ThyssenKrupp

ThyssenKrupp AG
Type Aktiengesellschaft (FWB: TKA, LSE: THK)
Industry Steel, engineering, capital goods
Founded 1810 (as Krupp), 1860 (as Thyssen)
1999 (as ThyssenKrupp)
Headquarters Duisburg and Essen[1] (seats), Essen (operational headquarters), Germany
Area served Worldwide
Key people Ekkehard Schulz (CEO and Chairman of the executive board), Gerhard Cromme (Chairman of the supervisory board)
Products Steel, stainless products, automotive technologies, plant technologies, elevator systems, marine systems, shipbuilding, services
Revenue €40.56 billion (2008/09)[2]
Operating income decrease (€1.663 billion) (2008/09)[2]
Profit decrease (€1.857 billion) (2008/09)[2]
Total assets €41.37 billion (2008/09)[2]
Total equity €9.696 billion (2008/09)[2]
Employees 187,495 (Sep 2009)[2]
Divisions ThyssenKrupp Nirosta, ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems
Website www.thyssenkrupp.com

ThyssenKrupp AG (FWB: TKA, LSE: THK) is a large German industrial conglomerate, with almost 200,000 employees. The corporation consists of 670 companies worldwide. ThyssenKrupp is one of the world's largest steel producers. It operates worldwide in three business areas: steel, capital goods, and services. The steel unit concentrates on carbon steel and stainless steel, while the capital goods unit consists of three segments: elevators, automotive (parts, sub-assemblies, and modules), and technologies (machine tools, large-diameter bearings, cement plants, bulk material handling systems, chemical / refining plants and industrial doors). The services sector provides tailor-made materials, environmental services, mechanical engineering, and scaffolding services. The company is the result of the 2000 merger of Thyssen and Krupp, and is headquartered in Essen. The largest shareholder is the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Foundation.

Contents

Products and sales

Floor indicator in a Dover elevator (Impulse fixtures) at Port Charlotte High School. Dover elevators are now a division of Thyssen Krupp.

ThyssenKrupp generates 33% of its consolidated sales on its home market. The rest of the EU (European Union) (28%) and the NAFTA region (21%) are the key foreign regions for its business outside Germany. ThyssenKrupp companies hold leading positions with their products in numerous international markets. ThyssenKrupp is the world's leading producer of tailored blank steel.[3] Tailored blanks weld steel materials of differing thicknesses.

History

Mergers and acquisitions

ThyssenKrupp building in downtown Düsseldorf

In 1978, during a period of expansion, Thyssen AG entered the North American automotive industry with the acquisition of Budd's automotive operations,[4] which became the automotive division of Thyssen and operated in North America as Budd Thyssen, now ThyssenKrupp Budd Co. In October 2006, its body and chassis operations were sold to Martinrea International Inc.[5]

ThyssenKrupp itself is the result of the 2000 merger of Thyssen AG and Krupp. In 2005, ThyssenKrupp acquired Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft (HDW) in Kiel from One Equity Partners. ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) is now the most important European group of shipbuilders. In addition to HDW, Blohm + Voss in Hamburg as well as Nordseewerke at Emden are also subsidiaries of TKMS. One Equity Partners holds 25% of the TKMS shares.

In 1999, Thyssen (one of the companies of the merger to form ThyssenKrupp Elevator) acquired the American based Dover Elevator Company. Four years later, ThyssenKrupp acquired the Korean based Dongyang Elevator.

In December 2005, ThyssenKrupp acquired 60% of Atlas Elektronik from BAE Systems, with EADS acquiring the remaining 40%.

In August 2007, ThyssenKrupp Materials North America acquired OnlineMetals.com, a small-quantity distributor of semi-finished metals and plastics based in Seattle, WA.

In early 2008, ThyssenKrupp Aerospace acquired Apollo Metals and Aviation Metals, both suppliers to aerospace and defence.

New Alabama stainless and carbon steel facilities

On May 11, 2007, ThyssenKrupp AG announced an investment of €3.1 billion (US$4.19 billion) for building new carbon steel and stainless steel processing facilities in southern Alabama.[6] The announcement came after several months of competition between a site on the Mississippi River in Convent, Louisiana, and a site on the Tombigbee River, near Mount Vernon, Alabama, in Mobile County, about 30 miles north of Mobile.

ThyssenKrupp Steel USA [4], which represents seventy percent of the project investment, is building a hot strip mill, cold rolling mill, and four galvanizing lines. ThyssenKrupp Stainless USA is building a melt shop and cold rolling mill. Both companies are independent and operate under different management teams. When completed in the spring of 2010, the facilities will process a combined total of 5.1 million metric tons of carbon and stainless steel annually for sale in the NAFTA market and will employ a combined total of 2,700 people.

Additionally, the Alabama State Port Authority is investing over $100 million to build a slab terminal on the southern tip of Pinto Island in Mobile Bay to service the raw material for the carbon steel facility.

The project, alsong with a multi-billion dollar steelmaking facility currently under construction in Brazil, is a cornerstone of ThyssenKrupp Steel's new global expansion strategy into the North American and NAFTA high-value carbon steel markets.

ThyssenKrupp Stainless project delays

On January 23, 2009, ThyssenKrupp announced that in response to the weakened North American stainless steel market and the detoriating global economy, the production startup date for the cold rolling line for ThyssenKrupp Stainless USA would be delayed at least one year while its meltshop would be further delayed until the last quarter of 2011.

ThyssenKrupp Steel USA spokesperson Scott Posey announced that there were no changes to the carbon steel segment's schedule and that the company was expected to begin its operations in spring of 2010 as originally planned.

Controversies

ISIS Elevator

ThyssenKrupp entered the machine room-less (MRL) elevator market in February 2004 with the ISIS elevator system. Unlike its other competitors (Kone EcoDisc, Otis Gen2, and Schindler 400A), the ISIS used Kevlar fiberglass cables instead of standard braided-steel cables used in the industry since the late 1800s. However, the elevator itself experienced safety problems and other flaws as well. On October 9, 2007 at a children's hospital in Seattle, one of the ISIS elevators there broke free from its cables, slipping between the 6th and 4th floors. As a result, ThyssenKrupp discontinued the ISIS and replaced it with the Synergy MRL elevator the following year, which uses conventional braided-steel cables and is much safer.[7]
However, ISIS elevators still in service as of 2009 are having their Kevlar cables replaced with conventional braided-steel ropes.[8]

Price fixing

In November 2006, five lift manufacturers, including ThyssenKrupp, were found guilty of price fixing by the EU, over 9 years,[9] along with Otis Elevator Co., Schindler Group, Kone and Mitsubishi Elevator Europe. A few months later on February 21, 2007, ThyssenKrupp was fined US$629 million (€479 million) by the EU (Otis was fined $295 million).[9] The EU Competition Commission reported that the companies had worked to rig bids for procurement contracts, share markets, and fix prices between at least 1995 and 2004.[9] The Commission reported that the companies "did not contest the facts" found by EU regulators, noting none of the accused requested a hearing to answer the allegations; the total fines of US$1.3 billion were viewed as an effort by EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes to wipe out cartels.[9]

Deaths

On December 6, 2007, an accident inside a plant in Turin, Italy caused the death of seven steelworkers. It appears that a damaged manifold burst and showered the workers with flaming coolant oil; they attempted to extinguish the flames with water but instead caused a flash fire.[10]
The plant was scheduled to be closed in February and was understaffed, but due to a delay in the other plant in Terni, Turin's workers were often forced to perform overtime in the last months.[11] Four days before the accident, another fire took place, without any casualties.[10] The accident happened around 1:30 am, after four hours of overtime.[10] When the workers tried to use nearby extinguishers, they found three out of five depleted.[12] A technician admitted to being instructed by a manager of the company to fill every extinguisher in the factory the day after the accident, in order to mislead investigators.[13] The Italian magistrates are still examining the causes of the fire, with workers describing lax safety measures to investigators. During the investigations, a document was seized from Harald Espenhahn (CEO of the Italian division of Thyssenkrupp). The document states that the only survivor should be taken to court, because he is accusing Thyssenkrupp in the media. The document also states that the fire was due to the fact that the workers were "distracted".[14]
CEO Espenhahn has been charged by the State prosecutor of Turin with "voluntary multiple murder with eventual malice" ("omicidio volontario multiplo con dolo eventuale"), while five other managers and executives have been charged with "culpable murder with conscious guilt". All have been also charged with "malicious omission of safety measures".[15]

ThyssenKrupp admitted breaking health and safety laws in the UK in relation to the death of a Polish banker at a gym (Broadgate Health Club); the banker/gym member was crushed by a ThyssenKruppen elevator that had not been properly maintained.[16]

Working conditions

In 1985, German investigative journalist, Günter Wallraff, revealed Thyssen's gross neglect of its workers as the company oversaw a systematic recruitment drive of immigrant workers to work in filthy and life threatening conditions. His experience as an undercover Turkish casual worker is documented in The Lowest of the Low.[17]

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://www.thyssenkrupp.com/en/presse/art_detail.html%26eid%3Dtk_pnid369
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 "Annual Report 2008/2009" (PDF). ThyssenKrupp. http://www.thyssenkrupp.com/fr/08_09/download/en/ThyssenKrupp_2008_2009_AR.pdf. Retrieved 2010-02-06. 
  3. ↑ [1]
  4. ↑ http://www.thyssenkrupp.com/en/konzern/geschichte_chronik_t1978.html
  5. ↑ http://www.americanmachinist.com/304/News/Article/False/38615/
  6. ↑ ThyssenKrupp Supervisory Board gives green light to steel mill in the USA
  7. ↑ [2]
  8. ↑ [3]
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 "Elevator makers fined $1.3B for price-fixing" (news), Purchasing.com - Reed Business Information, Feb. 2007, webpage: Purchcom-8053.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 "Torino, incendio in acciaieria, un operaio morto, sei in fin di vita" (in Italian). laRepubblica.it. 6 December 2007. http://www.repubblica.it/2007/12/sezioni/cronaca/incendio-acciaieria/incendio-acciaieria/incendio-acciaieria.html. Retrieved May 6, 2009. 
  11. ↑ "Quei turni infernali di 12 ore, "E chi rifiutava perdeva il posto"" (in Italian). laRepubblica.it. 8 December 2007. http://www.repubblica.it/2007/12/sezioni/cronaca/incendio-acciaieria/turni-12/turni-12.html. Retrieved May 6, 2009. 
  12. ↑ "ThyssenKrupp, primi indagati per la strage nell'acciaieria" (in Italian). laRepubblica.it. 8 December 2007. http://www.repubblica.it/2007/12/sezioni/cronaca/incendio-acciaieria/indagati-torino/indagati-torino.html. Retrieved May 6, 2009. 
  13. ↑ http://www.lastampa.it/Torino/cmsSezioni/cronaca/200801articoli/5686girata.asp (Italian)
  14. ↑ La Thyssen contro il sopravvissuto "Lo denunceremo" (Italian)
  15. ↑ "Thyssen, a processo i sei imputati, «Fu omicidio volontario»" (in Italian). Corriere.it. 17 November 2008. http://www.corriere.it/cronache/08_novembre_17/thyssen_rinvio_giudizio_f53b5f78-b4c7-11dd-adce-00144f02aabc.shtml. Retrieved May 6, 2009. 
  16. ↑ "Holmes Place gym fined over Polish banker's lift death", BBC News, 14 May 2010
  17. ↑ http://rac.sagepub.com/cgi/pdf_extract/28/2/45

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