Monographie_Saarland

The Saarland’s second large steel company, Saarstahl AG in
Völklingen, is much more recent. The original Völklinger
Steelworks were founded in 1873. The former buildings with
the mighty old blast furnaces are now a UNESCO World
Heritage site. The still active part of the company continues
operations under the umbrella of Saarstahl AG as a leading
steel supplier for the automotive branch. Together with the
subsidiary Saarschmiede GmbH Freiformschmiede for
example, it supplies turbine shafts for power stations.
Changing market conditions made it necessary to halve the
workforce so that the company could hold its ground in the
new situation. High-tech has therefore also long been a
feature in Völklingen, where tradition and world heritage can
be found within a stone’s throw of ultra-advanced steel production:
a fascinating, enticing contrast. Today’s Saarstahl
AG also includes the subsidiaries in the Saarbrücken district
of Burbach (formerly founded by the Luxembourg company
ARBED) as well as the wire rolling mill in the former steelwork
site of Neunkirchen, whose roots go back to 1595. In autumn
2019, Völklingen will be commissioning the new continuous
casting machine S1. Investment sum: 100 million Euro.
Saarstahl has invested more than one billion Euro since
2010.
Finally, the Saarland also has a third, much smaller steel
producer: Stahlwerk Bous GmbH which is part of the
Georgsmarienhütte Group. Once an electric steel plant, the
former Bous pipe mill was taken over by Georgsmarienhütte
after the company closed down, when it became an independent
firm in the Group. Today its cast ingots are supplied
to pipe manufacturers, ring-rolling mills and open-die
forges.
Today the Saarland’s steel industry has a good 11,000 employees
working in the state (with a total workforce of
around 14,500 including subsidiaries elsewhere) who
generate around 4.8 billion Euro in annual turnover (2017).
The steel industry with a total industrial workforce of a good
90,000 employees therefore still plays a highly significant
role in the Saarland’s industrial and structural policy. Crude
steel production in the Saarland has an output of about 5.5
million tonnes, which is approximately 13 percent of
German steel production, or only just 0.3 percent on a global
scale. An earlier study came to the conclusion that al -
together around 22,000 jobs in the Saarland depend directly
or indirectly on the local steel industry. At that point in time,
this corresponded to a gross annual wage volume of nearly
900 million Euro.
The highly experienced industrial working population of the
Saarland has always been directly affected by the constant
ups and downs of the steel industry. Steel is a highly volatile
branch with dramatic fluctuations. The two large steel producers
joined forces in 2001 in a so-called “steel mill solution”.
They belong to each other, so-to-speak, under the umbrella
of the Montan Stiftung (coal and steel foundation). The foundation’s
subsidiary SHS-Stahl-Holding Saar is the parent firm
controlling both companies.
This solution with the foundation structure has enabled the
Saarland’s steel industry to survive all storms in global steel
competition up to now. The intention and purpose of the
foundation was and is to preserve jobs and to ensure that
decision-making powers remain in the state, without any
profit-driven shareholders telling them what to do. Any
decisions pertaining to the two steel companies are taken
in the Saarland. “The foundation has to safeguard our freedom
of action”, summarises Albert Hettrich, chief repre -
sentative of Stahl-Holding-Saar (SHS). The special structure
also protects the companies from all take-over attempts,
while not completely ruling out the possibility of coop -
erating with partners in any form whatsoever. Mergers with
other manufacturers are ruled out as this would contradict
the foundation’s mandate and jeopardise the company
headquarters in the Saarland. “It is up to us to ensure our
survival and our future. Action is also necessary in the face
of great external pressure”, said Fred Metzken, former
spokesman for the Board of Management at Dillinger and
Saarstahl (until autumn 2018). In the past, stability has been
assured by means of a clever niche portfolio policy coupled
with high quality.
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