Voest-Alpine Industrieanlagenbau Gmbh & Co. (VAI) was an engineering, equipment and construction company based in Linz, Austria and had its American headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.[1] The company began as a unit of Voest-Alpine in 1956 and was taken over by Siemens AG in 2005; the unit is now Siemens VAI Metals Technologies GmbH.
VAI, whose parent company was VA Technologie AG,[2] began as the plant building operation of Voest-Alpine but became a separate operation in 1956. As of 1997, VAI had about 4000 employees, had 100 orders totalling $3 billion, and had completed 620 projects in 80 countries. Voest-Alpine Stahl owned 21.25 percent of the stock in VAI's parent VATech.[1][3] In September 1999, VAI completed its acquisition of the Norwegian-owned Kvaerner A.S.A. metals equipment group, including operations in France, Spain, Italy, Germany, China, India and Great Britain.[4] This ranked as the most beneficial of several acquisitions preceding the company's most difficult year; in 2001, the steel industry worldwide experienced a downturn due to lower prices, though continuous casting (for which VAI was the world's top company) continued its success, especially in China. VAI reduced its six business areas to four: Iron & Steelmaking (the largest); Rolling & Processing; Automation, and Metallurgical Services.[5]
VAI subsidiary Voest-Alpine Industries Inc.[6] had its American headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.[3] In 1999, Voest-Alpine Industries, part of VA Tech North America, moved all its Pittsburgh operations to Southpointe in Washington County. At the time, the company had just taken over Kværner A.S.A.'s metals equipment group. Voest-Alpine Industries also operated in Eastlake, Ohio and Benton Harbor, Michigan.[4][7] The metals automation division of Voest-Alpine Industries relocated from Eastlake to Southpointe in 2002.[8]
As of 1999, Voest-Alpine Industries owned 49 percent of Fuchs Systems Inc. (Fuchs Systemtechnik GmbH), a German-based manufacturer of electric arc furnaces and other equipment for manufacturing steel, with plants in Mexico and Salisbury, North Carolina. Although the company laid off 59 employees in Salisbury, Fuchs was "the market leader", and the parent companies intended to keep Fuchs in business.[9][10] The layoffs resulted from an economic crisis in Asia, as well as lower demand for American steel resulting from the low import prices. However, the Asian market was returning by 1999, and Europe and South America were also possible new markets.[11] In May 2001, however, Fuchs closed the Salisbury plant, its only American facility, because half the customers were bankrupt or close to it. 230 worked there in 1996.[12] In 2001, Voest-Alpine Industrieanlagenbau purchased the remaining shares of Fuchs Systems, which became VAI Fuchs and added VAI Technometal.
Also in 2001, VAI's continuous casting operation added a casting and rolling mill for ultra-wide medium thickness slabs for IPSCO Steel in Mobile, Alabama,[5] with what were believed to be the world's largest one-piece cast mill housings at 350 tons.[13]
In 2003, VAI subsidiary Voest-Alpine Services & Technologies Corp. became majority owner of Steel Related Technology of Blytheville, Arkansas.[14]
After the Siemens purchase of VA Technologie AG completed in July 2005, VAI became Siemens VAI, a subsidiary of Siemens AG.[2][15] Siemens VAI was later called Siemens VAI Metals Technologies GmbH & Co.[16] and also referred to as VAI Group; created from VAI and Siemens electrical engineering and automation businesses, it is now a division in the Siemens Industrial Solutions and Services Group.[17][18][19] Siemens Group Industrial Solutions and Services also includes Voest-Alpine Services and Technologies (VAST). Both Siemens units operate from the Pittsburgh area.[20] VAST provides mill maintenance services to steel and aluminum manufacturers from eleven locations: Baltimore, Maryland; North East, Maryland; New London, Ohio; Milan, Ohio; Benton Harbor, Michigan; Bethel Park, Pennsylvania; Blytheville, Arkansas; Charleston, South Carolina; Decatur, Alabama; and Erie, Pennsylvania in the United States and Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario in Canada.[21]