two decades. Celikmetal has established links with numerous customers in the Turkish plastic mould steel and die steel industry who wish to rely on supplies from a local stockholding facility.

Rezep Çelik is the proprietor and Chief

Executive of Celikmetal, and has built up the company over the last 25 years with great energy, ability and immense commit-ment; he now manages three stockholding facilities of his own with his own team. They are all located near the airport on the European side of Istanbul. The Celikmetal team comprises 20 employees including two process engineers who are essential for detailed customer application advice. In April 2008 the company is anticipating approval of the largest investment to date

Presence in Turkey expanded

Celikmetal boosts Buderus Edelstahl activities in the BosporusBuderus Edelstahl has offi cially expanded its presence in Turkey in 2008 with the company Celikmetal as its authorised stockholder. An important step – the Turkish mouldmaking industry continues to grow steadily.

The Company

Michael Renk and Mehmet Pinar Aran at the company presentation (from left to right)



– construction of a central stockholding facility with a 1,000 m2 storage building and crane capacity of up to 20 tonnes.

Joint presentation and KALIP Expo 2007The KALIP Expo held in November 2007 in Istanbul enabled Aritas, Celikmetal and Buderus Edelstahl to present themselves to Turkish customers, and to use the forum for a lively exchange. The number of exhibitors at the KALIP Expo is growing continuously. The organisers report that in 2007 there were 145 exhibitors covering an exhibition space of 12,000 m2, and more than 20,000 visitors, mainly from Turkey. There were technical symposia to give all exhibitors the opportunity of taking up current top-ics. There was a most gratifying response to the Buderus Edelstahl seminar, followed by a very lively dialogue. For Buderus Edelstahl this is a clear indication to continue its presence in 2008.

“The growth rate of the Turkish mould industry is impressive”, says Michael Renk of Buderus Edelstahl. “With all the atten-tion devoted to the BRIC countries, indus-try at Europe’s bridge to Asia is often underestimated in its value to the EU. The number of motor vehicles produced in Tur-

Dirk Bockholt and Rezep Çelik on the exhibition stand (left to right)

The Company

key exceeded a million for the fi rst time in 2007. Daimler, Fiat, Ford, Honda, Hyundai, MAN, Renault and Toyota amongst others produced an export volume of more than € 10 billion.”

Buderus Edelstahl already contributed to this development in the forging sector in the 1970s, both by supplying die steel and by intensive application advice. There are now more than 100 small to large closed-die forges in Turkey forging piece weights

up to 200 kg. Mr Aran adds that the Turkish forging sector in particular responds very rapidly and fl exibly to customers’ require-ments, both with further production plant and with organisational and operational measures, well supported by our alliance: Celikmetal, Aritas and Buderus Edelstahl.

Rezep Çelik at the start of the lecture

Hakan Kızıltas, Sales; Recep Çelik, CEO; Selin Sözen, Import/Export; Haçer Ibisoglu, Engineering; Engin Alaz, Sales (from left to right)



Meeting face to face – this was also the theme of the fourth meeting of the inter-national sales partners of Buderus Edelstahl Steel Bar division, held from 28 – 30 June 2007 in the Hotel Lahnschleife in the beau-tiful baroque royal seat of Weilburg. The meetings held in 1996, 2000 and 2004 have already created many valuable personal contacts.

44 guests from 18 countries and three continents responded to the invitation by Buderus Edelstahl, and some of them trav-elled great distances to take part in this grand “family reunion”. They were greeted by Jens Mohr, the Commercial Director of Buderus Edelstahl GmbH and by Bernhard Pauly in his then function of General Man-ager Steel Bar Sales.

On the evening they arrived, the guests took the opportunity of the champagne

reception to renew old acquaintances, and make new contacts. “I am delighted to wel-come such a global network here. Some of you have known each other for many years, but the changes at Buderus Edelstahl have involved new members in this forum, and we extend a specially warm welcome to these new friends”, said Jens Mohr in his welcoming address. There was animated conversation at the dinner afterwards accompanied by good wine, bringing the fi rst evening to a convivial close.

The substantive part of the global meet-ing was on the agenda for the morning of the second day. Jens Mohr opened the pro-ceedings with a presentation entitled “Buderus Edelstahl on the world market – now and in the future”. Dr Frank Hippen-stiel, Quality Assurance Manager, reported on the production of large forging dimen-

sions for plastic mould-making and the closed-die forging industry. Peter Vetter, Tool Steel Quality Planning Manager, used case studies to illustrate the on-site facili-ties for materials inspection, and Professor Günter Mennig of the Institute of General Machine Building and Plastics Technology at the Chemnitz University of Technology, whom Dr Hippenstiel had been able to attract as guest speaker, presented a paper

Tool Steel

Global Meeting 2007 International sales partners of Buderus Edelstahl welcomed to Weilburg

Never before have we had so many communication options as now: telephone, fax, e-mail – the possibilities of rapid information exchange are now almost unlimited. The disadvantage is that people seldom meet face to face.

Speakers who presented papers at the conference: Dr Hippenstiel, Jens Mohr, Professor Günter Mennig, Peter Vetter (from left to right)


Tool Steel

on tribology in moulds for plastic produc-tion.

There was then a lively discussion touch-ing on the ongoing investments and asso-ciated increase in capacity. Another subject was the development of groundbreaking tool steels, especially in view of the con-stantly increasing cost of raw materials and energy. Everyone agreed that the estab-lished high quality standard of Buderus ISO-B steels should be maintained. Other questions related to focussed technical “fi rst aid”. Peter Vetter put forward the view that competent support and solutions developed jointly with the customer that were of practical relevance would serve to foster further positive relations. For exam-ple when there were signs of wear, the service life of the die, die casting and plas-tics processing tools could be signifi cantly increased by judicious selection of modern surface fi nishing measures.

In order to entertain accompanying partners, Buderus Edelstahl arranged a trip to Marburg with a tour of the old town, and a convivial lunch together.

Jens Mohr and Bernhard Pauly greeted three guests of honour to the offi cial din-ner on the evening of the second day – the Mayor of the town of Weilburg, Hans-Peter Schick, the Chairman of the Weilburg Cas-tle Concert Association, Dr Manfred Lang-ner, and the previous incumbent Gerhard Würz. The high point of the evening was the visit to the Weilburg castle concerts, of which Buderus Edelstahl GmbH has been one of the sponsors for several years. The rain that fell on the way from the Hotel

Lahnschleife up to the castle church did nothing to dampen the party’s high spirits. The party made its way to the concert under the protection of the blue nylon umbrellas with the Buderus Edelstahl logo, to hear Robert Schumann interpreted by the Polish Chamber Philharmonic. One par-ticular pleasure was the A minor concert for piano and orchestra, opus 54, with the magnifi cent pianist Bernd Glemser. Shizuo Kuwahara conducted the orchestra with passion, leaving a lasting impression.

Next day, on the Saturday morning, there was a tour of the Buderus Edelstahl works in Wetzlar. The visitors were con-ducted from the forge to the steel mill and from there via the continuous fl ow work-shop and the heat treatment department to the machine shop. The last stop was the “blue workshop” where there was plenty of goulash and refreshments to cater for the guests. Thus refreshed, the group was then invited to “line up for the group photo”, before returning to the hotel in Weilburg.

On the day before their departure, ev-eryone came together again for an infor-mal and convivial evening with good food, music and dancing. A marquee was set up specially in the hotel grounds on the bank of the river Lahn. It was a fi ne evening, so the night was long, and breakfast on the day of departure certainly came early for some people. The guests set off for home exhausted by the preceding three eventful days, but in a very good mood. They took home with them much new valuable infor-mation, interesting contacts, and happy memories of their visit to Central Hesse.

With umbrella, charm, and without a bowler hat on the way to the concert

Bernd Glemser at the piano during the concert in the Weilburg castle church

19EDELSTAHL Info 1/2008

Samba dancer“Line up for the group photo” was the call after the works tour at Buderus Edelstahl



Tool Steel/Engineering Steel

The family company Bogner Edelstahl GmbH was founded in 1950, and increased its sales by 25 % to € 150 million in the past fi nancial year. This was certainly to some extent due to the favourable eco-nomic climate and trends in the industry, but Bogner with its workforce of around 250 is also a company that is constantly developing. Its range of products is wide, its service rapid and fl exible.

The product range includes engineering steel and tool steel. Special stainless steel is available both in bar and profi le form, as pipes and the pipe parts, and as sheet and strip. Preprocessing includes several options – with a total of 20 saws for cutting tool steel and steel bar, and facilities for milling tool steel blanks. More than 600 individual items can be cut to size, checked, packed, loaded and delivered to customers every day.

Recognised as a special steel specialistThese customers include very different users. The Vienna Gasometer, the Linz Ars Electronica Center, and Innsbruck town hall have all been fi tted with special-steel roofs. Stainless wire netting is incorporated in the Essl art hall in Klosterneuburg, in the fi lm academy in Vienna, and in the clad-ding of Innsbruck airport. Special steel is also used for the ski-jump on Berg Isel in the Tirol.

Bogner Edelstahl started as a special steel trading company in Vienna, which is where the headquarters are still located. Since 1950 the company has established itself as a special steel specialist. The branch in Wels was opened in 1976. The logistics team loads more than 100 tonnes of special steel a day from this central stockholding

Special steel bondsBuderus and Bogner: A successful international partnership over many years

“Bogner Edelstahl is Europe’s leading brand for special steel trading, logistics and pre-processing” is how it is phrased in the company’s “vision”, which is more a statement of fact than an aspiration, making Bogner the ideal partner for Buderus Edelstahl.

facility. The pre-processing service has been provided and expanded since 1993. Anoth-er sawing centre for tool steel blanks was established in Vösendorf in 1997.

Bogner is also an important sales agent for BuderusJens Mohr, Commercial Director, knows the advantages Buderus derives from its rela-tionship with Bogner, “The many decades of partnership with Bogner Edelstahl are characterised by constant growth. Bogner has created the preconditions for growth, especially through its acquisitions in the former East Bloc. Traditionally Austria has better contacts with these countries than Germany. So we are pleased that Bogner has also become our sales agent. The branch in Poland is important to us, because it also has the technical and space capacity for our large steel ingots.”

Further development to secure supplyApart from Austria, Bogner is principally active with sales locations in Eastern

Europe: in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Poland and Bosnia. In addition to the new Romanian location in Sibiu, the two branches in Poland and Bosnia were also expanded in 2006. Two branch-es in Bulgaria and Croatia will expand the network to underpin customer supply.

In the in-house Bogner Edelstahl Aca-demy, employees are trained to consist-ently increase the effi ciency and quality of work. Bogner involves its employees in the development of innovations. Ideas on new services, products and processes can be contributed in the “innovation club”.

The Bogner Wels location has been the central stockholding facility for Austria and Eastern Europe for more than 30 years



Polish subsidiary with great capacityOne of the subsidiaries is Bogner Komexin in Poland. It was created in 1997 in Bydgoszez as a tool steel and high-grade steel trading company. Komexin was inte-grated into the Bogner group with the acquisition of the majority shareholding by Bogner Edelstahl GmbH and Bogner Petzi-wal GmbH, and acquired the new name Bogner Komexin Sp. z.o.o. It now has 25 employees. The product range includes principally supplying cut and milled steel, and increasingly premachining of moulds. The tool steel service centre was opened in Bydgoszez in 2001, and the rough milling

and rough grinding services were expanded in 2004. New CNC milling machines were also commissioned to complement the sawing service. These machines can machine ingots weighing up to 16 tonnes.

Favourable background for joint successSo there are good reasons for Buderus to work closely together with Bogner Komexin. And the opinion is mutual. The Chief Execu-tive of Bogner Komexin, Tomasz Szopinski, comments, “The preconditions for coopera-tion with Buderus Edelstahl remain excel-lent. The depth of Buderus’ product range and the large range of dimensions enable us

Fritz Bogner passed on the family business to his two sons, Fritz and Georg Bogner, in 2006

to establish more effi cient sawing processes. The wide product range supports us very much in acquiring new customers. The important thing is that Buderus is always willing to listen to customer problems, and takes them to heart.”

It is clear that the Polish market for tool steels, and especially for plastic mould steels, will continue to grow in importance with the increasing orders from countries in the West for injection dies and extrusion dies. Buderus Edelstahl will continue to benefi t from this through its partnership with Bogner Edelstahl and its eastern Euro-pean companies

Tool Steel/Engineering Steel

Mariusz Davaj at his workplace in the Steel Service department at Bogner Komexin The Bogner Komexin stockholding facility in Poland



Engineering Steel

Three-day trainee programme at Buderus Edelstahl

Finnish Polarputki Oy managers in Wetzlar

Polarputki Oy Product Manager Sari Kok-konen, Quality Manager Karri Kanervo, and Key Account Manager Tuija Salomäki were evidently impressed by the large amount of information and insights they gained into steel bar production and Buderus Edelstahl. “We now have a better understanding of the Buderus Edelstahl materials and processing stages”, says Sari Kokkonen. “All this will strengthen our position in sell-ing Buderus Edelstahl products to our cus-tomers.”

The trainee programme further strength-ened the cooperation between Polarputki Oy and Buderus Edelstahl, which have been working together 26 years. What started

off on a small scale in 1982 has developed to the point that Buderus Edelstahl trans-ferred its Finland agency to Polarputki Oy in 1989.

Wetzlar steel bar for Finnish gear and machine buildingThe company Polarputki Oy located in Hel-sinki has been supplying the Finnish gear and machine building industry, shipbuild-ing industry and power station construc-tion industry with steel since 1973. The main products are gear steel and temper-ing steel in bar form, and seamless pipes sawn to length at customer request in their own service centre. The modern cen-

From 12 to 14 February 2008, three managers from the Finnish Buderus Edelstahl agency Polarputki Oy attended a three-day trainee programme in Wetzlar. They learned much about the production of forged steel bar, and its theoretical and practical operational aspects.

Aerial photograph of Polarputki

tre extends to 17,000 m2, providing the facility of also supplying smaller quanti-ties, and serving customers very effi ciently. More than half the products are sawn pieces, 500,000 of them were supplied to Finland in 2007.

Since the summer of last year the com-pany has been capable of sawing discs up to a diameter of 1080 mm, and moving piece weights of up to 16 tonnes by expand-ing its crane capacity. This refl ects the increasing importance of the gear steel market, because forged steel bar has long been a signifi cant part of the Polarputki product range. The company stocks and saws it in the grades 18CrNi-Mo7-6, 42 CrMo4+QT and S355J2. Polarputki has a workforce of 60, and generated sales of € 76.5 million last year.

“We are pleased about our good working relationship with Polarputki Oy”, says Björn Rech, Engineering Steel and Sales Depart-



ment Manager at Buderus Edelstahl. “For us it is important that our partners can identify fully with Buderus Edelstahl spe-cial steels on the world market. As one of Europe’s market leaders in the fi eld of large scale gear building, it is our philosophy not just to sell steel but to develop entire con-cepts starting with melting and going through production, sales and delivery by our partner companies, through to sup-porting our end customers.”

Large scale gear steel has a special positionWith comprehensive training and infor-mation, it is possible to create ideal win-win situations with partner companies, emphasises Björn Rech who places special importance on developing steel for large-scale gears within the positive overall development of the steel market. “As well as the increasing general need for indus-trial and railway gears and the require-ment for new container ships with associ-ated gear systems due to the growing glo-bal freight levels, another decisive factor is the widespread installation of wind tur-bines that are overwhelmingly equipped with large-scale gear units.” Steady growth is to be anticipated over coming years, believes Rech.

To serve this growth as well as possible, partner companies like Polarputki Oy receive from Buderus Edelstahl thorough product and production training in all mat-ters relating to special steel as a material. The three-day trainee programme also pro-vided an opportunity for the Finnish man-agers to reinforce personal contacts, as well as just gaining information. “In addition to visiting the steel mill and the forge, which were undoubtedly some of the highlights for our guests”, says Björn Rech, “there was also an accompanying programme with a tour of the old town, shopping and a bowl-ing evening with employees from Sales and Engineering.”

Engineering Steel

Group photograph with trainees: Björn Rech (Department Manager), Diana Spaja, Diana Schmidt, Tuija Salomäki (Key Account Manager Polarputki Oy), Karri Kanervo (Quality Manager Polarputki Oy), Sari Kokkonen (Product Manager Polarputki Oy), Sandra Reinders, Michaela Neuhaus, Christopher Bott, Reiner Fritsch (from left to right)

The Polarputki stockholding facility



Engineering Steel

120 material and heat treatment experts made their way to the fi fth international gear steel symposium in Wetzlar civic hall from 10 – 11 May 2007. The symposium was again organized by ALD Vacuum Technolo-gies GmbH located in Hanau, and Buderus Edelstahl GmbH. The fi fth symposium again focused on materials and heat treatment, emphasising the issues of “material and process developments” and “changing dimensions and shapes”. One innovation of the symposium that originated in 1987 at a meeting of the Drive Technology Research Association in Wetzlar, was a guest presen-tation on cutting tools. Technical Director Karl-Peter Johann greeted the guests, some of whom had travelled from afar, and gave a short presentation on trends in the steel market and developments at Buderus Edel-stahl GmbH and its fellow subsidiaries at the Wetzlar location. The company’s active investment programme to increase capac-ity and the clear commitment that the forged engineering-steel sector was one of the pillars of the company’s approach, was received positively. Dr Reinhard Walter, Chairman of the Management Board, wel-comed the guests as the representative of

ALD Vacuum Technologies GmbH. He out-lined developments at ALD Vacuum Tech-nologies, and briefl y presented the business highlights since the last gear steel sympo-sium.

The fi rst technical contribution was by Kai Chittka from the Quality and Process Engineering department at Buderus Edel-stahl GmbH. He reported on the “produc-tion of case hardening steels, tempering steels and roller bearing steels for greater process reliability in treatment and machin-ing”. He described fundamental production processes that ensure that these modern special steel products constitute reliable

links in the supply chain. Kai Chittka used practical examples such as program forging and comparing mechanical values of steel manufacturers and users to highlight the uniformity of production of forged engi-neering steel at Buderus Edelstahl. Karl Rit-ter, European Sales Manager at ALD GmbH, presented a paper on “experience with vacuum heat treatment in series produc-tion of gear units”, reporting on positive experience with vacuum carburizing with large components such as crown gears for commercial vehicle rear axle gear units.

After the lunch break, that some dele-gates used to discuss detailed questions in

Fifth international gear steel symposium in Wetzlar civic hall

Kai Chittka and Dr Hippenstiel on the podiumHeinz Makovec of Böhler Edelstahl GmbH gave a guest presentation Dr Hippenstiel giving his presentation

Kai Chittka, Martin Schulze, Dr Volker Heuer, Karl-Peter Johann, Dr Frank Hippenstiel, Karl Ritter, Dr Klaus Löser (from left to right)



small groups, Martin Schulze, Engineering Steel Quality Planning, started the second block with a presentation on “the potential for reducing heat treatment deformation in steel production”. Here fi ne grain relia-bility and preliminary heat treatment of the steel bar or components each play a key role in adapting the level of knowledge in combination with in-house inspection results. The subject of deformation/dimen-sional and shape change was the principal focus of the paper “deformation optimisa-tion using innovative heat treatment tech-nologies in the automobile industry”, deliv-ered by Dr Klaus Löser of the ALD Vacuum Heat Treatment Division.

More recent or ongoing developments in the fi eld of materials and heat treatment were discussed in the last block. Dr Frank Hippenstiel reported on “the metallurgical basis for improving performance of materi-als in gear making”. Improving the perform-ance of gear steel will play an important role in the future, especially in view of the increasing size of units in industrial drives, and higher power-to-weight ratios in auto-motive engineering. Dr Hippenstiel dis-cussed the micro-alloyed variants of exist-ing case-hardening steels, and also pre-sented a completely new alloying concept.

The fi rst day was concluded with a paper by Dr Volker Heuer of the ALD Vacuum Heat Treatment Division, on the subject of “dry bainiting”, a new heat treatment pro-cess developed by ALD Vacuum Technolo-gies in collaboration with Robert Bosch GmbH.

The evening event in Wetzlar civic hall

served to provide relaxation after the fi rst day of presentations, and to reinforce exist-ing contacts in the “family circle” of drive technology material and heat treatment specialists.

Before a tour of the Buderus Edelstahl production facilities on the second day, Heinz Makovec of Böhler Edelstahl GmbH presented a paper on “effective processing of gear components using high-technology tools”. This very graphic presentation on tool steels produced using powder metal technology covered the entire process

chain associated with a gear component. This innovation of including a guest pres-entation was very well received by the delegates, and will doubtless be included in the next gear steel symposium.

The participants never fail to be impressed by the tour of the Buderus Edel-stahl production facilities, and so it was at this gear steel symposium. The absolute highlight was a barbecue awaiting the guests of Buderus Edelstahl GmbH and ALD Vacuum Technologies at midday beside the ingot stockyard.

Karl-Peter Johann (on the right) answers questions during the works tour

Attentive lecture audience

Engineering Steel



Tool Steel

In December 2007, the Buderus Edel-stahl GmbH Sales and Quality team again showed what a well oiled team they are. Customers and business part-ners meet Buderus Edelstahl every year at the world trade fair for tool and mould making, design and product development, to talk together in a pleasant atmosphere and plan joint projects.

One subject at the meetings and also a highlight of the company presence around the Buderus Edelstahl tower, which made the distinctive exhibition stand really visible to visitors, was the new subsidiary Buderus Edelstahl Zerspanungstechnik GmbH, which has been part of the corporate family since 1 May 2007. This takeover has further ex-panded the service capability of Buderus Edelstahl. Customers and visitors were fas-cinated by the extensive machine pool that Zerspanungstechnik has to offer, securing optimum preparation for mould-making in future.

Good luck hammers from TogoAnother highlight was the hammers forged in Togo that arrived punctually in time for

the exhibition. They were presented on a display developed specially for this pur-pose. The hammers also symbolised the social commitment of Buderus Edelstahl both at home and abroad – placing an order in far-off Togo on which the local population can build for the future. The unusual hand hammers prompted much interest among visitors to the exhibition who were impressed as they heard about the Africa hammer project.

The Buderus Edelstahl exhibition stand displays imposing large exhibits every year. For example in 2007 it was the AF and EF die holder blocks for a gearbox housing. Constructing such exhibits is no mean undertaking. They must be unloaded with a mobile crane three weeks before the exhi-bition starts, and stored there, greased and packed, until they can emerge in their full glory ready for the opening.

“Our programme at Euromold has again been a great success”, observes Commer-cial Director Jens Mohr with satisfaction. “Many interesting discussions, news and highlights in abundance – a very success-ful exchange with our customers, partners and friends.”

Another successful year for Euromold

International meeting around the Buderus Edelstahl tower

The Buderus Edelstahl exhibition team

Bird’s eye view of busy exhibition stand

The display of good luck hammers from Togo


Employees

The Corporate Research and Technology board of Böhler-Uddeholm AG met in Wetz lar In December 2007 under the direc-tion of the Managing Director Dr Knut Consemüller and Dr Hribernik to discuss the subject of special steel products in commercial vehicles, and their develop-ment potential. In addition to Dr Frank Hippenstiel of Quality Assurance, some customers of Buderus Edelstahl took part. They reported on development trends and joint projects. For example Dr Stefan Hock of ZF Friedrichshafen AG presented a paper on “Processing steel with high productivity for high-performance components”. He

emphasised in particular the development of power to weight ratios in commercial vehicle transmissions. It is expected that the demands on special steel products will continue to increase for future generations of cars and trucks. Thomas Landsherr of MAN Nutzfahrzeuge AG reported on “Present development progress of front axles for trucks and buses”, describing material and component trends in the fi eld of commercial vehicle axles. Here too there is development potential for Buderus Edel-stahl, both in terms of materials perform-ance potential, and as regards generating value added in special steel products with-

in the whole process chain. The latter is a major concern of Buderus Edelstahl, and is currently being considered by Dr Michael Ahrens of Daimler AG. In his paper entitled “Experiences with Nb+N micro-alloyed MoCr steel”, he presented initial results with micro-alloyed case hardening steels at the CR & T Board Meeting.

Buderus Edelstahl has been closely associ-ated with the Drive Technology Research Association (FVA) for many decades. Many FVA research projects relating to drive technology for vehicles and industrial applications have been carried out with test material from Buderus Edelstahl. Spe-cial melts with innovative chemical com-positions are prepared for FVA projects, and test materials are forged for university institutes such as the IWT Bremen and the FZG Munich. The best examples of this are undoubtedly the projects associated with high-temperature carburizing. A micro-alloyed MnCr steel and a CrNiMo steel were specially melted for the successfully com-pleted research project “Process reliability in high-temperature carburizing of fi ne-

Buderus Edelstahl becomes a member of the Drive Technology Research Association (FVA)

grain stabilised steels in atmospheric and vacuum furnaces”. Buderus Edelstahl has also been involved in an advisory capacity in some committees accompanying the project.

In September 2007, Buderus Edelstahl was admitted as a member of the Drive Technology Research Association, which now numbers 170 members. The member companies of the FVA incorporate a high level of technical know-how and a high quality standard. Buderus Edelstahl regards itself as a technology leader in the fi eld of case hardening and tempering steels in the larger dimension range, and project work will undoubtedly benefi t from its materials expertise throughout the process chain from ingot through billet to forging. There

Specialist group listening to the presentation

CR & T board meeting discusses special steel in commercial vehicles

The FVA membership certifi cate

27EDELSTAHL Info 1/2008

are currently 100 research projects running at the FVA in 21 active working groups; the involvement of Buderus Edelstahl is cur-rently focused on the materials working group.



Employees

A report in this customer magazine alerted Jennifer Schneider to the career path of Materials Inspector. Her father was also at Buderus Edelstahl at the time, and brought

Career profi les at Buderus EdelstahlIntroducing:

Jennifer SchneiderSupervisor in the heat treatment shop

the magazine home. Ms. Schneider applied for a training place, and got one.

She then followed the progress of steel as a material through the complete pro-

duction process, from melt composition through to fi nal quality control. During her three-and-a-half years’ training she famil-iarised herself with all the important departments, and acquired comprehensive knowledge of the raw materials in steel-making, the chemical and physical effects of alloys, using inspection and testing instruments for metallography, analysing and documenting the results, and checking and determining material characteristics.

Jennifer Schneider at her place of work

She is 22 years old, and has been a Day Shift Supervisor in the heat treatment shop at Buderus Edelstahl for a year. Although she is still young, Jennifer Schneider is really an old hand in the Wetzlar production workshops. She came to the company on work experience at the age of 15, and at 16 she started her training as a Materials Inspector.



Employees

For some time the Böhler-Uddeholm AG Management Academy (BUMA) has been running one of the two parts of its man-agement succession and middle manage-ment training course at the Hotel Mercure in Wetzlar. One fi xture is always a works tour of the Wetzlar location with Buderus Edelstahl GmbH and its sister companies. The international participants from the very diverse companies of the four divi-sions of the Böhler-Uddeholm Group, some of whom are visiting Europe for the fi rst time, are thus able to form their own impression of steelmaking with ingots weighing up to 150 tonnes, of the open-die forging and rolling processes, and closed-die forging. There was also a visit to the heat treatment area necessary for special steel production, and to the machine shop. In addition to the works tour with expert commentary by Dr Frank Hippenstiel (Qual-

ity Assurance) and Norman Geisse (Human Resources), the participants could pose special questions about Buderus Edelstahl

Böhler-Uddeholm Management Academy Stage 1 visits Buderus Edelstahl

She successfully completed her train-ing. She then worked in various produc-tion sections, completed an ultrasound course, and in December 2006 became a Day Shift Supervisor in the heat treatment shop. A total of 64 employees work in the heat treatment shop and the continuous fl ow plant, which together form one department; Jennifer Schneider works with a team of fi ve on the day shift, all men aged between 21 and 64. “I have learnt to assert myself”, she says with a smile. She was the only girl on her train-ing course as well.

That is changing too. “More girls have started training at Buderus Edelstahl in recent years”, says General Foreman Die-ter Waßmuth, Ms. Schneider’s boss. He approves, and she has proved that a woman can do the job as well as a man.

“A woman in the team improves the cli-mate and morale”, he admits with a laugh. “The style becomes gentler, which the whole team benefi ts from.” So Dieter Waßmuth was pleased to comply when the General Manager Ralf Rech proposed Jennifer Schneider for the job a year ago.

Responsible taskWhen the forge has presented the various heat treatment sequences it requires for the day, Ms. Schneider starts her round, checks and documents the temperatures of the furnaces, discusses things with her team, and stipulates when and how the next work steps are to proceed. A respon-sible job. It is precise heat treatment that makes steel a high-quality product, en-abling it to acquire the critical factors

such as elongation, yield resistance and strength.

Jennifer Schneider has not regretted her choice of career. From the start it has been interesting and exciting, she reports. And the future? She unfortunately had to aban-don her plan to visit engineering school to advance her career and learn more, because of lack of time – she also works every other weekend, and there is a lot to learn in addi-tion to the working and training time. But she has still not given up the idea. “I fi rst have to make the space for it”, she thinks, “then I will have another go.” At the moment she is concentrating fully on her current task, because “I very much enjoy the work and dealing with people”.

in the course of an evening event after a presentation on the history and products of the location.

Group photo of the BUMA participants



Employees

Long service awards40 years’ serviceWagner, Heinz 31. 1. 2008

10 years’ serviceBart, Waldemar 1. 12. 2007 Giese, Jens 2. 2. 2008Klauer, Andreas 2. 2. 2008 Koch, Jörg 23. 2. 2008Büchner, Nicole 2. 3. 2008Hamann, Viktor 2. 3. 2008 Kubocz, Andreas 2. 3. 2008Aschenbach, Alexander 2. 3. 2008 Geisse, Norman 9. 3. 2008Friedrich, Rene 9. 3. 2008

Deaths AlterMayer, Otto 31. 8. 2007 82Schupp, Erich 14. 9. 2007 79Apel, Karl 2. 10. 2007 72Greilich, Erich 4. 10. 2007 91Strauch, Walter 3. 11. 2007 80Claudy, Manfred 3. 12. 2007 68Maxheim, Magdalena 9. 12. 2007 85Neeb, Wilhelm 14. 12. 2007 95Abendroth, Jürgen 14. 12. 2007 59Manzano Alvarez,Joaquin 4. 1. 2008 77Roos, Wanda 5. 1. 2008 83

Valentin, Kurt 12. 1. 2008 73Martin, Helmut 10. 2. 2008 82Wieth, Armin 13. 2. 2008 50Treffenstädt, Erich 17. 2. 2008 86Schulz, Richard 18. 2. 2008 80Califano, Antonio 27. 2. 2008 67Mäßer, Richard 27. 2. 2008 81Hoffrichter, Günter 1. 3. 2008 80Bernhardt, Willy 5. 3. 2008 84Weber, Paul 7. 3. 2008 85Ohm, Gerhard 16. 3. 2008 77Sommert, Antonio 21. 3. 2008 76Dörr, Alfred 26. 3. 2008 78

In the course of the series of talks “Recent developments in metal forming” in the winter semester 2007/08 at the Aachen University of Technology, Dr Frank Hippen-

stiel of Buderus Edelstahl Quality Assur-ance, and Ralf Rech, General Manager Forging, presented papers at the Institute of Metal Forming (IBF). The paper entitled

“Material and plant development trends in the production of heavy open-die forgings” sought to convey the technology of open-die forging to the Aachen students, and to highlight more recent materials aspects and trends in plant technology. The exam-ple of components such as generator shafts and turbine shafts, and bottom moulds were used to illustrate the demands on heavy open-die forgings.

The principal focus in terms of material is on adjusting particular functional prop-erties in terms of strength, toughness and (if applicable) creep characteristics, and on ensuring further processing characteristics such as machining or etch-grainability in the case of large plastic moulds. Develop-ments in the fi eld of plant engineering, which are partly being driven forward jointly with the IBF, are leading to an increase in production constancy (quality), to increased output (productivity), and to better environmental compatibility.

The audience could clearly see that although open-die forging is one of the oldest production processes in the world, no power could be generated without these heavy open-die forgings. Many other heavy machinery functions could not operate without them. It also became evident that there is still a great need for research, for example in the fi eld of process simula-tion.

Series of talks on “New developments in metal forming” at the IBF

An almost fully machined threaded spindle



News

Editorial information

Publisher:Buderus Edelstahl GmbH

Editor’s address:Buderus Edelstahl GmbHBuderusstraße 25, 35576 Wetzlar Tel. (0 64 41) 3 74-0Fax (0 64 41) 3 74-28 82

Editor:Jens Mohr (responsible for the content)Texts: Tobias Besser, Dr Hubert Brunträger,Veronika Franz, Dr Frank Hippenstiel, Anne Kuhlmann, Sigrid Krekel, Peter Vetter

Photo acknowledgements/sources:p. 8 top: Wetzlardruck, bottom: Dandelion day nursery; p. 16 top: fotolia; p. 4, p. 14, p. 15 top left and bottom left: Uwe Niggemeier; p. 15 top right and bottom right: Mike Schultz; p. 22/23: Polarputki. Buderus Edelstahl GmbH holds the rights for photos, plans and diagrams, unless otherwise indicated.

Overall production:Composition, design and lithography: Die Feder,Konzeption vor dem Druck GmbH, WetzlarPrinting: Druckhaus Bechstein GmbH, Wetzlar

Print run: German 5,000, English 3,000 copies

Printed in Germany 1/2008

© 2008 Buderus Edelstahl GmbH

The fi rst edition of the book that appeared in 1965 under the title “Mouldmaking in plastics processing” was the fi rst to provide information in a comprehensive form on production-specifi c demands on plastic processing tools. Developments have pro-ceeded rapidly since then. New plastics, modern plastics processing technologies and processes have greatly expanded the possible applications.

The fi fth edition of the book published by Carl Hanser Verlag was presented at the tool- and mould-making trade fair Euro-mold 2007. The editor Prof. Günter Mennig of the Institute of General Machine Build-ing and Plastics Technology at the Chem-nitz University of Technology succeeded in

presenting a thoroughly revised work. The individual chapters were written by spe-cialist authors, including Buderus Edel-stahl’s Dr Frank Hippenstiel and Peter Vet-ter. They devoted themselves to the topics “Plastic mould steels” and “Heat treatment and surface fi nishing technology”.

What has emerged is a modern work dealing substantively with the state of the art, bringing together a fund of informa-tion. The book presents the most diverse tools and their engineering design for all the main types of plastics processing, and the materials required for toolmaking. It also examines from the technical and the economic point of view the specifi c pro-duction and treatment processes involved in tool production and tool operation including process monitoring through to maintenance, error avoidance and/or recti-fi cation.

As a modern work of reference, “Tool-making in plastics processing” offers the plastics engineer and other specialists in the construction, production and operation of plastics processing tools a practical introduction to the subject.

G. MennigToolmaking in plastics processingCarl Hanser Verlag, 2007ISBN 978-3-446-40778-7730 pages. 46 colour and 702 b/w. illustrations€ 29 [D]

Recommended reading

“Toolmaking in plastics processing”The 5th edition of the standard work “Toolmaking in plastics processing”, thoroughly revised, appeared punctually for Euromold 2007. Two of the authors come from Buderus Edelstahl, Quality Assurance Manager Dr Frank Hippenstiel, and Tool Steel Quality Planning Manager Peter Vetter.

Dates for 2008Midest 2008

The World‘s leading industrial subcontracting show4–7 November 2008Paris-Nord Villepint, France

EuroMold 2008

World Expo for Tool and Mould Making, Design and Product Development3–6 December 2008Frankfurt/Main Exhibition Centre, Germany


Documents

BE_Info_1_2008_engl.pdf