Mar 22 2007
The ceremonial start of building work at ThyssenKrupp Metallcenter, the new aluminum service center based in Wörth, has been taken place today.
The materials service provider is to invest some €15 million in new capacities for rolled products made from aluminum, brass, bronze, titanium zinc, and stainless steel on the 40,000-square-meter former Mobil Oil premises in the Oberwald industrial region, Germany. Additional new jobs are to be created when the service centre starts operating in early 2008. When opened ThyssenKrupp Metallcenter will employ some 120 staff.
At the heart of the new service center are 11 high-capacity longitudinal slitting and cut-to-length lines as well as surface treatment lines for aluminum and other nonferrous metals. "With its nine high-capacity lines ThyssenKrupp Metallcenter is already Europe's largest aluminum service center. With the new facilities planned in Wörth we are taking an important step in the direction of the company's further expansion and development. The new storage and shop areas, more than double in size, will enable us to streamline and improve the warehousing range, the spectrum of services offered and logistics processes – ThyssenKrupp Metallcenter's core competencies," explain the general manager duo Angelika Würth and Ralf Schmid.
Before the materials can be supplied ready for use in the ongoing production process on the premises of customers from the automotive, construction and insulation industries, they are prefabricated at ThyssenKrupp Metallcenter as a customized fixed size or in accordance with the customer's individual requirements (this is known as value-added processing). Large coils are manufactured into sheet steel and strip which are then subjected to specific surface treatment, such as degreasing or oiling. The introduction of the new plant and equipment will substantially expand the processing range, making it even more flexible.
New sectors and new markets
Increased plant and machinery and storage areas will result in new capacities which are to be used to exploit additional sectors, such as aerospace, metal punching/stamping shops, and companies engaged in sheet metal and metal forming as well as other metal fabricating work and façade construction. The expansion of efforts to tap new markets is also a strategic objective. ThyssenKrupp Metallcenter currently supplies metalworking customers in Germany, Austria, France and Switzerland. The plan is now to press ahead with an export drive in the rest of Europe.