Voestalpine

Austrian technology and capital goods group

Voestalpine AG – stylized as voestalpine – is an Austrian steel based technology and capital goods group based in Linz, Austria. The company is active in steel, automotive, railway systems, profilform and tool steel industries. As of 2017, it is one of the few profitable steel companies in Europe. 45 percent of its workforce is based in Austria. In addition to Linz the most important plants are in Leoben in Styria and in Krems in Lower Austria. It had a large plant at Liezen in Styria which closed in the 1990s. Voestalpine is responsible for 10% of all Austrian CO2 emissions, which makes it the biggest emitter in the country. The name of the company amalgamates its two principal components, the VÖEST (Vereinigte Österreichische Eisen und Stahlwerke) in Upper Austria, established through nationalization in July 1946, and the ÖAMG (Österreichische Alpine Montangesellschaft) in Styria, established in 1881.

The Alpine Montangesellschaft (English: Alpine Mining Society) was founded in Vienna on July 19, 1881, as a vehicle of consolidating Austrian iron and steel assets. Some of these assets were later depleted, abandoned or sold. The core assets that remained concentrated in Styria: the iron ore pits in Erzberg and a steel mill in Donawitz. The company also owned smaller businesses and railroads in the Mur River valley and in Lower Austria (Krems and Schwechat). Alpine, chaired by Karl Wittgenstein, peaked in 1912, when it owned four coal mines, two iron ore mines and six metallurgical plants. In 1922 fifty six percent of Alpine Montangesellschaft, then owned by Fiat (see Camillo Castiglioni), was purchased by Hugo Stinnes for the German giant Vereinigte Stahlwerke AG (VS). After the Nazi Party came to power in Germany, the Nazi leadership and the German steel barons clashed in a conflict over the rate of economic growth: the Nazis demanded rapid buildup of industrial capacity while the big business feared overproduction and preferred to keep status quo. In the first half of 1937 the Nazi leadership openly broke with the steel barons and settled for state control over iron and steel production. In the same year Hermann Göring expressed his desire to control Austrian iron reserves at Erzberg. After the Anschluss state owned Reichswerke Hermann Göring purchased a 13% share in Alpine, and for the next six months wrestled with the VS over control of the company. In March 1939 the VS stepped aside and the Reichswerke acquired 70% share of Alpine in exchange for a 10% share in the new plant in Linz. In June 1939 its name was changed to Alpine Montan AG Hermann Göring. In 1944, the peak year for Alpine, its sales reached , 16% of the whole mining and steel sales of the Reichswerke.

The Reichswerke announced its plans for a new steel mill in Linz before the takeover of Alpine, as an incentive for VS to extract more ore at Erzberg. On May 13, 1938 the ground breaking ceremony for the Hermann Göring Werke in Linz was held. Paul Pleiger was appointed chief of the Reichswerke in Linz for his services to the Nazis during the Anschluss. The synergy of steel works in Linz and ore reserves at Erzberg, vertically integrated into the Reichswerke, made it virtually independent of the steel elite of the Ruhr. The works in Linz were viewed as a hub of a future steel conglomerate spanning over the whole Central Europe. The integration was completed with the takeover of Danube shipping companies and local construction businesses. In 1943–44, when the Ruhr was heavily bombed (see Battle of the Ruhr), Hitler demanded a sharp increase in steel production in Austria. Göring launched a huge and unmanageable expansion campaign and spared no expense, all in vain: the Allied bombers levelled most of Linz, too.

In 1945 Allied occupied Austria was partitioned into four occupation zones; the heavy industries of the former Reichswerke concentrated in the American (Linz) and British (Erzberg) zones. The future of Linz was debated in 1945–1946. Local government of Styria and the British objected to reconstruction of Linz works, calling it the white elephant, too far from coal and ore reserves, and too large to be economical. The American authorities at first concurred and suggested to reduce the Linz works to eight coke ovens under Alpine Mountain management, dismantle the furnaces and use the parts for the needed repairs in Donawitz (Styria). The Soviets voted to dismantle Linz altogether. In the summer of 1946, when allied negotiations on Linz reached a stalemate, the Americans decided to restore Linz unilaterally, regardless of British or Soviet opinion. Tactics of reconstruction became a subject of a debate between the Department of State, which advocated nationalization, and the U. S. Army, represented by Mark W. Clark, who stood for privatization. The diplomats prevailed, and the Austrian government was allowed to nationalize the former German assets at will. The mills of Linz were nationalized in July 1946 as the VÖEST (Vereinigte Österreichische Eisen und Stahlwerke, United Austrian Iron and Steelworks). VÖEST decided to dispose with three of its six blast furnaces. One was dismantled and sold to SSAB (then known as Norrbottens Järnverk AB) in Luleå, Sweden; the proceeds were used to purchase coal in Poland. The supply of coal allowed VÖEST to restart its pig iron smelting in June 1947; the first pig iron was shipped to Sweden. and it finally fell apart after the Czechoslovak coup d'état of 1948. Brewster supported the Austrian four year plan but its key opponent Franz Nemchak called it "a colossal stupidity" and demanded a halt on VÖEST program. VÖEST received its new slabbing mill but the new hot strip mill was delayed by the opposition of the Pentagon, which feared that VÖEST product would be sold to the Soviet bloc. By the end of 1953 the first phase of reconstruction was complete. By June 1949 VÖEST developed an adaptation of Durrer's process, the LD (Linz Donawitz) process, (German: LD Verfahren; U. S. names: Oxygen Converter Process, Basic Oxygen Furnace Process, BOP, OSM). In December 1949 the VÖEST and the ÖAMG committed to building their first 30 ton oxygen converters. Thirty four thousand businesspeople and engineers visited the VÖEST converter by 1963. Restructuring of Austria's nationalised industries by 1988 produced a company called Voest Alpine Stahl AG. In 1993, three companies formed from Austrian Industries AG Voest Alpine Technologie AG, and Voest Alpine Stahl AG, and Böhler Uddeholm. Privatisation began in 1995, when Voest Alpine got listed on Vienna Stock Exchange. and the government sold its last shares of the company in 2003. Voest Alpine Stahl owned 21.25 of Voest Alpine Technologie, which was the parent company of the former Voest Alpine plant building unit Voest Alpine Industrieanlagenbau, split from the larger company in 1956. The company's goal was a 15 percent share of European auto body parts. In 1998, Voest Alpine Stahl and Vossloh AG joined to purchase 90 percent of VAE Group. The Austrian manufacturer of railroad switches, turnout systems and related products was founded in 1851. as Hugo Hütte by Hugo Henckel von Donnersmarck and owned by Österreichisch Alpine Montangesellschaft from 1889 until that company's 1973 merger with Voest Alpine AG, and had been independent since 1990. and in 2003 VAE Group GmbH became a subsidiary of voestalpine Bahnsysteme division.

Voest Alpine Eisenbahnsysteme and Nortrak Railway Supply Ltd. of Richmond, British Columbia, Canada formed a joint venture in 1990 called VAE Nortrak North America, Inc., which later added operations in the United States. The Birmingham, Alabama plant opened in 1992, followed by the Cheyenne, Wyoming plant in 1997, now the company's headquarters. As a result of two 2004 acquisitions, Nortrak has other U. S. facilities in Pueblo, Colorado; Newton, Kansas and Chicago Heights, Illinois; and Seattle, Washington. and headquartered in Shelbyville, Kentucky, is the roll forming division of voestalpine AG. The company has supplied parts for the aerospace industry since 1949 and for Boeing airplanes since 1969. It also supplies NASA and McDonnell Douglas. Products also include model train tracks and gymnasium bleachers. At first the company made aluminum parts for airplane structures, but in the late 1980s, Roll Forming added preparing parts for assembly. The company still uses this process for Spirit AeroSystems, which puts together stringers for many of Boeing's larger planes. Roll Forming agreed to the purchase by Voest Alpine Krems in 2000, giving the Voest Alpine Stahl AG subsidiary its first manufacturing facilities in the United States. The latest and biggest investment was a $740 million HBI plant near Corpus Christi, Texas. Groundbreaking was in April 2014, and the start of production was on September 28, 2016. In 2022, the majority stake of the plant was sold to ArcelorMittal. In 1978, Voest Alpine and other European companies started Bayou Steel Corporation, incorporated in Louisiana in 1979. The first mill opened in LaPlace, Louisiana in 1981, but the company did not do well because of high energy prices and cheaper foreign steel. In 1986, Voest Alpine sold its interest to R. S. R. Corporation. In addition, voestalpine AG owned a portion of Voest Alpine Industrieanlagenbau (VAI), whose Voest Alpine Industries subsidiary had its American headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Siemens purchased VAI parent VA Tech in 2005.

Metsec plc, previously known as Metal Sections and TI Metsec, is a UK based cold roll forming company which was acquired by voestalpine AG in 1998. The company is based in Oldbury, and makes metal products for the construction and manufacturing industries. It was established in 1931 and is now (since 2014) known as voestalpine Metsec plc.

On March 9, 2016, the World Bank Group announced the debarment of Isando based Voestalpine VAE SA (Pty) Ltd and its affiliates for a period of 27 months. The punitive measure was applied following the failed disclosure of relevant information in the company's bid for a contract under the Multimodal Transport Project in the Democratic Republic of Congo.