For more than 150 years, the companies of the Salzgitter Group have been synonymous with the innovative and sustainable manufacture of steel and technology products. What started with the idea of making iron and steel from ore sourced in Lower Saxony has evolved into a international group that includes world-renowned brands such as Peiner Träger, Mannesmann or KHS. Today, around 25,000 people work to provide customers from a range of sectors with innovative and sustainable products of the highest quality. Their core competencies are in the production of rolled steel and tube products, as well as their processing and the global trade in these goods. In addition, they are also successful in the field of specialist machinery and plant Engineering.
They are globally present and well positioned
Around the globe, over 150 subsidiaries and participations now belong to the Salzgitter Group. They are present around the globe with their international production and service sites and demonstrate also geographical closeness to their customers.
Under the management of Salzgitter AG as the holding company, the Group is divided into the five business units Strip Steel, Plate/Section Steel, Mannesmann, Trading and Technology. In addition, the Group holds industrial participations, including a stake in the leading European copper producer Aurubis, and operates numerous service companies which are not assigned to any business unit.
They are independent
Independence is the cornerstone of their Group policy. This forms the foundation for their strategic initiatives with a long-term outlook. They are not known for frequent speculative measures aimed at short-term share price gains, as they do not believe that this type of activity is suited to increasing the value of their company in the long-term. Instead, they seek out sustainable growth potential and have proven the superior benefits of a long-term oriented corporate strategy time and again, such as with the acquisitions of Mannesmannröhren-Werke AG and Klöckner-Werke AG as well as with the successful optimization program “Salzgitter AG 2015”.
They believe that maintaining a grounded financial policy plays a key role in achieving this type of development. A solid balance sheet and capital structure is important to us in order to preserve sufficient financial room for maneuver to successfully pursue opportunities that present themselves, irrespective of capital market sentiment. They view this as an essential prerequisite for realizing sustained value increases for their shareholders.
They are innovative
The second pillar of philosophy is innovation. Their companies have always developed revolutionary products and services – from seamless tubes and wide flanged beams through to direct printing on PET bottles and the digital marketing of steel products. Their innovation, however, is not only limited to their final products.
With Salzgitter Mannesmann Forschung GmbH, the Salzgitter Group boasts one of the leading research centers for the material steel. Numerous steel grades and innovative production processes have been developed here. Moreover, their research also flows into supporting their customers in their own product developments.
They are sustaining
The prudent utilization of resources is an essential prerequisite for the economic success of their Group, not least from a financial point of view. For example, the byproduct gases from the steel production in the Salzgitter iron and steel works are used in the company’s own power plant to generate electricity and process steam. Their modern steels also play a decisive role in lightweight engineering in many industries, while their special machinery producers are also constantly working to optimize the resource consumption of their products.
According to their understanding, however, sustainability extends far and beyond merely minimizing the input of raw materials:
Demographic developments are making it essential to react in good time with suitable measures to the changing age structure of the workforce. The Salzgitter Group therefore not only relies on focused training and professional development programs for young employees, but also on the specific promotion of health among the workforce. They believe that their attractiveness as an employer is an important factor in the overall competitiveness of the Group.
All of these aspects are reflected in the YOUNITED corporate guidelines which their employees were closely involved in developing. These guidelines were published in 2014 and describe the basic principles and aims of all their common activities at work.
