Info 2 2007 engisch:info 2 2007 - Buderus Edelstahl Gmbh

Edelstahl 

Magazine for 

customers and 

employees 

2/2007

Inhalt Contents 


2 

5 

6 

10 years of Buderus 

Edelstahl Info 

l The Company 

EDELSTAHL Info 2/2007 

Magazin für 1/2007 

Kunden und 

Mitarbeiter 

Steelmaking and rough machining 

move closer together 

4 ”Development can never 

start too early“ 

Buderus Edelstahl donates a total of 

€ 10,000 for kindergartens in Wetzlar 

5 10 years of Buderus Edelstahl Info 

A success story 

6 Steelmaking and rough machining 

move closer together 

Buderus Edelstahl Zerspanungstechnik 

GmbH 

10 

More capacity 

to boost output 

8 How do fans recognise their team? 

Buderus Edelstahl Style Manual 

now available 

9 Iron . . . Special steel . . . Heritage 

10 More capacity to boost output 

Investment and process 

improvements continue 

l Billets 

12 Special gearwheel blanks for 

high-speed yacht engines 

Quality steel from Wetzlar 

for Edelstahl Rosswag 

12 

Special gearwheel blanks for 

high-speed yacht engines 

l Tool steel/Eengineering alloys 

14 Fine Expo design 

for a fine material 

Buderus Edelstahl presents 

new image at EuroMold 

16 Buderus Edelstahl invited 

to a Hindu wedding 

An unforgettable experience 

18 High level of production with 

extreme alternating stress 

Substituting forged tool steel for steel 

casting for die-casting mould frames

20 

Joined-up 

safety 

l Employees 

18 

20 Joined-up safety 

Buderus Works Fire Service and 

Works Medical Service 

21 New company doctor for 

Buderus Edelstahl 

22 Minister of Economic Affairs 

visits Buderus Edelstahl 

Dr Alois Rhiel finds out about 

sandwich course provision 

22 Aachen University IBF students 

at Buderus Edelstahl 

23 Award for Buderus Edelstahl 

Exemplary integration management 

High level of production with 


24 “Good luck!” 

. . . to all our new apprentices 

25 Subsidiary of Schaeffler KG 


25 Long service awards 

25 Deaths 

l News 

26 Steel inspires! 

New films by and with 


27 Imprint 

27 Dates for 2007 

Dear Readers, 

Editorial 

Edelstahl Info is celebrating 

its 10th anniversary. 

The distribution of our customer 

magazine now runs 

into five figures, and is well 

received all over the world. 

Thank you for your interest. 

Our mission is still to 

present issues and content 

in a relevant and lively form, with striking 

illustrations. 

This issue again examines our new corporate 

design as specified in the Style 

Manual which has now been issued, to 

help maintain Buderus Edelstahl’s clear 

and distinctive profile on the international 

market. We introduce the new company 


GmbH, and describe the company’s extensive 

investment and process improvements. 

You can also read what high-speed 

yacht engines have to do with gearwheel 

blanks from Wetzlar, with interesting 

insights into the use of forged tool steel 

for die-casting mould frames used in 

automotive engineering. We also want to 

share with you our experience of the 

Hindu wedding celebration of our longstanding 

Indian partners, which was 

particularly impressive. The same thing 

applies to the visit of the Minister of Economic 

Affairs for the State of Hesse, Dr 

Alois Rhiel, gathering information on the 

sandwich study system. We have also 

achieved distinction in a quite different 

field – for exemplary integration management. 

So there is plenty to read – we trust it 

will convey the excitement of the world of 

Buderus Edelstahl, and that you enjoy 

reading it. 

Best wishes, 

Christian Jung 

EDELSTAHL Info 2/2007 3

The Company 

“Development 

can never start 

too early” 


donates a total of 

€ 10,000 for kindergartens 

in Wetzlar 

“A long-established company like Buderus 

Edelstahl is devoted to the region and its 

population as well as its own economic 

success. It is therefore a matter of course 

for the company to accept its social 

respon sibility in numerous practical ways”, 

say Directors Jens Mohr and Karl-Peter 

Johann. 

Buderus Edelstahl has the rising generation 

in mind, and has donated € 2,500 

each to four kindergartens in Wetzlar. 

“Development can never start too early, so 

we are supporting the kindergartens 

instead of giving Christmas presents”, adds 

Christian Jung, Marketing and Advertising 

Manager, who organised the project. 

A “Thank you” from the children 

4 


Inge Kleinhans, Tatjana Züll, Ingrid Müller and Petra Schwarz (from left to right) celebrate donations from 

Buderus Edelstahl. The cheques were presented by the Directors Karl-Peter Johann and Jens Mohr and 

Marketing Manager Christian Jung (from right to left) 

Good equipment 

facilitates development 

The Mullewap playgroup in Hermannstein 

is using its funds to build a “sludge and 

splash” pool, the integrative kindergarten 

in Röntgenstraße is building a new outdoor 

playground; the Protestant playgroup in 

Silhöfer Aue are replacing the insulation, 

washroom and windows, and the children 

at the Niedergirmes kindergarten in Fröbelstraße 

are looking forward to a new play 

hill with a Wendy house. The head of the 

Niedergirmes kindergarten, Inge Kleinhans, 

emphasised the importance of good equipment, 

“Children learn better if they get 

enough exercise, they overcome language 

barriers more quickly, and make better 

progress.” 

Youth development is 

a matter of course 

Youth development and education are of 

particular concern to the company. This is 

evident from the numerous opportunities 

for students at Buderus Edelstahl, and the 

high priority given to training generally in 

the company. About 50 young people are 

currently undergoing training. 

The directors Jens Mohr and Karl-Peter 

Johann, who presented the cheques to the 

kindergartens, are clearly thinking longterm, 

“Who knows, perhaps one or two of 

these kids will come and work for us. We 

certainly intend to maintain our commitment 

to young people in the Wetzlar 

region.” 

This is how the children Joshua, Johannes and Nils imagine their new playground

10 years of Buderus Edelstahl Info 

A success story 

The Buderus Edelstahl customer magazine 

first appeared in 1997. This successful 

communication tool quickly 

reached a five-digit worldwide circulation 

figure. On its 10th anniversary the 

picture is that the combination of 

factual information and interesting 

topics with entertainment value has 

proved very popular with Buderus Edelstahl’s 

business partners around the 

world. 

How do we target interesting and important 

information at customers and potential 

customers, without excessive wastage? 

What can we do to convey complex material 

effectively, whilst also strengthening 

the bond between the company and its 

customers? Those were the questions to be 

answered when the decision was made to 

launch the Buderus Edelstahl customer 

magazine in 1997. The advantages clearly 

outweighed the costs. One criterion that 

applies throughout the industry is that 

there is hardly a leading company that does 

not now use this attractive channel of 

communication with customers. “Buderus 

Edelstahl Info quickly proved to be a successful 

instrument of external communication”, 

says Christian Jung, Marketing and 

Advertising Manager at Buderus Edelstahl 

GmbH. “The magazine promoted business 

dialogue from the start, and it is still a 

medium that creates goodwill and trust, 

and sometimes prompts new ideas or contacts.” 

This efficient and effective communication 

platform has greatly strengthened 

customer loyalty. Buderus Edelstahl Field 

Service staff repeatedly provide positive 

feedback from their direct exposure to customer 

response. 

Multilingual on all continents 

Buderus Edelstahl Info appears in German 

and in English, and is distributed throughout 

Europe as well as in countries such as 

Taiwan, China, India, South Africa, Brazil 

and the USA. With the integration of the 

Edelstahl Info 

� Einsatz von Bandstahl in Cabrios 

� Gesenkschmiedestücke für den längsten 

Eisenbahntunnel der Welt 

� Schmieden am Generationenprojekt 

� Global Meeting 2004 

� Geschmiedeter Baustahl für die Windkraft 

The Company 

French company Deville Rectification into 

the Buderus Edelstahl family, the magazine 

has also appeared in French. 

Restructuring within the company has 

also changed the range of issues covered by 

Buderus Edelstahl Info. First there was the 

takeover by Bosch, then the sale to the new 

parent company Böhler-Uddeholm, involving 

the creation of the three independent 

companies Buderus Edelstahl GmbH, 

Buderus Edelstahl Band GmbH and Buderus 

Edelstahl Schmiedetechnik GmbH, and 

finally the takeover of Böhler-Uddeholm 

by Voestalpine. Buderus Edelstahl Info is 

now the customer magazine of Buderus 

Edelstahl GmbH, combining technical 

innovations and interesting customer 

applications with information for and 

about Buderus Edelstahl employees. “The 

last 10 years must be the most eventful in 

the long history of Buderus Edelstahl”, 

comments Christian Jung. “But there is one 

consistent theme, the huge positive 

response to our customer magazine. That is 

a source of satisfaction to us, and reason 

enough to pursue our quest to find exciting 

new topics.” And that is what the innovative 

special steel from Wetzlar offers in 

plenty. 

Kunden-Magazin 

2/2004 

EDELSTAHL 

Magazin für Kunden 

und Mitarbeiter 

EDELSTAHL Info 2/2007 5 

3/2005

The Company 

Steelmaking and rough machining 

come closer together 

Buderus Edelstahl Zerspanungstechnik GmbH 

Works building and machine tools at Buderus Edelstahl Zerspanungstechnik GmbH in Bischoffen-Niederweidbach 

6 


On 1 May 2007, Buderus Edelstahl 

acquired ARRK Zimmermann GmbH in 

Bischoffen-Niederweidbach. The 

declared joint aim is further enhanced 

service for Buderus Edelstahl customers, 

generating significant competitive 

advantage. 


GmbH formerly belonged to the ARRK Zimmermann 

Group, and has a wide range of 

machining facilities, many years’ expe - 

rience in machining, and extensive knowhow 

to accommodate even the most complex 

customer requirements. 

The steel pre-machining specialists for 

finishing and assembly provide highly 

advanced machining appreciated by leading 

toolmakers, mould makers and machine 

makers. This makes the company an ideal 

complement to the products and services 

provided by Buderus Edelstahl GmbH to 

meet the specific demands of sophisticated 

customers, with a focus on plastic mouldmaking 

for the automotive industry to produce 

large-format parts such as bumpers, 

dashboards and interior trim. 

This acquisition further expands 

Buderus Edelstahl’s service provision. With 

clear advantages for Buderus Edelstahl 

customers – customer-ready supplies for 

mould makers, extremely close cooperation 

of specialists from steelmaking and rough 

machining, reduced travel movements 

making for shorter machining times – an

important criterion as regards cost reduction 

and securing future prospects in the 

European automotive industry. 

“Combining machining with steelmaking 

is for us a logical response to market 

trends in recent years”, says Jens Mohr, 

Commercial Director of Buderus Edelstahl, 

and Chairman of the Buderus Edelstahl 

Zerspanungstechnik GmbH Supervisory 

Board. “Compressing project timescales is 

very important in the automotive industry, 

as are excellent steel quality and first-class 

finish. With the acquisition of ARRK 

Zerspanungstechnik GmbH and the associated 

expansion of our service provision, we 

are even better placed to meet this requirement.” 

Bernhard Pauly, General Manager Steel 

Bar Sales at Buderus Edelstahl says, 

“Buderus Edelstahl has always been keenly 

responsive to market needs. We have 

always taken a wider view. Toolmaking for 

vehicle components in Europe has strong 

competition from the Asian markets, which 

can produce more cheaply. Reducing costs 

without sacrificing quality is the way to 

secure the future in the European automotive 

industry.” 

Holger Karches, former Chief Executive 

of ARRK Zerspanungstechnik and now CEO 

of Buderus Edelstahl Zerspanungstechnik 

GmbH, sees excellent advantages in the 

merger. “With a strong parent company like 

Buderus Edelstahl at our side we can 

improve the market prospects of both 

Contact: 


Zerspanungstechnik GmbH 

Hauptstraße 46 

35649 Bischoffen-Niederweidbach 

Tel: +49 (0) 64 44/92 46-0 

Fax: +49 (0) 64 44/92 46-26 

E-mail: info-zt@buderus-steel.com 

CEO: Holger Karches 

Works Manager: Reinhard Tuisl 

Holger Karches’ office in the main building 

at Buderus Edelstahl GmbH 

Tel: +49 (0) 64 41/3 74-25 06 (Secretariat) 

Fax: +49 (0) 64 41/3 74-24 64 

E-mail: Holger.Karches@buderus-steel.com 

companies, and together we can engage 

the future on a progressive basis.” The first 

step is to expand Buderus Edelstahl 

Zerspanungstechnik GmbH into en effective 

steel service centre at the Bischoffen- 

Niederweidbach location. 

The experienced Reinhard Tuisl remains 

Works Manager. Holger Karches has his 

main office in the central building of 

Buderus Edelstahl GmbH in Wetzlar, where 

he has taken on another task in addition to 

heading up Buderus Edelstahl Zerspa - 

nungs technik GmbH – since 1. 7. 2007 he 

has been responsible for Purchasing at 

The Company 

Holger Karches 

Reinhard Tuisl 

Buderus Edelstahl GmbH, especially for 

scrap and alloys. “Our Works Manager 

Reinhard Tuisl is our contact for on-site 

machining”, says Holger Karches, “But of 

course I will be visiting Bischoffen-Niederweidbach 

regularly.” 

Combining steelmaking and rough 

machining joins two important links in the 

production chain. With the new synergies 

this creates, Buderus Edelstahl strengthens 

its customers and expands its position as 

one of the world's leading producers in this 

important field of plastic mouldmaking. 


The Company 

Buderus Edelstahl Style Manual now available 

How do fans recognise 

their team? 

Imagine a football team where every 

player wore different kit, and followed 

whatever strategy he saw fit – you 

would give it a miss, because the beautiful 

game would degenerate into a shambles. 

A clear approach combined with a 

distinctive image, the corporate design, 

is crucial for success, in sport as in business. 

The new corporate design for the 

Buderus Edelstahl brand represents this 

clear profile. It is now set out in the 

Style Manual, and is currently being 

rolled out worldwide. 

A company’s corporate design is part of its 

corporate identity, comprising the behaviour, 

performance, and the way a company 

communicates internally and externally, as 

well as the design. When all aspects are 

harmonised, a uniform image is created 

projecting recognition, trust and distinctive 

features. The Buderus Edelstahl corporate 

identity concept has several aims. 

Internally it strengthens our team solidarity 

and promotes concentration on a common 

goal because structures are more 

transparent, processes are simpler and 

presentation guidelines are uniformly 

clear. Externally it helps us to position ourselves 

even more successfully on international 

markets, and to distinguish ourselves 

from the competition in terms of 

both style and substance. Positive, clear 

and distinctive. 

A new corporate design is much more 

than just a new logo. It includes the uniform 

presentation of all visual components 

in all aspects of the business. House 

colours, fonts and typography, graphics, 

materials and slogos follow prescribed 

design formats. Only if the corporate 

design is consistently implemented can 

Buderus Edelstahl maintain a uniform 

global presence with a high recognition 

value. A corporate design functions well 

when it permeates all aspects, in all channels 

of communication, in all media, on 

8 


Expo stands and trucks, and on hard hats 

and work clothes. The smallest variation is 

counterproductive. The date in the wrong 

place on a business letter, an outdated logo 

on an overall, old stocks of sales literature, 

old business cards, idiosyncratic presentation 

documents and nonstandard exhibition 

stands. All this makes for confusion, 

and does not convey a clear image of the 

company's identity. 

The Buderus Edelstahl 

Style Manual 

Consistent implementation and development 

of the new corporate design in existing 

and future visual components of 

Buderus Edelstahl as a company is therefore 

an important task in all companies and 

departments. Help is on hand in the form 

of the new Buderus Edelstahl Style Manual. 

It gives a neat overview with clear, read- 

Key points: 

ily understandable information on all the 

basic elements of the new corporate 

design, with information on its theoretical 

and practical use. For the three independent 

companies Buderus Edelstahl, Buderus 

Edelstahl Band and Buderus Edelstahl 

Schmiedetechnik, it forms the common 

visual core from which each of the companies 

can develop in its own way. And it 

projects the essence of the Buderus Edelstahl 

brand based on four strong components, 

namely quality, competence in technology, 

power in innovation and customer 

orientation. 

That's what fans want, in sport as in 

business. Fans adopt teams where you can 

see straight away you can trust them 

because they make a clear, positive and 

promising impression – wherever they may 

be in the world. 

Corporate identity is the unmistakable identity or personality of the company, both 

internal and external. 

This includes: 

Corporate design – the visual image that reflects the corporate identity and has a 

high recognition value. 

Corporate communication – company communication including advertising, PR, 

sponsorship and sales promotion. 

Corporate behaviour – how the company behaves. It is reflected in how employees 

interact with each other and with customers, suppliers and shareholders, and in how 

the company as a whole behaves in society at large.

Iron . . . Special steel . . . Heritage 

Buderus Edelstahl actively supports the 

reconstruction of the medieval hammer 

forge in the UNESCO World Heritage 

Cistercian monastery in Fontenay, 

France. 

Monks forge Europe 

At the end of the 11th century, Christianity 

was finally established in Europe and the 

Cistercian order founded hundreds of new 

monasteries throughout Central Europe, 

starting from Burgundy. This rapidly disseminated 

knowledge and new technologies 

such as hydropower, constructing 

mills, and forging, underpinning and 

ensuring the progress and prosperity of 

people in the heart of Europe to this day. So 

you could well think of the monks of this 

order as being the patriarchs of the “European 

Idea”. 

The Johann-Philipp-Reis School in 

Friedberg has been working successfully 

since 2005 with students from Poland, 

France, the Czech Republic, Italy and 

Romania on the Comenius Project, a European 

project for researching common roots 

and perspectives for a secure future in 

peace, freedom and prosperity. The technical 

emphasis of the project is on faithful 

reconstructions of water driven forges 

from the twelfth century in Fontenay 

monastery, and on the mediaeval extraction 

process in a blast furnace they made 

themselves. 

"Strike while the iron is hot” 

As soon as this worthwhile project was 

announced, the General Manager of Open 

Die Forging, Ralph Rech, personally committed 

himself to implementing it, and 

invited the Friedberg class of the School of 

Engineering to participate in implementing 

their designs. The forging hammer itself 

was then made in the Buderus Edelstahl 

GmbH open die forge, on the 20 MN press, 

and given a hammer eye. The 2000 tonne 

hammer is then driven by a wooden water 

wheel specially constructed to the students’ 

own design, like all the components. 

Forged hammerhead 

made of Buderus 

special steel for 

World Heritage 

Model of the monastery’s forge 

The Company 

The hammerhead arrives at the Fontenay monastery 

European youth group watch the hammer being 

forged in Wetzlar 

France is always worth a visit, especially 

for the inauguration of the mediaeval 

forge in Fontenay on 9 May 2008. Buderus 

Edelstahl employees and friends are particularly 

welcome when another highlight of 

World Heritage is presented to visitors. You 

will find further information on this exciting 

project on www.comenius-fontenay.de 

or on www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fontenay. 


The Company 

More capacity to boost output 

Investments and process improvements continue 

Buderus Edelstahl is responding to increased customer demand with further extensive 

investment and innovative projects relating to the forging furnaces, the new 

boiler house, and steam generation in the steel mill. This is also generating environment 

protection benefits through the more efficient use of energy. 

Forging furnaces renovated and 

expanded 

As part of the PROFORGE capacity expansion 

programme, the company invested in 

additional heating capacity both in the 

forge and in the 20 MN and 55 MN forging 

press areas. 

The existing rotary hearth furnace of the 

20 MN press was completely overhauled 

and is now capable of taking blooms 

weighing up to 10 tonnes (previously 7.5). 

The furnace has also been fitted with an 

automatic charging machine and a new 

control system. As well as expanding 

capacity and improving efficiency, this has 

10 


also provided computer-aided monitoring 

of the heating parameters, giving more 

precise control of the relevant process 

parameters. Four more bogie hearth furnaces, 

each with a capacity of 300 tonnes, 

were installed in the 55 MN press section. 

The furnaces are equipped with the latest 

generation of flat flame burners to prevent 

local overheating and ensure even heating 

of the ingots. 

Technical General Manager Ralph Rech 

comments, “These furnaces give us the 

capacity for blooms in the 100 to 150 

tonne range that customers increasingly 

require. Apart from just expanding capaci- 

ty, we are also significantly increasing flexibility 

in how the forging range is made 

up.” 

New boiler house increases efficiency 

In autumn 2006 a new boiler house was 

installed at Buderus Edelstahl. It replaces a 

plant from the 1970s, meeting increased 

demand and reducing specific gas consumption 

with higher efficiency. 

Tobias Besser Head of Central Services, 

comments, “It was a major challenge in 

terms of technical design and project management 

integrating the existing steam 

and hot water networks, which had to keep 

operating without interruption.” 

The core of the plant is a high-pressure 

steam boiler made by LOOS, with a thermal 

output of 14.5 MW producing 22 tonnes of 

steam per hour at 22 bar. The main function 

of the boiler is to generate steam for 

the steel degassing process in the steel mill. 

The boiler is connected to the location’s 

hot water circuits by a hydraulic switch. 

This system uses steam for works heating 

via a heat exchanger, and the return is

linked to the heating circuits by standalone 

heat recovery units. The heat recovered 

reduces the load on the boiler and reduces 

gas consumption. 

The design provides for a further stage 

of hot cooling in the steel mill to recycle 

the process heat that arises there. The control 

system will primarily use the heat 

from this source once this unit has been 

commissioned, and only call on the boiler 

for its additional heat requirements. Further 

stages will also save energy, such as 

avoiding heat loss from the desalination 

process, by fitting an upstream reverse 

osmosis unit. 

Innovative, environment-friendly 

steam generation 

The exhaust gases created during electric 

arc furnace melts reaching temperatures of 

1200 °C. have to be cooled down to temperatures 

over 120 °C before they can be 

fed to the flue gas filter; this is currently 

done in a water-cooled pipeline, passing 

through cooling towers. Process water is 

currently used for cooling, with an input 

temperature of about 23 °C. An environment 

project is in hand to harness this heat 

to save energy, to generate steam for the 

vacuum system. The steam needed for vacuum 

production (about nine tonnes per 

hour) has previously been provided by the 

boiler house. 

From January 2008, the steam will be 

generated from the energy in the exhaust 

gas, using the effect of evaporative cooling. 

This involves feeding hot water at boiling 

temperature from a steam cylinder to 

the cooling elements of the new exhaust 

duct. Some of the water is evaporated at a 

constant temperature by the thermal energy 

available there. The steam water mixture 

flowing back to the steam cylinder is separated 

into saturated steam and water. The 

water is returned to the circuit, the steam 

is fed to a steam reservoir, and released to 

the vacuum system as required. 

This plant can generate about 30,000 

tonnes of steam a year from the existing 

exhaust gas energy. Since no natural gas is 

required to generate this steam, there is 

also a real CO 2 saving. 

New automatic charging machine with rotary hearth furnace 

The Company 

New boiler house with higher efficiency The core is the new high-pressure steam boiler 

Four new bogie hearth furnaces as part of the PROFORGE capacity expansion project 


Billets 

Quality steel from Wetzlar for Edelstahl Rosswag 

Special gearwheel blanks 

for high-speed yacht engines 

“Steel is where it all starts”, to quote the Rosswag company video. This refers to the 

prime grade steel needed for forged products for extreme requirements, which is what 

Edelstahl Rosswag specialises in. This largest open-die forge in southern Germany will 

be celebrating its centenary in four years, and has procured its special steels from 

Buderus Edelstahl for decades. 

Buderus Edelstahl rolled billets in the 

Rosswag stockyard Heating the sawn billets to forging temperature The start of forging in the Rosswag forge 

12 

EDELSTAHL Info 2/2007

Frank Agel, Billet Sales department manager, 

visited Edelstahl Rosswag GmbH in 

Pfinztal in Baden-Württemberg at the end 

of April, and witnessed the forging of gearwheel 

blanks with a really special requirements 

profile for luxury marine trans - 

missions. Buderus Edelstahl supplies rolled 

billets to Rosswag (270 square) for this purpose. 

The rolled billets are then formed 

and forged at a forging temperature of 

850–1100 °C to around 635 mm. Rosswag 

in turn supplies the gearwheel blanks to ZF 

Friedrichshafen AG, where they are finish 

machined. They are finally installed in special 

marine transmissions for high-powered 

engines made by Siemens-MTU, which are 

installed in luxury yachts. “Every selfrespecting 

yacht owner has his eye on a 

good engine when buying a vessel”, says 

Alexander Essig, CEO of Rosswag. Alexander 

Essig is a smith by trade, and a gra duate 

industrial engineer, and is an enthusiastic 

sailor himself. He manages this company – 

formed in 1911 and now in its fourth generation 

– jointly with two other family 

members: Ms Kirsten Walezak, who is 

responsible for product quality assurance 

at Rosswag, and Dr Sven Donisi, who has 

taken over as Production Director in the 

fifth generation. 

Steel made in Wetzlar fabricated and 

converted by Rosswag is to be found not 

only in some of the finest and fastest 

yachts in the world. Rosswag open-die 

forged products are also to be found in the 

landing flap gear units of the Airbus 380, in 

the Ariane space rockets, in Formula 1 

bolides, and in the drive units of the ICE 3 

high-speed train. And when the bells ring 

out in the Frauenkirche in Dresden, in the 

Strasbourg Minster or in the Stiftskirche in 

Neustadt, Edelstahl Rosswag is involved. 

Forging bell clappers is one of the company's 

traditional activities, and is appreciated 

even in Malta, where the Peace Bell in 

the town of La Valetta has a clapper forged 

in Pfinztal. 

Rosswag produces coil, rod, plate and 

perforated plate to customer specification 

for a very diverse range of industries, as 

well as forged special fabrications to order. 

Typical orders include prototypes and short 

runs. Approaching 400 different materials 

are available for the company's customers. 

Dressed gearwheel blank Gearwheel blank being machined 

Billets 

Christiane Rittel, Billet Sales; Jürgen Ludwig, Rosswag Purchasing; Bruno Hosfeld, Rosswag Quality 

Assurance; Alexander Essig, Rosswag Chief Executive; Frank Agel, Billet Sales Manager (from left to right) 

This includes the quality special steels provided 

by Buderus Edelstahl GmbH. In addition 

to various working steels, the Rosswag 

forge also machines titanium, aluminium 

and other non-ferrous metals. The company 

currently has a workforce of 130, and 

sales agents in various European countries. 

“It all starts with steel”, says Alexander 

Essig. “Whether a product delivers what it 

promises depends on its quality and outstanding 

finish. Only then can you speak of 

success. We are linked to Buderus Edelstahl 

by such a success story and by mutual trust 

that has grown over many decades.” 

Gearwheel blank for a special marine transmission 

ready for dispatch 


Tool steel/Engineering alloys 

Fine Expo design for fine material 

Buderus Edelstahl debuts new image at Euromold 

One thing was the concept. Creating the new Buderus Edelstahl corporate design 

and applying it to the various instruments of advertising and communication was 

no small undertaking. The other thing was making it happen. The new corporate 

design had to prove its worth on the big stage, namely at the Euromold 2006 

Expo, the world trade fair for tool and mould making, design and product 

development, held this year from 29 November to 2 December in the Frankfurt 

Expo complex. 

Functional and inviting – 

the new exhibition stand 

corporate design 

It was there for all to see, the sample test 

had been successful. “All communication 

media were ready bang on schedule”, 

observed Christian Jung, Marketing and 

Advertising Manager, with satisfaction. 

Fresh and radiant, the highly visible exhibition 

tower rose up in its special-steel blue 

14 


as the high-visibility key visual on the 

Buderus Edelstahl stand. The steel, once in 

glowing, liquid form, and once in solid 

form, instantly and vividly illustrates even 

to visitors outside the “special steel frater - 

nity” what competencies are involved. The 

stand was accordingly well visited. The new 

CD colours blue and orange offset by white 

and silver grey evidently presented a particularly 

inviting prospect. Printed canvas 

presenting the product range in an interesting 

light with key examples conveyed 

the impression of openness and transparency, 

and also contoured the stand 

architecture. No question of trepidation as 

visitors approached the stand. Just a few 

especially impressive exhibits were displayed 

in the entrance area, so as not to 

clutter the stand, and to present an accessible 

face to visitors. The exhibits included 

a core carrier and a mould carrier, a diecasting 

mould frame, and machined steel 

and aluminium plate from Deville Rectification. 

Product information on glass plate 

helped visitors find their way around. The 

Plastics Handbook for Toolmakers likewise 

available on the exhibition stand has now 

acquired the status of a long seller.

Business was brisk on the exhibition stand 

A hammerhead made of Buderus 

special steel, the film release 

All this was certainly thought out with 

care, and did not fail to achieve its purpose, 

that of a functional but pleasant and calm 

atmosphere for conducting technical conversations. 

One special feature was the 

unique spectacular project with a film on 

the Africa hammer. It is available as a DVD 

entitled “The flaming tree” in German, English, 

French and Ewe (see page 26). The 19 

tonne work of art has now arrived at its 

destination in Togo, forged by the Buderus 

Edelstahl open-die forge. The forging artist 


New sales literature in six languages Active interest in the film about the Africa hammer 

Andreas Rimkus was personally present on 

the exhibition stand, and proudly explained 

how the project came about and how it 

was finally realised. Our last detailed report 

on this was in Buderus Info 1/2007. 

EDELSTAHL Info 2/2007 15 

� 

The Buderus Edelstahl exhibition team


Euromold is growing – and Buderus 

Edelstahl is growing with it 

Such distinctive features help to maintain 

visibility in the ever-expanding Euromold 

marketplace. More than 60,000 visitors 

from 72 countries came to Frankfurt this 

year to survey the new trends on show over 

an even larger exhibition site extending to 

80,050 square metres, especially trends in 

tool and mould making, and also in model 

and prototype making, in engineering, 

design, materials, rapid prototyping and 

tooling, in simulation technologies and in 

special shows like the one on the possibilities 

in the field of plastic. The high proportion 

of the international exhibitors and 

guests coming from the economic growth 

region of Asia was particularly striking. The 

exhibition management team attribute the 

new record figures to the proven concept 

enabling specialists like industrial designers, 

product developers, buyers, suppliers 

and users to gain an overview of the entire 

process chain "from design through prototype 

to mass production” within one exhibition 

venue. 

Investment for greater capacity – 

in the service of the customer 

Someone with as many years of sales experience 

as Bernhard Pauly, the Tool 

Steel/Engineering Alloys Sales Manager, is 

delighted about the high level of demand 

for special steel. “The current challenge in 

day-to-day business is to meet the high 

demand from existing customers to their 

satisfaction, and then acquire new customers.” 

To ensure continued success in 

this endeavour, Buderus Edelstahl is investing 

in various areas such as the major 

expansion of the forging area, the capacity 

of which is to be significantly increased. 

“This is an important message that should 

now be given out from our exhibition 

stand,” explains Jens Mohr, the Commercial 

Director, “We are investing so we can continue 

to serve our customers quickly, flexibly 

and with the best quality.” 

16 


An unforgettable experience 

Buderus Edelstahl as a guest 

at a Hindu wedding 

In Chennai in India, formerly Madras, a wedding celebration of superlatives took place 

from the 29 January to 1 February 2007. The Laxman family, owners of PCK Buderus 

India Special Steels PVT Ltd, issued invitations to the wedding of their son Chidamber, 

one of the directors of PCK Buderus. Bernhard Pauly and Ulrich Keiner were there from 

the start; Jens Mohr, Commercial Director of Buderus Edelstahl, joined them one day 

later. 

The ceremonies of this Brahman wedding 

with its many rituals and customs, lasted 

three whole days. It was a festival of symbols 

and flower chains, repeatedly accompanied 

by Vedic prayers, song and Indian 

wedding music, with instruments we are 

not familiar with such as the nadaswaram, 

the sound of which wafts through the 

wedding room clearly announcing that a 

bond is being forged here that is holy and 

divine. Unaccustomed sounds to the European 

ear, an immense flood of vivid 

impressions for the eye. 

The married couple 

They had hardly arrived, when Bernhard 

Pauly, General Manager Steel Bar and 

Stockholding Service, and Ulrich Keiner, Far 

East Tool Steel Sales, were whisked off to 

the first ritual the next morning, a ritual 

preparing the bridegroom for his new life 

as master of his own house, in which he 

takes leave of his bachelor years. Then follows 

a further very important ritual in 

which the bride’s father enjoins the “still 

undecided” bachelor, who comes along in 

slippers with an umbrella, bamboo fans and 

other artefacts, to no longer adhere to his 

ascetic bachelor's life. He finally convinces 

him that life as a married man is better, and 

promises him his daughter as companion. 

Numerous other rituals accompany the 

ceremonies, including washing the bridegroom 

clean, fertility rituals and symbolic 

Ritual on the swing with the mothers of the bride 

and groom

acts. For example the bride and groom sit 

together on a swing. The swinging symbolises 

rocking on the waves of life on which 

the couple now move spiritually and physically 

in harmony with one another. Then 

finally the walk round the sacred fire, seven 

steps with seven oaths – the most important 

part of the wedding ceremony. It 

relates to the belief that if you walk seven 

paces with someone, they become your 

friend. 

“It was a fantastic experience”, says 

Bernhard Pauly, “Even if our business 

footwear didn't quite fit into the overall 

picture.” The black socks and shoes sat 

awkwardly with the shirt blouses and fine 

silk hip scarves given to the male guests to 

wear for the wedding ceremony. Cooks 

ladled the purely Indian vegetarian food 

from a large pot; the food was served on 

banana leaves laid out on the tables, and 

eaten with the right hand. This was something 

else unfamiliar to the European 

guests, like much that they experienced in 

the three exciting days. 

One day after the wedding ceremony 

there were receptions at the houses of the 

parents of the bride and groom. Presents 

were exchanged, people danced together, 

and everyone joined in. A leading light in 

this was Robert Chang, Managing Director 

The bridegroom with his parents at the Holy Fire 

Visiting the new PCK Buderus office building and stockholding facility in Chennai 

of Wu Jii, Taiwan, who proved an accomplished 

dancer. Other Buderus business 

partners present were Gabriele Pesciera of 

Comas S.p.A. Acciai Speciali, who had travelled 

from Italy, and David Chen of Metal 

System Co. Ltd from Taiwan. 

Jens Mohr could only stay for one day, 

and used his stay in Chennai to visit the 


new PCK Buderus office building and on 

site stockholding facility. 

“This impressive wedding left us all with 

enduring impressions”, says Bernhard 

Pauly. “This delightful private gesture by 

the Laxman family has further strengthened 

our business relations that have now 

existed for almost 50 years.” 

Business friends with the bride and groom (from the left): David Chen, Bernhard Pauly, the bride and groom, 

Ulrich Keiner, Gabriele Pesciera, Robert Chang, Krishnan Laxman 


Tool steel 

18 

Substituting forged tool steel for cast steel 

in die-casting mould frames 

High production level with 


Buderus Edelstahl produces special-steel die-casting mould frames for the light alloy 

foundry at the BMW works in Landshut, which are fitted into a die-casting machine 

with a clamping force of 4,000 tonnes for producing aluminium crankcases, and fitted 

with moulding inserts. The engine block is cast under high pressure and weighs 41 kg. 

Relatively rapid cycle times of 2.5 to 3 minutes demand a high production level, and 

mould frames must withstand extreme levels of alternating stress. 

The light alloy forge at the BMW works in 

Landshut had previously been specifying 

cast steel for the largest mould frames in 

Heavy ingot on the 50MN open-die forging press 


the forging dimensions 2050 x 1130 x 

2430 mm and 2050 x 625 x 2430 mm for 

die-casting inserts for producing high- 

Moving mould frame part undergoing 

pre-machining 

quality porefree 

aluminium pres - 

sure die cast crankcases, 

which are now made of hot 

working steel. For reasons of quality and 

scheduling, one frame pair of the size indicated 

consisting of the fixed and the movable 

part of the mould was first to be built 

in forged tool steel alongside the existing 

tool concept. Production at Buderus Edel- 

Pre-machined fixed mould frame part ready 

for heat treatment

Strategic discussion of quality and finish as the basis for costing: Peter Vetter, Volker Lubich, Peter Spielvogel, 

Oliver Schaub (from left to right) 

stahl had to accommodate the extreme 

blank weights of 46 tonnes for the moving 

mould frame and 25 tonnes for the fixed 

mould frame, and the qualitative finish 

with a very tight production timeframe 

was discussed in detail with the customer. 

Buderus Edelstahl materials 

for high stress states 

“You need to know the stress profile of the 

complete casting tool during production 

exactly in order to determine the most economic 

steel grade that is best in terms of 

quality”, says Volker Lubich, Tool Steel 

Quality Planning Manager at Buderus Edelstahl 

(retired at the beginning of 2007). 

“There are thermal stresses acting here due 

to preheating of the tool, the casting temperature 

and the casting speed. There are 

also mechanical stresses due to the clamping 

force of the machine, the closing pressure 

of the tool and the relatively high 

casting pressures of the aluminium up to 

850 bar at temperatures up to 700 °C, 

which have a cumulative effect on the 

casting tool.” 

Tool steel 

These thermally and mechanically 

induced stress states are repeated about 

every 2.5 to 3 minutes throughout the production 

cycle in the die-casting die, and 

require high strength and rigidity with 

adequate toughness and ductility of the 

mould frames. On the basis of the mechanical 

properties required, the Cr-Ni-Mo 

alloyed tool steel 2738 ISO-BM was selected 

as the tool material. 

The initial format of the two forging 

blanks involved casting a 100 tonne poly - 

gonal raw ingot in a mould for hot forming 

under the 5500 tonne forging press. This 

made it possible to ensure the two forgings 

were adequately formed and thus free of 

pores. The production sequence thereafter 

through to delivery of the two mould 

frames consisted of heat treatment to 

establish the correct component strength, 

rough pre-machining to contour, and thermal 

de-stressing. The piece is then finish 

machined according to drawing at a mould 

maker engaged by the customer. 

Buderus Edelstahl has been working 

successfully for many years with the Aluminium 

Diecasting Mould and Injection 

Mould departments to produce automotive 

plastic parts such as bumpers, spoilers and 

mudguards. With the substitution of 

forged tool steel for cast steel for die-casting 

mould frames, Buderus Edelstahl offers 

its customers attractive new supply 

options. 

Finished mould frame fixed side Fixed mould side with insert fitted Aluminium die-cast part of the six-cylinder engine 


Employees 

The Works Fire Service team 

Buderus Works Fire Service and Works Medical Service 

Joined-up safety 

Buderus Edelstahl has several emergency 

departments to avert hazardous situations 

and ensure the quickest and best 

possible provision. The Works Fire 

Service and Works Medical Service are 

closely interlinked, and work smoothly 

together to provide an emergency 

service. 

Saving lives, protecting health, avoiding 

downtime and breakdown costs are the 

tasks of the Buderus Edelstahl Works Fire 

Service. It was formed in 1925, and since 

20 


then it has grown with its tasks. The practised 

team is on the spot in minutes, 

around the clock, 365 days a year. A total of 

33 men and one woman currently belong 

to the Works Fire Service, 13 of them fulltime 

and 20 volunteers. They are on the 

spot immediately with up to eight fire 

appliances and emergency vehicles. Their 

task ranges from fire prevention by inspections, 

tests, etc, to active firefighting and 

ambulance work through to handling 

unusual emergencies like the one in summer 

2006 when a swarm of wild bees had 

to be rescued from a facade of the works, a 

task the Works Fire Service performed in an 

exemplary manner. 

Wide range of tasks 

In addition to the tasks already indicated, 

the full-time fire service staff also perform 

activities in the control centre, at reception 

and in company security, naturally matching 

the rotating shift pattern of Buderus 

Edelstahl production, 24/7. The variety of 

tasks is very demanding for the team, 

which has to be qualified and motivated.

The Works Fire Service has regular practices, 

training and special tests, for example 

with breathing and chemical protection. 

In addition to general firefighting and 

fire practices, the everyday work of the 

Buderus Edelstahl Works Fire Service also 

includes lifesaving with special equipment. 

Modern medical equipment such as the 

mobile defibrillator and the artificial respiration 

equipment in the new emergency 

vehicle must be operated safely and with 

no loss of time. 

The highest priority is avoiding major 

fires and the associated threat of loss and 

injury. Every year the works fire service 

trains employees in the use of fire extinguishers, 

of which more than 900 are distributed 

throughout the works premises. 

New company doctor for Buderus Edelstahl 

From 1 January 2007, 

Heinz-Dieter Schmidt 

has taken over the 

duties of Dr Ingrid Knell, 

our long-serving company 

doctor. Heinz- 

Dieter Schmidt has 

extensive medical training and vocational 

experience. He has worked as a specialist in 

occupational medicine and as an emergency 

doctor. He worked as company doctor 

at Hoesch, and was most recently the 

lead occupational doctor at the occupational 

medical Centre in Haiger. 

Heinz-Dieter Schmidt and his team are 

available to our workforce for accidents at 

work and routine examinations as required. 

Information and advice and health-related 

vocational services are also available from 

the company medical service. For example 

this year we are offering flu injections to 

all employees. Those who are interested can 

contact the company medical service up to 

the end of November. 

Of course the extensive equipment also 

has to be maintained regularly, once a 

month for respiratory equipment for 

example. Also emergency vehicles, hoses, 

ladders, ropes, radio communication and 

other equipment is checked regularly, subjected 

to functional tests, and replaced if 

necessary. Fortunately the works fire service 

is very rarely deployed for a major incident, 

because of the excellent preventive 

measures. But the importance of a good 

team with excellent equipment became 

apparent in May of this year when the 

fire-fighting team under the leadership of 

Frank Brück was confronted with a fire in 

the rolling mill. The incident was successfully 

contained, in close cooperation with 

the city fire services. 

Heinz-Dieter Schmidt is available for consultations 

in 2007 at the following times: 

Employees 

Volunteers always wanted 

The volunteers who support the full-time 

firefighters are particularly important for 

all tasks. The more the better. The Buderus 

Edelstahl works fire service is currently 

again looking for employees to join as volunteers. 

How do you join the works fire 

service? It’s easy, just call the works fire 

service, or e-mail company security. The 

contact person is Oliver Roland. “We 

urgently need more volunteers to stay up 

to strength”, he says, and looks forward to 

your phone call or e-mail. 

Monday/Wednesday: 10:00–14:30 hours 

Tuesday/Friday: 12:00–16:00 hours 

Heinz-Dieter Schmidt with his team: nurse Yvonne Weber, Oliver Roland (works fire service), nurse Barbara 

Schliffer, nurse Heike Langner (from left to right), and the new works emergency vehicle 


Employees 

Minister of Economic 

Affairs visits 


Dr Alois Rhiel finds out 

about the sandwich 

course system 

When the Minister of Economic Affairs 

for the state of Hesse, Alois Rhiel, undertook 

his one-week tour of the State on 

20. 8. 2007 on the subject of “sandwich 

courses in Hesse”, his first visit was to 

Buderus Edelstahl GmbH. Alois Rhiel 

visited companies and schools to promote 

sandwich courses that combine 

training at the workplace and at uni - 

versity. “Studying in a sandwich course 

format is still not sufficiently well known 

to young people at grammar schools and 

technical high schools in Hesse, although 

this interweaving of theory and practice 

is an excellent form of vocational training”, 

says Dr Rhiel. 

Dr Rhiel took the opportunity at Buderus 

Edelstahl to gain practical information on 

this form of study that the company has 

been using successfully since 2001. Buderus 

Edelstahl is currently training seven students 

under the University sandwich programme 

StudyPlus in cooperation with the 

Gießen Friedberg University of Applied 

Group photo of students and company representatives of Buderus Edelstahl 

22 


Sebastian Best, Minister of Economic Affairs Alois Rhiel, Stefan Luthardt (front, from left to right); 

Gerd Hackenberg (Wetzlar/Dillenburg CIC), Detlef Haaske (StudyPlus), Roland Lentz, Jörg E. Feuchthofen, 

Jens Paul Mohr, Karl-Peter Johann and Holger Kison (rear, from left to right) 

Sciences, making it a good example of the 

great success of sandwich courses. 

Company Director Karl-Peter Johann 

described the company’s growth to illustrate 

the importance of qualified managers 

in all fields. “We clearly benefit from the 

combination of theory and practice, and 

develop our own succession with company-specific 

knowledge gained on the job 

during the practical phases of the course, 

who produce usable projects and can start 

work as soon as they finish the course”, 

adds Mr Johann. The Human Resource 

Manager Holger Kison also confirmed the 

great success of the sandwich training system, 

“The three-year course prepares 

promising employees for promotion, having 

gained immense specialist knowledge 

and also a great deal of social competence 

and company ethic.” 

Stefan Luthardt is in his fifth semester 

studying industrial engineering, specialising 

in mechanical engineering, and gave 

the minister and the representatives of the 

Chamber of Industry and Commerce and 

the Union of Company Associations in 

Hesse a convincing account of the value of 

the information tour with an insight into 

the syllabus and practical phases. Sebastian 

Best is already a StudyPlus graduate, and 

used his own career with the company to 

illustrate the vocational opportunities that 

open up with the course. “You can see there 

are always opportunities for further development”, 

comments Rhiel. 

For Buderus Edelstahl, the sandwich 

course training format is a progressive 

instrument to cover the company’s requirement 

for highly qualified succession. 

Gradu ates are already taking on key functions 

in the company, and have excellent 

career opportunities. 

Students from the Aac 

The shortage of skilled manpower in Germany 

is becoming ever more apparent, and 

Buderus Edelstahl is no exception. It is 

important to enthuse highly qualified 

students as early as possible for Buderus 

Edelstahl as a company and for the fascinating 

world of steel. We do this by providing 

work experience and diploma projects, 

providing information on site at various 

graduate job fairs, and organizing works 

tours for institutes to familiarize them-

Exemplary company 

integration management 

Award for Buderus 


Buderus Edelstahl received an award for 

its exemplary company integration management, 

at an award ceremony on 

13. 6. 2007 at Fraport AG in Frankfurt, 

presented by the Hesse State Welfare 

Association (LWV). Human Resource 

Manager Holger Kison received the prize 

endowed with € 3,000 on behalf of the 

Health Working Group. This makes 

Buderus Edelstahl one of a total of 10 

award-winning companies in Hesse that 

are committed to integrating sick and 

disabled people into work. 

The LWV Councillor Dr Peter Barkey presented 

the award together with Dr Werner 

Scherer, Chief Executive of the Hesse 

Employers’ Association Council, saying, 

“We are delighted that there are now several 

companies in Hesse that have adopted 

integration management as a strategic 

challenge, setting an example by taking 

action for sustained integration of their 

disabled and sick employees.” 

“Companies in Hesse regard workplace 

prevention and integration management 

as an expression of a modern company philosophy 

whose economic success is based 

mainly on the motivation of the workforce”, 

emphasised Dr Scherer to the group 

of around 200 company representatives. 

Together with the agreement between 

the Works Council and company management 

reached since 2004 for integrating 

disabled people, the long-standing practice 

of health management at Buderus Edel- 

hen University IBF at Buderus Edelstahl 

selves with our work and the various production 

processes. 

Students from the Institute of Metal 

Forming (IBF) of the Aachen University 

of Technology visited us on 31. 5. 2007 

under the direction of Professor Gerhart 

Hirt to enjoy a varied programme presenting 

the world of Buderus Edelstahl. The 

Engineering Director Karl-Peter Johann 

greeted the guests and introduced the 

company. 

The works tour gave the young engineers 

a vivid first-hand picture of the production 

plant and production processes. 

The Works Manager and the Quality Assurance 

Manager Dr Frank Hippenstiel provided 

additional specific information. 

Buderus Edelstahl also organised a tour 

through the unique German Museum of 

Mathematics, the Mathematikum in Gie - 

ßen, where the world of formulae and 

numbers becomes an exciting experience. 

Employees 

Works Council Chairperson Heidi Koster (on the 

right), Human Resource Manager Holger Kison 

(on the left) 

stahl contributes to people with medical 

handicaps or long-term illness continuing 

or returning to work in the company. 

Buderus Edelstahl takes proactive measures 

to make this possible. 

The latest example is adapting the crane 

cab in the scrap and alloy store area to create 

another workplace suitable for disabled 

people. Measures such as this have enabled 

Buderus Edelstahl to significantly exceed 

its statutory 5 % quota of disabled people 

in the workforce. This is quite remarkable 

for a company in heavy industry. 

The award by the State Welfare Association 

is a spur to continue with this work. 

Buderus Edelstahl will donate the prize 

money of € 3,000 to the Fröbel School 

Development Association in Wetzlar to 

improve the learning situation for disabled 

people capable of practical training. 

Complex mathematical material is presented 

in visual terms to make it accessible to 

the general public. 

The varied day was rounded off in the 

evening with a barbeque buffet. The students 

and the engineering and management 

staff of Buderus Edelstahl took the 

opportunity for more wide-ranging discussion. 

This was a networking opportunity to 

make contacts that will no doubt be maintained 

in future. 


Employees 

”Good luck!“ 

to all our new 

apprentices 

On 1 August 2007, 19 apprentices started 

work in various industrial and engineering 

careers at Buderus Edelstahl. 

In the industrial/engineering field the 

following young people are being trained 

as lathe operator turners: Marcel Oberding, 

Nils Ströhmann, Martin Born, Alexander 

Veidt and Vitali Wilde. They are learning 

to produce or machine workpieces for 

machines, equipment and plant by turning 

and drilling operations on conventional 

and computer-controlled machine 

tools. This includes planning the production 

processes involved, selecting the necessary 

tools, and writing the programs for 

computer-aided machines. Setting up the 

lathes including tooling and jigs and fixtures, 

and monitoring the production 

process and checking the quality of the 

workpieces also form part of the training, 

including maintenance and care of the 

machines operated. 

There has been a significant increase 

this year in the group of apprentices in the 

field of materials testing/metal working. 

This operation is strengthened with the following 

intake, all in their first year of training: 

Maurice Dietz, Benjamin Jung, Tobias 

24 


Reiss, Lena Seibert und Roman Ulrich. This 

training will qualify our young people to 

inspect materials and workpieces auto - 

nomously, determine their characteristics 

and document them. With the knowledge 

they acquire of the various production and 

machining sections, the materials inspectors 

can later analyse precisely the causes 

of problems identified. The process of 

carrying out test procedures, presenting 

results and applying quality assurance 

aspects all relates to prescribed standards 

and customer specifications. 

New trainees in the field of industrial 

mechanics maintenance are Jan Bangel, 

Tobias Coletta, Ayhan Evli, André Menk, 

Janis Schäfer und Albert Schweizer. Over 

the next 3 ½ years they will learn how 

machines and production plant are 

inspected and maintained, and how 

machines are dismantled and reassembled, 

checked for functionality and put into 

service, especially having regard for the 

safety rules to be observed. 

In the industrial and technical fields we 

greet our three new electronics apprentices 

specialising in works engineering. Vincenzo 

Forciniti, Kai-Marc Leininger and Tim 

Krausgrill are being trained in the difficult 

field of electronics. In the next few years 

they will learn how electrical plant is correctly 

installed, inspected and maintained. 

Their training also includes programming 

stored program controllers. 

We also have new blood in the adminis- 

trative field. Since 1 August we have been 

supported by Benjamin Wagner and 

Christina Pfeiffer dealing with administrative 

commercial tasks. Their training as 

industrial managers is multifaceted and 

varied. 

The new trainees on the StudyPlus programme 

also started in September 2007. 

Having completed her training as industrial 

manager, Anika Haus started a business and 

Nils Sröhmann, Maurice Dietz, Benjamin Jung, Janis Schäfer, Tobias Reiss, André Menk, Tobias Coletta, Roman Ulrich, Vincenzo Forciniti, Albert Schweizer, Ayhan Evli, 

Vitali Wilde, Alexander Veidt, Kai-Marc Leininger, Jan Bangel, Marcel Oberding, Tim Krausgrill, Martin Born, Christina Pfeiffer, Lena Seibert (from left to right) 

management course specialising in SME 

management. Sebastian Sinkel started his 

engineering course specialising in electrical 

engineering after completing his training as 

works electronics engineer. Christian Herr 

joined in the spring after completing his 

training as process engineer (steel forming), 

and started an industrial engineering course 

in September 2007 specialising in mechanical 

engineering. Bastian Gaul works in the 

Production Logistics department, and 

started an industrial engineering course 

specialising in mechanical engineering, after 

completing his national service. Buderus 

Edelstahl has been offering this six-semester 

course for some years in cooperation 

with StudyPlus and the Gießen Friedberg 

University of Applied Sciences, enabling 

young people to acquire extensive knowledge 

by a combination of theoretical phases 

at the university and practical elements on 

site. We wish all our apprentices success in 

their training, so that we will continue to be 

able to source our skilled manpower needs 

from our own pool of qualified employees.

Subsidiary of Schaeffler KG 


In February, Rainer Caspari, Quality Planning 

Manager for Buderus Engineering 

Alloys, welcomed an international group of 

highly qualified engineers (Field Service 

Engineers) from FAG Industrial Services 

(Schaeffler Group). The main specialism at 

FAG IS is worldwide service and maintenance 

for industrial plant. In the course of 

a comprehensive works tour, the visitors 

were given an insight into the interconnected 

production processes for the steel 

Long-service awards 

40 years’ service 

Karger, Helmut 1. 1. 2007 

Mandler, Ernst 1. 3. 2007 

Mastandrea, Michele 24. 4. 2007 

Bischoff, Monika 1. 8. 2007 

Ferber, Arno 14. 8. 2007 

Hagner, Hannelore 14. 8. 2007 

Hardt, Dietmar 14. 8. 2007 


Gamon, Norbert 18. 1. 2007 

Küster, Willi 1. 3. 2007 

Frey, Lothar 29. 3. 2007 

Deaths 

Age 

Schäfer, Horst 24. 12. 2006 71 

Lück, Werner 11. 1. 2007 75 

Baumann, Friedhelm 10. 1. 2007 73 

Biemer, Manfred 14. 1. 2007 59 

Seidel, Gerhard 27. 1. 2007 84 

Schäfer, Robert 29. 1. 2007 67 

Busch, Otto 22. 1. 2007 84 

Schneider, Heinz-Otto 12. 2. 2007 74 

Effert, Franz 6. 2. 2007 77 

Göttler, Josef 27. 2. 2007 85 

Pingel, Hermann 2. 3. 2007 94 

mill, rolling mill and closed die forge. Rai - 

ner Caspari then answered technical questions 

to fill out the picture. 

International group of visitors 

from Field Service Engineers 

with Rainer Caspari (on the left) 

before their works tour 

Barth, Brunhilde 1. 4. 2007 

Schmidt, Rolf 1. 4. 2007 

Gaul, Bernhard 3. 5. 2007 

Ulm, Paul 17. 5. 2007 

Hermann, Jürgen 1. 7. 2007 

Mundiens, Klaus-Dieter 19. 7 .2007 

Vierfuß, Ulrike 1. 8. 2007 

Hellhund, Stefan 2. 8. 2007 

Linß, Dirk 2. 8. 2007 

Felbinger, Thomas 2. 8. 2007 

Steih, Michael 2. 8. 2007 

Wirth, Michael 1. 9. 2007 

Heiselbetz, Roger 6. 9. 2007 

Age 

Mokros, Elisabeth 7. 3. 2007 101 

Martin, Fritz 9. 3. 2007 80 

Naumann, Frieda 11. 3. 2007 88 

Gómez González, Antonio 10. 3. 2007 62 

Lauber, Walter 18. 3. 2007 81 

Hatay, Hatay 23. 2. 2007 69 

Marx, Martin 23. 3. 2007 65 

Keßler, Hans 4. 4. 2007 79 

Hoser, Franz 6. 4. 2007 76 

Schäfer, Heinz 11. 4. 2007 77 

Hofmann, Marie 8. 4. 2007 96 

Employees 

Heinz, Manfred 20. 9. 2007 

Rausch, Hans-Jörg 1. 10. 2007 


Wolf, Jürgen 1. 3. 2007 

Brock, Glen-Dale 5. 5. 2007 

Ketels, Danny 1. 9. 2007 

Milanovic, Markus 1. 9. 2007 

Peschke, Timo 1. 9. 2007 

Roth, Vitali 1. 9. 2007 

Christ, Nichele 8. 9. 2007 

Age 

Feile, Albert 19. 4. 2007 98 

Depalo, Domenico 26. 4. 2007 59 

Flohr, Karl 26. 4. 2007 76 

Fritsch, Karl 16. 5. 2007 81 

Beitler, Josef 8. 6. 2007 82 

Baunemann, Walter 8. 6. 2007 66 

Roth, Hans-Martin 21. 6. 2007 47 

Neeb, Hanskurt 22. 6. 2007 76 

Özgül, Ali 10. 6. 2007 79 

Müller, Frank 14. 7. 2007 41 

Kurth, Hans 19. 7. 2007 74 


News 

Steel inspires! 

New films by and with Buderus Edelstahl 

The hammer project 

Many readers of Buderus Edelstahl Info will 

already be familiar with the Africa Hammer 

project. There is now a DVD entitled “The 

Flaming Tree” documenting the project as a 

whole, in German, French, English and Ewe. 

But the film does much more than that; 

with its spectacular images of the craft of 

forging and the commitment of people, it 

conveys the enthusiasm that the project 

has stimulated in many. It took the forging 

artist Andreas Rimkus six years to convert 

his ideas into reality. What was it about? 

Rimkus’ intention is to maintain forging as 

part of our living cultural heritage. This 

gave rise to the “generation artwork” pro - 

ject. Seven huge hammer heads, one for 

each continent, were to be forged; over the 

next 150 years a tree would grow through 

Richard Serra: 

Art of steel 

In the 1960s, Richard Serra encountered 

only incomprehension for his “rusty steel 

plate”, which has now become famous. 

Because now he is considered to be one of 

the world's most important sculptors, 

hon oured in the famous New York “Museum 

of Modern Art” with a large individual 

exhibition. In fact the museum had to 

be converted to accommodate his extremely 

heavy steel sculptures. Buderus 

Edelstahl is a favourite destination for 

Serra, to forge his works. You can see that 

for example in the film “Richard Serra – 

to See is to Think”, made by the director 

Maria Anna Tappeiner in 2005. In addition 

to the short shots from the open-die 

forge at Buderus Edelstahl, the film deals 

with the person and the life’s work of this 

artist who lives in San Francisco. You have 

insights into the creative process and his 

26 


the eye of each hammer head to form the 

handle of the hammer – a fire tree in the 

case of Africa. 

personal character, which has something 

tough and at the same time sensitive, like 

steel. His steel blocks, that stand in the 

Californian landscape, look as though 

they belong there and only there, so precisely 

did the artist position the works in 

the topography, drawing inspiration from 

Japanese Zen gardens. Viewers are ushered 

The film uses some beautiful archaic 

images to show how the 19 tonne hammerhead 

was forged at Buderus Edelstahl, and 

loaded in the container port in Hamburg, 

and arrived in Lome, the capital city of 

Togo in West Africa. There were numerous 

bureaucratic obstacles to overcome until it 

finally reached its destination Yohonou. The 

local residents had collected the money for 

the truck transport, and it is moving to see 

their enthusiasm as they greet the hammer 

in a triumphal procession. Because the 

village is a fund of knowledge about forging. 

According to legend, Yohonou is the 

place where humanity learned the art of 

forging. It is the mission of Andreas 

Rimkus and of course of Buderus 

Edelstahl to make sure it never 

forgets this art. 

The DVD is available from: 

Buderus Edelstahl GmbH 

Marketing Department 

Tel: +49 (0) 64 41/3 74-23 33 

Fax: +49 (0) 64 41/3 74-28 82 

E-mail: marketing@buderus-steel.com 

through various locations like Connecticut, 

the artist's studio in New York, a 

ruined monastery in France, Bilbao or 

Basel. It is always about relations and 

contexts – space, time, gravity, fragility, 

strength. This is a psychological challenge 

for the viewer, because when you take a 

path you have to be aware how space and 

environment change. But the most important 

thing for Serra seems to be the material 

itself – the steel. His early formative 

impressions of industrial processes – Serra 

was a steelworker himself in his youth – 

he later used to make art from steel, relying 

very much on the empathy and pride 

in craftsmanship of workers, not least 

those in Wetzlar. 

In addition to this film, Maria Anna 

Tappeiner made another film in 2006 

entitled “Richard Serra – Thinking on your 

Feet”, which is basically an extended version 

of this film and was recently broadcast 

on television.

The whole spectrum 

of steel 

Regardless of whether you work at Buderus 

Edelstahl, or are involved with steel as a 

customer or as a supplier, you usually only 

deal with one particular part of all the 

aspects that steel can deliver. Now there is 

a DVD that presents the whole spectrum of 

the capabilities of steel in an attractive 

form as a film on behalf of the Steel Information 

Centre, on the initiative of 13 leading 

steel producers including Buderus Edelstahl. 

“Made of steel – from iron ore 

to high-tech product”. Steel is a 100 % 

recyclable material, without which our 

modern life would be inconceivable, either 

in automobile engineering, in architecture, 

in medicine, in chemistry or in the kitchen. 

And there is a constant flow of fascinating 

new applications. 

The film illustrates how steel is derived 

from iron ore, coke, alloys and additives. 

You can see how ore is sintered and how 

coal is coked. The pig iron itself is unsuitable 

for further processing, because its 

carbon content makes it brittle; the carbon 

is therefore extracted, but not completely, 

because otherwise steel would 

become too soft. So the art is to manipulate 

the material and the mixtures in such 

a way that very specific characteristics 

arise. The scanning microscope reveals the 

secret life of steel in a marvellously 

Dates for 2007 

Midest 2007 

The World’s 

leading industrial 

subcontracting show 

13–16 November 2007 

Paris-Nord Villepinte, France 

graphic form. Somewhat as a textbook, 

the film depicts the production of steel 

section, pipes, sheet, wire and forgings. It 

is beautiful to see how the secret of producing 

pipes is the correct mixture of 

rolling, annealing and quenching, or how 

14,000 metres of wire is produced from a 

15 metre long billet. The precision work on 

the large forgings is also impressive, working 

down to an accuracy of one hundredth 

of a millimetre. 

For anyone who ever wanted to get an 

overview of how steel is processed and all 

Euromold 

2007 

World trade fair for tool 

and mould making, design 

and product development 

5–8 December 2007 

Frankfurt/M. Expo Centre, Germany 

News 

the things you can make of it, this DVD is 

just the thing. Since it is well presented and 

easy to understand, whilst at the same time 

containing a lot of information, it is very 

well suited for educational purposes. But 

experts will also delight in its lively presentation, 

and perhaps find out one or two 

things they didn't know. Did you know for 

example that more than a billion tonnes of 

steel are produced every year around the 

world? 

The DVD is available from: 


Marketing Department 

Tel: +49 (0) 64 41/3 74-23 33 

Fax: +49 (0) 64 41/3 74-28 82 

E-mail: marketing@buderus-steel.com 

Imprint 

Publisher: 


Editor's address: 


Buderusstraße 25, 35576 Wetzlar 

Tel. (0 64 41) 3 74-0 

Fax (0 64 41) 3 74-28 82 

Editor: 

Christian Jung (responsible for the content) 

Texts: Tobias Besser, Dr. Hubert Brunträger, 

Rainer Caspari, Eberhard Daniel, Christian Jung, 

Holger Kison, Sigrid Krekel, Ralf Rech, Dr. Klaus 

Schaefers, Jörg Schmidt 

Photo acknowledgements/sources: 

p. 4 top: Wetzlardruck; p. 9: project group, 

Fontenay; p. 12–13: Rosswag; p. 19 bottom: 

BMW works photographer 

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, Wetzlar 

Printing: Druckhaus Bechstein GmbH, Wetzlar 

Print run: 

German 5,000, English 3,000 copies 

Printed in Germany 2/2007 

© 2007 Buderus Edelstahl GmbH 


10th year · Issue 2 · November 2007 


Buderusstraße 25 

D-35576 Wetzlar 

Telephone +49 (0) 64 41/3 74-0 

Fax +49 (0) 64 41/3 74-28 82 

info@buderus-steel.com 

www.buderus-steel.com

Info 2 2007 engisch:info 2 2007 - Buderus Edelstahl Gmbh

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