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glück auf3/2011

Extracts in English

The newspaper for employees, customers and friends of the GMH Group

More and more frequently, the products and services of

the GMH Group are in demand particularly where safety plays a vital role – and compromises in quality are unacceptable. Only very recently, fire-fighting and rescue vehicles manufactured by Windhoff Bahn- und Anlagen-technik GmbH were in action. With their assistance a danger-ous tunnel fire was successfully brought under control.

The date was 9 June 2011. A greatly feared emergency situa-tion had been declared in the 20 km-long Simplon Tunnel con-necting Switzerland and Italy. A fire had broken out in a freight wagon laden with steel and ceramic goods. The enormous heat in the tunnel caused further wagons to catch fire. A fast re-sponse was now needed. Within a very short time the fire services were on their way in Windhoff-

built fire-fighting and rescue trains stationed in the vicinity of the tunnel. The Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) and rail com-pany BLS have been using the high-tech Multi-Purpose Vehicles (MPV™) for many years to tackle emergencies in railway tunnels. And with great success.

The trains each comprise a fire-fighting unit and a rescue unit and approach the source of the fire direct. The fire-fighting unit, consisting of an equipment car and fire-fighting car, sets about tackling the blaze. Avail-able to the emergency services for this purpose are 50,000 litres of water, foam and water pumps, as well as a fire-fighting moni-tor which dispenses up to 2,400 litres of water per minute. Other available means include water shields and fire hoses that can also be connected to the fire-fighting unit. Each rescue vehicle

offers room for 60 persons and is equipped with a breathing-air supply system.

The vehicles are self-pro-pelled, allowing the rescue unit also to operate separately and, where necessary, evacuate per-sons in shuttle mode in parallel with the fire-fighting operations. The high tractive force of the fire-fighting and rescue trains also makes it possible to take wrecked rail vehicles in tow and pull them clear of the danger zone.

A total of four different fire-fighting and rescue trains were used during the fire in the Sim-plon Tunnel. Fortunately, only one freight wagon was affected and nobody had to be evacu-ated. After several hours the fire was brought under control and eventually extinguished. No one, luckily, came to grief.

Ralf Dittrich

EDITORIAL

Dear Colleagues,

Summer holidays are wonderful. No obligation to do anything, just take the day as it comes, no stress or pressure from anywhere, deli-cious food to enjoy, simply follow your fancies – what a life! If only work could be as pleasurable. Natural philosopher Henry David Thoreau had the gift of experienc-ing it this way: “I don’t rush my work. I enjoy it with a sense of serenity and reflection”, he wrote in his book “Walden”. Perhaps we could inherit a little of this attitude? It is certainly most envi-able.

Editorial team

Stifling the flames of potential disastersWindhoff · Multi-Purpose Vehicles put out tunnel fire.

Fighting fires and saving lives at the same time: Windhoff-built high-tech MPV™ incorporating fire-fighting and rescue unit. One of the particular features of the vehicle is its extremely practical and flexible concept, allowing both units to operate independently of one another in an emergency, if need be.

Those who are strong enjoy standing up to the competi-

tion. This also applies with re-gard to companies of the GMHGroup. They presented them-selves at the GMTN foundry and metallurgy trade fair – a trade fair quartet consistingof GIFA, METEC, THERM PROCESS and NEWCAST (see also: “Great response at an im-pressive venue” and “Ten com-panies share at foundry trade fair”, p. 7). The trade fair also provided an ideal opportunity to attract the interest of young employees, or even actively involve them. Furthermore,glückauf provides the ultimate evidence that GMTN has long since surpassed even global borders.

pkm

GMH Group rendezvousFoundry and metallurgy

trade fair in focus

photo: Ralf Dittrich


UNSER PORTAL

Powerpoint Master

Talks and presentations with Powerpoint slides are required increasingly frequently in everyday business life. Against this back-ground GMH Holding has drafted a new, simple-to-use “Powerpoint Slide Master”, which is orientated towards the current corporate design of the GMH Group. The layout, colour concept, font sizes and types as well as the positioning of the logo are now pre-set for you so you can start imme-diately with your content without having to invest any effort in the basic layout. In addi-tion to a unified “look and feel” throughout the Group, the new template is intended to simplify the creation and fine-tuning of presentations for all users. Under “New Slide” you will find 14 templates for a wide variety of different presentations and contents (see screenshot above). These templates will en-able you, with relatively little effort, to design an optically attractive “slide show” and make a professional impression on customers, busi-ness partners or colleagues. The “Powerpoint Master” for your company is immediately available in the portal under “Infos R Com-pany information R respective business unit R respective company R company presentation” (File name: “Master_Company Name.pptx”). Furthermore, Berufsbildungsgesellschaft Georgsmarienhütte offers elementary and advanced seminars on the use of Powerpoint on a regular basis. Further information about these seminars is also available in the portal under “Infos R Training BGG”.

Julius Maximilian Paul

Can you actually remember your fi rst at-tempts at surfi ng the Internet? That initial

situation - the “digital gateway to the world” had fi nally arrived and yet initially you found yourself simply sitting in front of an empty screen.

Luckily you are probably not one of those people who simply capitulated at the appar-ent complexity of the situation and switched off your computer. And today, after a period of familiarisation, using the World Wide Web is a perfectly natural procedure for emails, shop-ping, holiday planning or for following current world events.

So how are you getting on with the GMHportal? Perhaps you are one of the GMH Group’s 3,500 employees whose workplace is equipped with a PC and therefore activated for the Group’s central information network. Have you already discovered how useful the portal can be in the context of your daily work? Or are you one of those people who have long since forgotten their password, who considers a visit to the platform to be a waste of time or whose workplace is not even activated for this purpose?

If the latter is the case, it is high time for you to open your office to the digital age and for you to upgrade to “Job 2.0”. Because “infor-mation” and “communication” are keywords which are constantly gaining in importance in the modern working environment. Only those of us who are prepared to venture into new territory can remain successful in today’s fast-moving times.

It is precisely for this reason that the GMH portal has been developed – to make important

information available as quickly as possible and facilitate communication between one another. For this purpose the platform not only provides detailed information about the GMH Group and its production facilities. With a few clicks you have access to the central address book and find an overview of all important upcom-ing dates. This saves an enormous amount of time. And the particularly practical aspect is that, depending on your field of work within the company, the personal user interface is prepared with the specific information which is important for your daily job.

The fact of the matter is that the GMH Group portal is part of the everyday equipment to be used by all employees. And your feed-back is essential in order to ensure its optimum further development. Therefore, under the “Help” category, all users will find a contact possibility via which they can submit proposals and ideas – and at the same location you will also find a demo PDF file and video with expla-nations about how the portal functions.

So why wait any longer? Ask your com-pany’s IT department for a new password. Or, if necessary, ask your personnel department to activate your workplace. Find out about the extensive range of possibilities which the portal offers. The numerous online tools represent genuine “added value” in your everyday work. Naturally, your personal user data also enable you to have access from home.

By the way – the portal also offers you ex-clusive access to the GMH Fan Shop.

ikw

Access the GMH portal via the URL: http://portal.gmh-group.de

A tool to facilitate your daily work

Really hot. Everyone is talking about authenticity – and recently in Hanover it could certainly be seen in practice. The “Ideen Expo” provided an ideal opportunity for this. Trainees from the GMH Group were also there and engaged in lively discussions with interested young persons attending the event. They also answered questions and provided genuine information about their work and vocational training as well as compe-tently assisted the young visitors in various participation activities (here during a Puzzle Kern game). Turn to page 3 to find out more about what else the GMH Group had to offer.

pkm photo: Kai Steffen


That’s us

Every effort is being made to find new solutions, this

particularly being the case in the field of wind power. As al-ready reported in the last issue of glückauf, the GMH Group has made a name for itself in this field - one that stands for innovation and reliability. Yet also where conventional power generation is concerned, and by that is meant hydroelectricity as well as gas-fired, coal-fired and nuclear power generation, in addition to large, high-output engines, work is con-

stantly in progress within the GMH Group to improve materi-als and components with the aim of making energy plants and systems more efficient.

Numerous customers of the GMH Group are from the energy sector. Our Group companies supply them not only with the materials and components for the construction of their power plants. They also offer them something that is especially needed in these continually growing markets: innovativeness and flexibility.

The expertise within the Group of companies covers a broad spectrum, ranging from steelmaking, to the design, de-velopment and manufacture of

compo-

nents, to downstream processing. Which is why the GMH Group is involved in many promising pro-jects, such as the development and production of unalloyed, low- and high-alloy steel castings for valves, fittings, pumps and

power engineering applications, or also the manufacture of com-ponents for the oil field industry. GMH companies also supply the ‘building blocks’ for efficient and effective power generation.

mw

Full of energyGMH Group · Technisation is steadily

embracing the globe. And the demand for

electrical energy world-wide is growing.

In our glückauf series “Who we are”, we present companies and business units of the GMH group.

“Our skills foryour energy”The GMH Group companies that produce materials or com-ponents for the field of con-ventional power generation are featured collectively in a Group-wide brochure along with the diversity and capabilities they offer to this market segment. The brochure can be download-ed from the Download Center at www.gmh-gruppe.de.

Examples of parts and components

What the companies of theGMH Group produceRetaining rings, retaining plates, tension bolts Energietechnik Essen GmbH

Turbine and generator shafts, turbine and compressor discs, Pelton wheels, shaped tubular parts, fittings

Schmiedewerke Gröditz GmbH

Crankshafts for 4-stroke engines, compressor and pump shafts, eccentric shafts

Gröditzer Kurbelwelle Wildau GmbH

Closed-die forgings for large as well as stationary engines, such as piston bottom sections, crankshafts, connecting rods

Schmiedag GmbH & Co. KGWildauer Schmiedewerke GmbH & Co. KG

Seamless rolled rings and wheel tyres GMH Ringvertriebs GmbH

Fittings, valve bodies, Kaplan blades Pleissner Guss GmbH

Large castings such as cylinder blocks or components for gas and steam turbines

Friedrich Wilhelms-Hütte GmbH

Cylinders, transmission housings Pleissner GmbH

Housings, protective casings, Pelton wheels, turbine cylinders

Stahlguss Gröditz GmbH

Machining of large components, heat treatment IAG MAGNUM GmbH

addition to large, high-outputengines, work is con-

velopment and manufacture of compo-

Crankshaft for a four-stroke marine engine from Gröditzer Kurbelwelle Wildau GmbH

That s us

i-

That s us

-

Crankshaft for a four-stroke marine engine from Gröditzer Kurbelwelle Wildau GmbH

Cylinder block (83,000 kg) from Friedrich Wilhelms-Hütte Eisenguss GmbH

Kaplan blade made of GX 4CrNi13-4

(850 kg)

Pelton wheel (3,760 kg) from Stahlguss Gröditz GmbH

Photos by courtesy of GMH Group


EDITORIAL

Dear Readers,

Investments are the true lifeblood of a company. In the best-case scenario the purchase of machines and systems also means the crea-tion of new jobs. Companies striv-ing for lasting success on the mar-ket, however, also invest in their employees – in their fundamental vocational training, goal-oriented further training, fostering of their health as well as the improvement of working conditions.

Everybody is talking about the imminent shortage of skilled workers, and the GMH Group is fully aware that it is not located on a blissful sacred island where it is immune to such problems. We must prevent gaps from arising in the first place. After all, demanding high-quality industrial workplaces in our company need to be filled now as well as in the future. Skilled workers are becoming scarcer, they are therefore in greater de-mand and competition for them is consequently very strong. The companies’ race for qualified personnel began a long time ago and continues completely irrespec-tive of economic cycles. Anyone who still hopes the demographic change will prove to be a statistical error is definitely barking up the wrong tree. Short-term personnel planning is a thing of the past. Today we need sustainable and far-reaching personnel strategies in order to reinforce our existing strengths. According to estimates issued by the Federal Employment Agency, the so-called labour force potential is likely to fall by around 6.5 million persons by the year 2025. The number of young peo-ple in Germany who tried to find a training place has dropped by more than a quarter since 2007; in East Germany the number has been reduced by as much as half. It is not an emergency as yet but it is becoming increasingly difficult to fill training positions and jobs. Both developments are a reflection of a definite trend on the employ-

ment market. One can either observe it passively, frozen with fear at what might lie ahead, or one can take positive action – the choice is ours.

So what in fact can we do and what are we prepared to do in order to ensure sufficient availabil-ity of persons with the necessary qualifications in our pool of skilled workers? We will continue training efforts at a high level – for reasons of social responsibility of course, but even more so as an essential part of our planning for tomorrow. The average target value of seven per cent in the GMH Group has successfully stood the test. This is why we were able to recover so quickly after the economic crisis - because jobs were secured and the young people we had trained our-selves were immediately available for work. Small companies which have a high quality standard but cannot provide a full programme of training themselves have the opportunity of entering into part-nerships in the form of training and qualification networks This is a model provided by our vocational training company and which it has been practising successfully for some years.

If we want to keep a fresh breeze wafting through our com-panies in the future, however, we will have to do plenty of appropri-ate promotion. The scope extends from co-operating with schools,

issuing invitations to open days for schoolchildren, promotion of train-ing by trainees in schools, offering placements, and taking part in training exchanges, to participat-ing in events such as IdeenExpo. There have never been so many career opportunities for women in industry as there are today. But women must also have the self-confidence to grasp these op-portunities. This is essential if there is to be an increase in the propor-tion of young women in industrial and technical training. At present almost 12 per cent of all trainees in our Group are female. So there is plenty of room for expansion.

The principle that true beauty comes from within is particularly applicable with reference to the development of an inimitable employer brand. We have an in-nate advantage here with the strong network of our GMH Group because potential career opportunities are multiplied as a consequence. The networking concept also lends extra impetus to our own programme for young staff. Since 2005 a total of 82 par-ticipants, including 46 engineers and technicians, from 25 of our group companies have used this opportunity to further their per-sonal development - and the next 33 candidates are already waiting to start.

Internal personnel development is one part of the picture. There is also the external dimension where we are confronted by the task of appealing to a mobile, self-confident generation and accom-panying them throughout their studies. For this reason we want to use strategic university marketing to establish a sustainable position at selected universities. The aim is to reach agreement on person-nel requirements internally within the GMH Group and, together, to develop a clear employer brand. In this context we will concentrate on technically oriented universities which produce excellent techni-cians and are located in close prox-

imity to our companies. In addition to local universities we are focusing our attention on the universities of Clausthal-Zellerfeld, Duisburg-Essen, Aachen and Freiberg. Tra-ditionally we have good relations with the Montanuniversität in Leo-ben, Steiermark. The companies in the vicinity of these universities offer a joint “service package”.

By means of talks by guest speakers, dissertations, works tours and commissioned research we would like to show future employ-ees that joining the GMH Group opens up prospects for develop-ment. The message here is that instead of typical corporate struc-tures the GMH Group offers flat hierarchies, short decision-making routes, plenty of scope for action as well as the framework for a good work-life balance. In addition to this the employees in many of the Group’s companies enjoy the benefits of profit-sharing.

Just as important as training programmes for future employees, however, are investments in the Group’s experienced employees. Within the scope of our health management programme, the second round of our employee interviews is due to start soon. The evaluations will subsequently provide us with information on the degree of success of our ac-tivities over the last few years in instigating changes in behaviour relating to health and give us some indication of what we will have to concentrate our measures on in the future.

In co-operation with BIT, Bochum, an institute which has received impressive accolades for work research, we have com-menced a very promising project called “ergo-stahl”. With financial support from the Federal Ministry of Labour it is our aim to reform the working conditions in produc-tion areas where the level of physi-cal stress is high. It is a question of maintaining employability and motivation across all ages. The aim of these changes is to design

The most important resourceswalk around on two legs

Why we will be able to find the right people for challenging jobs even in future.

Photo by courtesy of GMH Group


As in previous years com-panies of the GMH Group

were also represented at the IdeenExpo in Hanover. For nine days they presented themselves to schoolchildren and students aged between 10 and 22.

Around 30 trainees from GMHütte, GMH Systems, Pleissner, Pleissner Guss, RRO, Harzguss Zorge, Friedrich Wilhelms-Hütte, IAG MAGNUM and WeserWind were at the exhibition to present their pro-fessional worlds with pride and commitment. They gave the young people authentic insight into their daily work routine and created an atmosphere of infec-tious enthusiasm.

Hundreds of thousands of teenagers and young adults from all over Germany came to Hanover. Even before the event huge interest in the greatest “classroom of the world” had been clearly manifested. Over 70,000 school registrations from 13 federal states and a total of 500 join-in exhibits had to be taken into account in the Ideen-Expo planning. The exhibition area was extended by a third to 80,000 m2 in order to be able to accommodate the anticipat-ed crowds.

Neverthe-less the or-ganisers had not expected that there would be a record number of visitors at the opening week-end. Over 70,000 interested children and teenagers – around 10,000

more than in 2009 – flooded into the exhibition halls on the first two days. And over the subsequent days the rush did not subside at all. Access to the “Pavilion of Ideas” even had to be closed from time to time for safety reasons.

The Expo, however, involved much more than the transfer of knowledge and join-in activities. An important aspect was also the subject of career orientation,

which is why the companies of the GMH Group had once again invited their partner schools to visit the Ideen-Expo.

After two suc-cessful fairs held in 2007 and 2009

this model is now bearing fruit. This is

because in many places the di-rect link to schools has led to classes or school groups “finding a taste” for technology and natu-ral sciences. Consequently they came to Hanover for a second or third time to experiment, to marvel, to experience new things and to discuss.

The Realschule Georgsmarien-hütte – the largest secondary modern school in Lower Saxony – attracted attention once again. It closed for a day, as it did two years ago, and travelled to the fair with more than 800 pupils and all the teachers.

One of the first things await-ing them on arrival was Weser-Wind’s 5 metre-high tripod model – it was easy to recognise from virtually every point in the exhibition hall. In addition, on the attractive stand of the GMHGroup there was an electric fur-nace model, a miniature roller structure belonging to GMHütte, pre-finished castings (cylinder

IdeenExpo breaks all records GMH Group · Once again the IdeenExpo proved to be the greatest

join-in event for sciences and technology. In the five theme worlds of

energy, communication, life & environment, mobility and production,

visitors never failed to be enthralled.

workplaces, working conditions and the working environment in such a way as to make it possible to work in a healthy and produc-tive way until employees reach the statutory retirement age. Four companies from the iron and steel collective bargaining sector are participating: Schmiedewerke Gröditz, Stahlwerk Bous, Georgs-marienhütte GmbH and Friedrich Wilhelms-Hütte in Mülheim. Qualification processes will natu-rally play an essential role in this pilot process. The results will be made available to all companies of the GMH Group and – as a special impetus – can be used as a blueprint.

No knowledge acquired is necessarily valid for an entire lifetime. Throughout the Group it is a question of continuing, complementing or, where neces-sary, also repeating the acquisi-tion of knowledge. Not simply at random or in a coincidental manner but on the basis of job specifications, discussions with employees and systematic follow-up planning.

The Group has become more international. We are represented on world markets with companies in Belgium, Brazil, North America and Australia as well as offices in Peking, St. Petersburg, Pune and São Paulo. This also involves investments – skilled workers and managers must develop intercul-tural competences and be able to communicate in English. Our Berufsbildungsgesellschaft offers specifically geared seminars for this purpose in its programme and a master agreement with Berlitz provides every company with the opportunity to integrate language courses to suit its own particular requirements.

A company’s most important resource – knowledge – is no mere abstract concept; it comes into the company on two legs. Derek Bok, President of Harvard University, once said: “If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.”

We prefer the education op-tion.

Glück auf!

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Young welders at work

Popular souvenir: the IdeenExpo sign which visitors welded themselves.

photos: Kai Steffen

Continued on the next page q


heads) from the foundry compa-nies, a knowledge quiz devised by GMH Systems, an ultrasonic device and a detailed model of an offshore wind energy system.

Principal attractions of the stand, however, were the care-fully planned join-in actions. They also contributed to the stand receiving an award as a “Special Point of Interest”. On the one hand there was the very popular “IdeenExpo Sign” which schoolchildren could weld together. The model of a wind power system nevertheless met with an even more overwhelm-ing response – the guarantee for a unique join-in event. Because at the “Get-in-Form” partner stand, teenagers were able to cast an aluminium gondola on their own and then weld the bottom plate at the GMH stand and also assemble the complete system.

Of course it did not take long for the word to spread around the whole exhibition. Children, parents, exhibitors and even exhibition hostesses flocked in from all over the place in order to make sure they got one of these highly desired pieces. There was also a free photograph in a full welders’ protective suit. In fact a few individual parents and exhibitors even tried to buy the children’s models from them – after the material had run out because of the unexpected onslaught! But necessity is the mother of invention, as we all know. And thus “picture holders” were welded together from two plates in order to make it pos-sible for the youngest visitors to have the feeling of welding.

Outside the pavilion a varied stage programme including con-cert highlights from Culcha Can-dela, Andreas Bourani, Juli and Jan Delay as well as knowledge shows with Ranga Yogeshwar also ensured beaming faces.

Numerous politicians also mixed and mingled with the visi-tors. German Federal President Christian Wulff, who had found-ed the event in 2007, officially opened the IdeenExpo together with Minister of Economics Philipp Rösler and Minister of Labour Ursula von der Leyen. The German Federal President was full of enthusiasm. He said it was nice to see “how the Ideen-Expo is growing from year to year – not only in area but also in content which fills children and teenagers with enthusiasm for technology and science”.

Lower Saxony’s Minister-President David McAllister even

switched a cabinet meeting to the exhibition site at short no-tice. “During my visits I was es-pecially pleased about the many young people who showed such passionate enthusiasm for the numerous scientific and techni-cal features on offer”, McAllister emphasised.

But the real stars of the Ideen-Expo were once again the tireless trainees of the GMH Group. As in previous years they played an absolutely key role and had the young visitors completely fascinated from the very first mo-ment. On an equal footing with the youngsters, they explained impressively how steel is manu-factured and processed, how ul-trasonic tests are carried out and what requires particular atten-tion when welding and casting.

They all made immense ef-forts to motivate the young guests to join in on the spot, to explain technical and industrial

processes and to fill them with enthusiasm for the GMH Group. A nice side effect was also the positive contribution which the exhibition made to the internal atmosphere within GMH. “It was really fantastic and exciting to experience what trainees from other companies in the GMH Group do”, said Jan Neumann, trainee industrial mechanic for production technology at GMHütte (2nd year of training). “That was a unique possibility to exchange ideas, to form networks and to learn from each other!”

The IdeenExpo 2011 had 310,000 visitors, making it the most successful of all times. A unique success story, in which an investment is being made in today’s youth – for it is they who will shape our future. The whole team is already looking forward to 2013!

Julius Maximilian Paul

Large crowds at the GMH Group stand

The wind power systems were completed at the workbench.

At Get-in-Form the young visitors got an insight into casting technology.

photos: Kai Steffen

q Continued from last page


V isible throughout the en-tire exhibition hall due to

the high position of the GMH logo, the joint stand of Kranbau Köthen and Windhoff attracted large crowds of exhibition visi-tors. Without a doubt, however, the stand highlight was the model demonstrating “load-bearing capacity monitoring by means of crane hook sensor technology”. It transpired to be of very particular interest to steel works operators. Stand managers Rainer Lorenz (KBK) and Jörg Heinzmann (Windhoff) formed a successful and harmo-nious team. The fact that they had already worked together at other exhibitions proved highly beneficial. They were helped by colleague Tina Gode who also acted as exhibition hostess. Fur-ther assistance was provided pe-riodically by staff from the sales departments and by managing directors Andreas Klatschow (KBK) and Manfred Schmitz (Windhoff) who each spent two days at the fair supporting the stand team. Numerous dis-cussions with visitors from all over the world created a clear

picture – the steel industry is planning numerous investments for which cranes and handling technology are required. And, after five tiring exhibition days, participants all agreed that the outcome was very positive: “It was a successful trade fair and a well-organised presentation of two GMH companies in an in-ternational setting.”

Rainer Lorenz

Great response at an impressive venue KBK/Windhoff · Joint participation:

at METEC (Metallurgical Technology) in

Düsseldorf, Kranbau Köthen (KBK) and

Windhoff teamed up successfully with a

shared stand.

GMTNGMTN: Trade fair quartet consisting of the foundry and metallurgy trade fairs METEC, GIFA, THERMPROCESS and NEWCAST. Over the four days of the event the exhibition organisers counted a total of 79,000 visitors from 83 coun-tries who had the opportunity of establishing contact with 1,958 exhibitors from all over the world. The new record numbers of exhibitors as well as visitors confirmed the com-bined event’s leading position. Video reports on the GMTN are to be found at www.metec.de.

Great demand: sales representatives Uwe Harnack (Kranbau Köthen, left) and Jörg Heinzmann (Windhoff, right) present their products to interested companies.

The participating foundries had set themselves clear

minimum aims. They wanted to show off their expertise and skills, foster customer contacts, and raise awareness for them-selves as well as for the GMH Group. The GMTN, which denotes a quartet of trade fairs referred to as GIFA, METEC, THERM PROCESS and NEW-CAST, offered the best venue for this. Featuring more than 1,950 exhibitors from all around the world and attracting 79,000 visi-tors from 83 countries, it is the largest foundry trade fair inter-nationally.

An excellent stand location at the NEWCAST fair (in Hall 13, Stand D12) gave them the chance to present themselves optimally to trade visitors and provide a suitable stage with public appeal for the Group companies, in some instances also featuring heavy-weight ex-hibits. A good visitor turn-out was, therefore, not long in the waiting.

Great interest was generated for example by the “Lost Foam Rotors” from Harz Guss Zorge, and by the heavy rotor hub weighing roughly 500 kg from Friedrich Wilhelms-Hütte Eisen-guss, and also by an aluminium block weighing some 1,100 kg which enabled IAG MAGNUM, a GMH Group company that was more or less an industry “newcomer” at the fair, to demonstrate its machining ex-pertise.

And so it was that numer-ous customers and prospective buyers came to the fair stand to gain an overall impression of the product spectrum offered by the foundry companies and the GMH Group – an impression

which they were able to develop even further in intensive expert discussions.

The conclusion drawn by the GMH companies regarding the fair was positive: the joint stand was a success for all involved. The collective presentation helped enormously to put the size and diverse areas of exper-tise of the GMH Group across better – both to customers and to prospective clients. They now have a clearer idea than ever what precisely the red signet stands for. This also applied, incidentally, to the Group’s own young employees paying a visit to the fair stand.

Radvan Karabacak

Ten companies share at foundry trade fairGMH Foundries · Following on from 2003

and 2007, the foundry companies of the

GMH Group were also involved in the Inter-

national Foundry Trade Fair in 2011 as part of

the GMTN in Düsseldorf. Ten companies from

the Group were represented at a joint stand.

The GMH GroupThe following Group com-panies were represented at “NEWCAST 2011“ as part of the GMTN: Harz Guss Zorge, Dieckerhoff Guss, Walter Hund-hausen, Friedrich Wilhelms-Hütte Eisenguss, Friedrich Wilhelms-Hütte Stahlguss, Pleissner, Pleissner Guss, Stahl-guss Gröditz, IAG Magnum and MWK Renningen.

The stand concept was equally an eye-catcher, attracting a constant stream of visitors. Photo by courtesy of GMH Group

photo: mh


Requirements regarding con-trolling and finances are

changing constantly. Close co-ordination between GMH-Holding and employees in the relevant departments of the subsidiaries is therefore becom-ing increasingly important.

In order to guarantee a regu-lar exchange of knowledge and experience, a meeting of the con-trollers and financial manage-ment of the GMH Group is held on an annual basis. An excellent tradition in this connection is always to hold the conference at a different subsidiary company. This enables the employees to find out more about the indi-vidual companies of the GMH Group.

Thus at the end of June the delegates to the two-day Con-troller and Finance Managers’ Conference met in Bremerhaven. This year, once again, some

“new” faces were visible in the auditorium, including colleagues from Belgium and Brazil.

After Malte Hermann (Manag-ing Director of WeserWind) and Hans-Jürgen Blöcker (GMH Hold-ing) had welcomed the guests, the conference programme start-ed off with a visit to the Weser-Wind production site which is located at “Am Lunedeich”. There participants had the op-portunity to gain an impression of the enormous dimensions of the new production facilities and the series production of offshore foundation structures.

The event itself was actually held in the Atlantic Sail City Hotel where, after the tour of the production facilities, Thomas Löhr, who is a member of the GMH Holding Board of Manag-ing Directors, opened the confer-ence. His short report concerning the current situation of the GMH

Group created a mood of opti-mism – compared with the crisis year of 2009, economic develop-ment in the past financial year improved in line with the pre-vailing circumstances. A further increase is also expected for the current financial year.

Nevertheless, Thomas Löhr warned of the importance of being prepared for impending dangers even in good times. Sub-sequently he introduced Stefan Brunn, the new Head of Finances at Georgsmarienhütte Holding, who made a few comments relat-ing to the subjects of Rating and Basel III.

For the evening a boat trip on the Weser and out onto the North Sea had been planned. Luckily the weather cleared up in good time so that participants were able to enjoy a very success-ful trip with magnificent views and exhilarating fresh sea air.

New and old colleagues alike also had the opportunity to get to know each other better and pursue some active networking.

The second day started off with further presentations on subjects which included “Reporting within the Group” and “Work relating to Annual Financial Statements”. Uwe Kronenberger of Friedrich Wilhelms-Hütte Eisenguss had agreed to present the latter topic. He explained the procedure of “Factoring Balancing in Annual Financial Statements” using the example of the Castings business unit – and was able to report in such a way as to give participants practical insight into the proce-dure.

The conference then drew to a close in the early afternoon. Participants all agreed that it had been a very positive event. They had made lots of new personal contacts and discussed a number of informative financial topics in the plenaries. Thus everyone left Bremerhaven looking forward to next year’s Controller and Fi-nance Managers’ Conference.

Jens Indrachowicz and Thorsten Ehle

Finances under controlGMH Group · Experts meet within GMH Group:

Controlling and finances – close co-ordination is essential.

Delegates to the Controller and Finance Managers’ Conference at WeserWind



THE OWNER‘S VIEW

Are we perceiving the situation correctly?

Dear GMH Group employees, dear glückauf readers,

Success of a splinter party confronts us with a radically new situation:

Web 2.0 or social media are influencing our lives to a rapidly increasing extent. Anyone who is not actively involved in developments, or at least observing them attentively, runs the risk of getting left behind – or perhaps it would be more appropriate to say of getting out of touch. Many topical examples in recent weeks and months represent a powerful reflection of how people have learned to use online facilities to gather information quickly, to communicate directly and effectively and indeed even to or-ganise themselves politically. Stuttgart 21, the youth riots in England and other movements organised by enraged citizens would certainly not have taken the same course had it not been for those additional networking channels. Furthermore, the people’s rebellions in many countries of the Middle East would not have spread to the same extent without the support-ive scope of the social media.

A particularly striking current example here in Germany is the successful result recently achieved by the Pirate Party in the local elec-tions in Berlin. In Germany’s capital city a new political constellation has pioneered its way, not at typical large-scale, election-campaign-style events held at big venues, but rather quietly and stealthily on the Web. The result: 9 percent straightaway in their first ever election. The great majority of these voters are between 18 and 35 years of age. Their political assertions and demands are often more populist than those of the mainstream parties (e.g. free pub-lic transport, absolute freedom in the copying of online data – which fundamentally means abolishment of copyright legislation. The con-sequence would be that the person who has produced work of some kind would no longer receive remuneration in connection with its use. All users of the Internet must be aware that any infringement or undermining of copyright legislation constitutes a criminal offence.), and

are largely circulated by the Pirates online – attracting a lot of votes as a result. The political success, how-ever, is due less to the party’s politi-cal substance than to the urban structures in Berlin and the weak election campaigns conducted by the established parties. Whether or not a general trend applicable to the whole of Germany may be deduced from the recent develop-ments is thus debatable.

Nevertheless it is quite evident, not simply since the Berlin elec-tions, that we are experiencing a period of radical change. People are longing for political participa-tion and want the chance of having their own say in social matters. Their platforms are the many blogs and social networks which have sprung up over recent years. And the development is now in full swing. The usually unfiltered flow of informa-tion and real-time communication make it increasingly difficult to pull the wool over peo-ple’s eyes. Even ten years ago, for example, the recent revelations broadcast via the Wikileaks investigative platform would have been abso-lutely unimaginable.

The burning question is now what con-sequences should businesses draw from the changed circumstances? Today many brand-name companies already present themselves and their products on Facebook and send “red-hot” news out into the ether via Twitter on an hourly basis. In some cases there is good reason to suspect that, beneath the super-modern surface, there may in fact be more illusion than actual substance. The corporate world, how-ever, should most certainly not turn a blind eye to the new action mechanisms of the digital world. The capacity to be able to react quickly to published contents is more important today than ever before. Companies, in particular

those which are not in direct contact with end consumers, should consider very carefully in what form they wish to participate actively on Web 2.0. Because once the ball starts rolling, it is very difficult to control. All information circu-lated must be true and authentic – any devia-tions involve huge risks.

Online social networks have meanwhile become an integral part of our lives. Some of the older generation may feel slightly uneasy or even downright sceptical about them, whilst for others they remain an untapped secret. Never-theless we cannot afford to ignore them.

glückauf


glück auf · 1/2011 · Extraits en langue française ......................... 10 glückauf · 1/2011 · Extraits en langue française ......................... 10 glück auf · 3/2011 · Extracts in English ........................................ 10

Once again, as already in 2010, the “European Young

Leaders” Conference was held in Priština, the capital city of Kosovo. This conference serves the purpose of bringing young leaders together from all over the world and is organised by “Atlantik-Brücke”.

Participants came from 26 dif-ferent nations, had a vast range of backgrounds and currently work in a wide variety of areas: in

(non-) governmental and Euro-pean authorities, organisations, banks or commercial enterprises. Silke Sagmeister (Stahl Judenburg) and Sheila Gloßner (ESB) par-ticipated as representatives of the GMH Group.

After an interesting introduc-tory evening the next few days were well filled with a series of tours and visits, group discus-sions and talks by highly reputed speakers including Hans-Dieter

Steinbach, the German Ambassa-dor to Kosovo. Subjects included, for example, the financial crisis in Greece as well as in other EU countries, European identity and the place of Islam in Europe.

The extensive range of partici-pants' professional and private experiences made possible a lively and intensive exchange of views, particularly in the dis-cussions relating to “European identity” and in connection with a talk given by Erhard Bühler, Commander of KFOR. He out-lined the current political situ-ation in Kosovo and presented future projects for development and improvement. This gave the participants an excellent insight into the current political and economic situation.

The permanent presence of KFOR underlines how potential-ly explosive the current situation in the region is. Conference par-ticipants had the opportunity of visiting the force’s headquarters as well as the Bridge of Austerlitz in Mitrovica which divides the town into two sectors – the Ko-sovo sector and the Serbian sec-tor. This is living proof of the fact that there is still a lot of work

to be done in connection with peaceful co-existence in Europe.

The conclusion of the confer-ence was that mutual under-standing for each other should always remain an aim for all of us – and this aim can now be pursued by all participants at home.

Silke Sagmeister and Sheila Gloßner

Peaceful co-existence is not self-evident everywhere in EuropeGMH Group · “European Young Leaders” Conference

in Priština, Kosovo

Did you know?

KFORKFOR is an abbreviation for Kosovo Force. The multina-tional force was set up in 1999 at the end of the Kosovo conflict under the direction of NATO. Its mission is to es-tablish a safe environment to which Kosovar refugees will be able to return. The headquar-ters are located in Priština, the capital of Kosovo. The Kosovo Force includes German, Austri-an, Swiss and Turkish soldiers.

Atlantik-BrückeThis non-profit association works to promote friendship between Germany and the United States of America and Canada. Regular conferences, symposia, seminars, study trips, lecture events and small-scale personal encounters are intend-ed to foster this understanding. The association’s founding members include former German Federal Chancellor, Helmut Schmidt.

Far-reaching experiences: participants at the “European Young Leaders” conference.

First-rate. The Bosch Group wishes to collaborate exclusively with suppliers who are exceptionally competent and efficient. As part of its supplier management system it has therefore implemented the so-called preferred supplier concept with which it intends to achieve this aim. It is an appraisal system on the basis of which Bosch suppliers are consistently evaluated and selected according to defined critieria. As long ago as 2008, Stahl Judenburg received an official letter informing the company that it had been classified as a Global Purchasing Material Steel “preferred supplier”. At the same time Stahl Judenburg was asked to sign a standard outline agreement – a pre-condition if they also wished to be considered for “membership” in the select circle of preferred Bosch suppliers in future. It subsequently took a period of two years to establish a set of rules which both parties were ultimately prepared to accept. This docu-ment regulates, for example, all commercial, logistical and legal conditions which Stahl Judenburg has to fulfil in order to maintain its status as a preferred supplier. The effort was worthwhile because Stahl Judenburg was not only a pre-ferred supplier in 2010, it has been recently awarded the status again for 2011.

Gerhard Diewald

photo: Edvards Smiltens


A fter Mannstaedt-Werke were transferred from CORUS to the GMH Group in 2006

the course was immediately set to establish a sales office in the USA. As early as February 2006 “Mannstaedt, Inc.” was founded and by 1st September an office already occupied. The location was Atlanta in the state of Geor-gia, a dynamic and aspiring economic region of the USA.

The principal reasons for settling in the “Peach State of Georgia” were the central lo-cation and the excellent infrastructure. Harts-field-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, for example. This airport handles over 90

million passengers and is the world’s greatest aviation hub. This, combined with the fact that the time difference between Georgia and Germany is only six hours, makes the south-east of the USA a popular location for 1,200 other German businesses, including Volkswa-gen, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Porsche, Siemens and Thyssen Krupp.

Many people have spent their holidays in New York, Florida or California and subse-quently feel they are familiar with America. It then transpires, however, that the land of “boundless possibilities” is often rather dif-ferent from this first impression – and has its

very own specific rules. In the initial stages Mannstaedt also had a similar kind of experi-ence. It took nine months before the main legal and administrative obstacles could be surmounted and work begin on actually de-veloping the market.

The result was reflected in consolidated sales in 2007 and 2008. But the big setback came in 2009 when the world economic cri-sis, which originated in the USA, also had a major impact on “Mannstaedt, Inc.” with the consequence that sales revenue plummeted by approximately 50 per cent.

In 2010, first indications of a recovery could be detected. Above all, however, the crisis years were used to pursue active devel-opment of the American market. In this way Mannstaedt has made clear to (potential) customers how seriously it considers its com-mitment in the USA and that its sales strat-egy for America is a long-term one.

Initial successes have already become evident this year. Mannstaedt is meanwhile quite confident about the ambitious aim of doubling sales revenue in America in the me-dium term.

Nikola Sponar

Ambitious aim is to double the turnoverMA · The launch of the subsidiary in the south of the USA

proved more difficult than originally expected. But now the

persuasive input is beginning to pay off.

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glückauf: What exactly does the abbreviation CRM mean and what is actually behind it?Frank Koch: It stands for Cus-tomer Relationship Management. Ultimately it is intended to pro-vide a 360° view of the customer. Of course it is nothing new for us as a company to focus on our customers. Now, however, we are making information transparent and accessible for all relevant departments – in particular sales, technical customer sup-port services, logistics, shipping and marketing. The fact that the same knowledge is available to everybody means competent and fast reactions. A company memory system is being devel-oped, sales opportunities can be identified at an early stage and we will no longer risk losing any contacts.

And how is this actually expected to work in future?

Koch: With the assistance of software with which we will ef-fectively be able to process cus-tomers’ data at a glance. Firstly the address so that, for example, the Sat Nav can be correctly pro-grammed when travelling – and be accessible online, of course. In addition there are master data, visit reports, relevant applica-tions, complaints, campaigns, enquiries, offers, etc. This data provides the salesman or techni-cal customer consultant with a precise overview of current

activities at any time such infor-mation may be required. And, furthermore, it enables a view into the past as well as the fu-ture. When is the next technical visit to take place for example? Has the customer been informed about a technical improvement? What quantities are ready for dispatch? What was the new col-league’s surname again? Have all outstanding debts been paid? Our CRM software can process all these questions quickly – with information which used to fill up filing cabinets dispersed around a variety of different departments.

There are quite a number of soft-ware solutions available on the market. How did you manage to find the right CRM software for the Georgsmarienhütte Group?Koch: The company has invested a lot of effort in getting to this go-ahead stage. The project team examined systems used by our affiliates in Bochum and by Mannstaedt, compared various

products from different provid-ers, worked out the requirements in workshops together with the users and drew up a technical specification. Ultimately we decided in favour of SAP-CRM, software which has been in use in our company since July. The system has also already been given a name. Over 20 proposals were submitted from the sales, logistics, shipping and technical customer consultancy depart-ments and from these the name “Focus” was selected.

But it is probably not sufficient simply to feed the system with the information you already have avail-able?Koch: Quite correct. It is of no help whatsoever if we simply compile the information avail-able. From now onwards the system has to be maintained and actively implemented. After presentation of the prototype I am quite sure that we are now moving in the right direction. In the first phase we are starting off with the master data. Over the course of the year the system will be completed phase by phase. We still have a lot of ideas which we will be putting into practice with the help of “Focus”. In this way the Georgsmarienhütte Group is safeguarding today’s knowledge for tomorrow.

Thank you very much for this discussion!

Customers in “Focus”GMHütte · The period of preparation was long and very intensive.

Now the go-ahead for new CRM software has been given. Frank

Koch, Head of Sales and Logistics, explains the benefits he hopes

to achieve in the glückauf interview.

Frank Koch, Head of Sales and Logistics

photo: Axel Zajaczek


The number and intensity of truck controls on German motorways has

increased. This not only involves a check on the roadworthiness of the vehicle and adherence to driving time and rest periods. There is also an important focus on the security of the load being trans-ported. And this involves the carrier/con-signor, because he is the person who is ultimately responsible for ensuring that the load is secured appropriately and professionally.

How do we determine when a load is sufficiently secured, however? Controls carried out by the motorway police con-firm that views and assessments on this subject vary considerably in the individ-ual German federal states. Indeed it has been known for the assessment of the way in which one load was secured to range from “super!” to “unacceptable! “.

And the divergence goes further – in the case of “unacceptable!” the lorry can, in the best case scenario, continue its journey after minor modifications with materials which happen to be available. In the worst case scenario, however, it will not be allowed to continue. The car-rier will be subjected to investigations and have to pay a fine as well as see his driving licence endorsed.

Safety is a matter of major concern at GMHütte. This is why it was important for us to issue our carriers with clear guidelines relating to the securing of loads. As long ago as 2007, for ex-ample, a load securing certificate for GMHütte steel was developed together with DEKRA Bielefeld. This certificate in-corporates all the usual standards, guide-lines and laws of physics. The develop-ment process was further supported by dynamic driving trials with GMHütte

material on appropriate transport vehi-cles. Thus GMHütte material always sets off on its journey correctly loaded and secured.

The truck driver receives a copy of the load safety certificate which serves as a kind of “permit” in case of any controls. If the consignor undertakes any changes concerning the shape or surface quality of the goods being transported, for ex-ample, this has to be described in a new certificate.

Such a case has recently occurred in connection with GMHütte finishing op-erations, because a new adjustment and test surface system for round material led to changes in the design features. In this regard, descaling equipment in com-bination with a precision straightening machine ensures an optimum surface. A stacker at the end of the system ensures stable piles of hexagonal packages. The load security for this new design was tested in dynamic driving trials. The truck and transport unit (bundles of hex-agonal rod steel) were subjected to all acceleration forces which occur in such a context, the measurement data record-ed, the process monitored by video, the load measured before and after the trial, photographed and subsequently docu-mented. A glance at the loading surface immediately showed that the load was still in place, exactly where it had been correctly stowed beforehand.

And this very good result was in fact further substantiated after evaluation of all the trial data. DEKRA will also be is-suing a certificate for the new GMHütte version. It certifies the highest standard of load securement.

hgr

Everything under controlGMHütte · Better to be on the safe side: Not wanting

to leave anything to chance, GMHütte has collabo-

rated with DEKRA to develop a new certificate.

Testing how effectively a load is secured: preparations for the driving trial with the new material design are complete.

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Particularly during downperiods, a good many repair jobs wait to be done, with maintenance colleagues receiving assistance from personnel belonging to a broad variety of contractor companies. To ensure that the latter heed health and safety requirements, they are briefed regularly by Carsten Große Börding (Oc-cupational Health and Safety Offi cer) on appropriate procedures.

glückauf: During the last downperiod alone you had to brief over 90 contractor companies. Why don’t you simply sit the workers down in front of a screen, show a presentation and then distribute a questionnaire?Carsten Große Börding: Numerous large companies do things that way, with the result that each work domain can be addressed only briefly, irrespective of how relevant it is or not. We decided to talk to those involved at the individual firms personally – face to face, so to speak. Only by doing so is it possible for me to go into the particular characteristics of each work environment during a brief-ing. There is, after all, a difference between whether I am replacing Venetian blinds in an administrative building or a component on an electric arc furnace. What’s more, I can answer any questions directly and notice if something is unclear to somebody who lacks the confidence to ask.

Are the personnel from these firms at all prepared for such briefings?Große Börding: Those who have been working with us for a longer period of time, are. But often contractors ar-rive at our works gates, want to get on quickly with their work, and are then quite surprised to receive a 20-minute briefing. We can’t make any exceptions on this, however. It doesn’t matter whether the job will be finished in an hour or in a week, they all have to receive a suitable briefing on their work location and the work to be done. The only trouble is when it turns out that safety certifications needed for certain jobs are missing. Where it’s a matter of helmets or safety shoes, we can help out unbureaucratically in most cases.

Are there any aspects of this briefing system that could still be improved somewhat?Große Börding: We want to develop it further. At present we are working on a revision of our on-the-job safety in-struction sheet for contractor worksites and on giving it a more attractive format. Also, the firms are to have the possibility of downloading the information beforehand, which will prepare them not only for the briefing but also, especially, for the certifications and equipment that are required.

Thank you for talking to us

Safety mattersGMHütte · Briefing contractors

photo: vl


The changeover from cast to forged Pel-ton wheels in the mid-90s is also being

felt for the first time statistically. In August, Schmiedewerke Gröditz (SWG) delivered its 250th forged Pelton wheel to Andritz Hydro AG in Kriens, Switzerland. This major cus-tomer of SWG is deemed a pioneer of Pelton wheel forging technology and, besides hav-ing a manufacturing facility in Kriens, also makes water turbines and components at plants in Vevey (Schwitzerland), Linz (Aus-tria), Morelia (Mexico), Schio (Italy) and Fon-taine (France). Altogether, the Andritz Hydro group has already manufactured around 400 Pelton wheels without a bucket fracture.

Schmiedewerke Gröditz has been a world market leader in forged Pelton wheels for years. The drive wheel, which looks like a giant, silver-coloured sunflower, has mean-while been supplied for more than a decade to Pelton turbine makers throughout the world. Well over 500 such Pelton wheels have already been manufactured in Gröditz. The smallest wheel weighed a couple of hundred kilogrammes, and the heaviest (as a rough-machined forging) a proud 38.4 tonnes, produced for a hydropower plant in Russia. The greatest advantages of forged Pelton wheels compared with cast wheels are that they have superior mechanical proper-ties and enjoy a longer service life. They also offer greater quality, reliability and safety - very much to the chagrin of colleagues work-ing in the steel foundries, because cast Pelton wheels are becoming as good as obsolete.

Detlef Schwerdt

News from a world market leaderSWG · Those failing to keep up with technological

developments may miss out, while those backing the

right technology can become world market leaders.

Schmiedewerke Gröditz and SZF Stahlzentrum Freiberg

e. V. have extended their frame-work research agreement. The aim of the agreement is to con-duct a variety of research projects in close liaison with one another. It involves the modelling and optimisation of metallurgical processes, the simulation of such processes, the production of ex-perimental melts, heat treatment to enhance service properties, and materials testing and analy-sis.

Research projects to date have focused on improving the forging technology for extruder cylinders and on optimising the chemical composition, remelting parameters and heat treatment for 9 Cr steel grades.

SZF is an associated institute of TU Bergakademie Freiberg (Freiberg University of Mining and Technology) and located at the Institute for Iron and Steel Technology. It is a reputed specialist in the development of steel making and processing technologies and in the simula-tion and modelling of those pro-cesses. The Institute has accumu-lated extensive knowledge and experience in this field, which is reflected in its first-rate technical facilities.

SWG managing directors Mi-chael Schiller and Robert Kühn travelled together with Ralf Schreiber (Quality Engineer) and Julia Pehla (Communications Of-ficer) to Freiberg for the official signing of the agreement. There

they were awaited by SZF manag-ing director Armin Franke and his staff members Thilo Kreschel and Hans-Peter Heller.

After a presentation about the Institute and the official signing of the agreement, the delega-tion from Gröditz also had the opportunity to take a look at current main areas of research and development work. These

included electro slag remelting (ESR) technologies for steels and the modelling of flows and of temperature and stress fields in molten and solid steel materials.

The delegation returned to Gröditz with many new impres-sions and the freshly extended framework research agreement in hand.

jp

Applied researchSWG · Agreement with SZF Stahlzentrum

Freiberg extended

What new things are there to report about? Dr. Armin Franke (left) during the tour of the Institute with Dr. Robert Kühn (centre) and Dr. Michael Schiller.

Finish-machined Pelton wheels

photo: Andritz Hydro AG, Kriens

photo: jp


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As reported in glückauf 2/2011, Schmiedewerke Gröditz (SWG) have put a new, automated ultrasonic testing facility into service. It is able to inspect disc-shaped forgings with a high degree of accuracy under constant conditions. The supplier was once again Nuremberg-based Cegelec Deutschland GmbH who also assembled, installed and calibrated the facility. glückauf spoke to SWG employee Kay Drewitz (test engineer, au-tomated ultrasonic testing) about the new acquisition and its strengths.

glückauf: Mr. Drewitz, what prod-ucts are tested and inspected on the new facility?Kay Drewitz: Mainly compressor discs, turbine wheel discs and shaft journals for the steam and gas turbine sector.

Can you apply a “universal” ap-proach to all these, in other words use one single facility for testing and inspection?Drewitz: The facility is extremely flexible. We are able to employ several testing systems to meet the high customer requirements. Take, for example, the many var-ying component geometries. For those we are able to use a 3-probe or a 4-probe system. When test-ing holes, on the other hand,

the facility can be fitted with a special fixture that holds up to three probes.

…that sounds like a lot of manual work.Drewitz: It isn’t really. In some cases we are able to adjust these systems by means of motorised mechanisms, which greatly facili-tates radius-dependent scanning. Larger radial recesses or bottle bores don’t pose any problems, either. For those, a single-probe system is mainly used. The same ap-plies to the axial testing of recesses,

for which there are also special probe clamps. Besides conven-tionally clampable, manually operated and modern machine-operated probes, the equipment includes arrays that, of course, represent the latest state of the art. Figuratively speaking, we are thus able to combine several probes in one that have more than one direction of incidence. And that’s not all by a long way. We are also able to choose be-

tween minia-ture and large probes, vertical or angle beam testing, and various fre-quencies. And an infinitely variable cou-pling-medium supply permits optimum probe-to-work-piece contact for ultrasound transmission into the com-ponent.

What has changed for the facility operator?Drewitz: He has only a minimum of setting-up to do, because direct draw-off of the coupling medium and automatic me-

chanical adjustment to suit the component geometry relieve the operator of a lot of work. And in cases where he has to monitor the mechanical contact on very high components, he is assisted by an online camera.

What about the documentation of the test data?Drewitz: At the heart of the facil-ity is the Olympus-built “Focus LT” system, which records the ultrasonic data on the basis of coordinates. Using TomoView software, we are able to generate different cross-sectional views, i.e. longitudinal and transverse sections, for evaluation.

What has been your experience with it so far?Drewitz: Very positive. The facil-ity already fulfils all customer-specific test and inspection requirements and has passed the mechanical accuracy and stress tests without any difficulties.

What benefits does this facility offer?Drewitz: A great number. I’ll simply list them. The ultra-sonic inspection findings can be transmitted to the customer by remote data upload, thus saving him a round trip to Gröditz. The ultrasonic data are archived auto-matically. During testing and in-spection it is no longer necessary to physically turn the disc com-ponents. The test conditions are more constant, and the recording and localisation of indications are more real and simpler. The ultrasonic findings are visualised better in 3-D …

In other words with x- and y-coordinates.Drewitz: … as well as with a col-our display of the amplitudes. A better view of the component’s interior also has positive effects where quality assurance is con-cerned. And state-of-the-art probes permit better detection limits.

Has the facility already been pushed to its limits?Drewitz: We have definitely not exploited its potential to the full as yet. But we are in the process of doing so. We will continue to qualify our test personnel still further, for instance, so as to in-crease the efficiency of the facil-ity. And we are looking to qualify the facility for further customers.

Thank you for talking to us.

Disc after discSWG · Major step forward: new ultrasonic tester has fully lived up

to expectations. Now the test personnel are gradually making the

most of its potential.

Brief profileTechnical data of the new ultrasonic testing facility:

Workpiece weight 50 t max.

Workpiece diameter

1,000 – 4,000 mm

Workpiece height 90 – 4,000 mm

Test hole diameter

250 – 3,900 mm

Component height incl. hole

90 – 2,000 mm

Height of manipulator

around 5.50 m

Final acceptance of the “SIRO-MAN IX” after completed start-up and successful test runs with mounted test disc. Appearing in the photo are (from left to right): Kay Drewitz, Willibald Meister (project managers, Cegelec), Bernd Irzik (ultrasound expert, Cegelec), Volker Knobloch (Head of Non-destructive Materials Testing, SWG), Heinz-Josef Otte (Division Manager, Cegelec), Hubert Fiebig (Head of Quality Management, SWG) and Steffen Gerlach (project manager, SWG).

On the automated ultrasonic testing facility: rough-machined compressor disc for a gas turbine.

photo: Diana Heller

photo: Kay Drewitz


REpower Systems AG has, with the assistance of Frie-

drich Wilhelms-Hütte Eisenguss (FWHE), developed a new main-frame for wind turbine gen-erators. It is made of spheroidal graphite cast iron and replaces the previous steel weldment used in the so-called MM series (MM82, MM92 and MM100).

The successfully produced prototype was installed in late May 2011 on wind turbine gen-erator MM92 “Pegau” in the Leipzig district. A second main-frame has already been cast, with further to follow this year. After successful validation, RE-power intends to install the new-ly developed cast mainframes as standard on its MM platform. The company is also examin-ing whether such a changeover should also be made for a further class of turbine.

Having installed more than 3,000 wind turbine generators the world over, REpower Systems AG has for many years ranked among Germany’s largest such manufacturers and, as a group together with majority share-holder Suzlon, is even among the top 5 wind turbine generator builders globally.

FWHE has had contact with this renowned manufac-turer since 2004, when the iron foundry produced the rotor hub for the prototype of a wind tur-bine generator that still counts among the most powerful world-wide, the REpower 5M (rated output: 5,075 kW).

The cooperation between the two companies on that project was already very good at the time. Which is why REpower again sought to work together with FWH on this project - and it has paid off once again, as An-dreas Winkler (Engineering RE-power) has been able to confirm:

“Friedrich Wilhelms-Hütte has assisted us on this project with their casting know-how since as early as the concept development stage, making it possible to design and develop a reliably producible as well as cost-effective casting.”

Udo Krampitz

Supporting roleFWHE · Good cooperation proves its worth

yet again: successful prototype testing is now

to be followed by volume production. 2-MW

wind turbines operated by REpower are to be

fitted with new cast iron component.

Spheroidal graphite cast ironOver the years the use of sphe-roidal graphite cast iron has become accepted by all manu-facturers of major components for wind turbine generators. Besides the great scope it offers as regards forming, spheroidal graphite cast iron presents further advantages compared with other materials, such as a good capacity for damping mechanical and acoustic vibra-tions, high inherent rigidity, low residual stress, and a lower specific weight. The mechani-cal properties are also achieved without any problems, requir-ing no additional heat treat-ment.

Cast mainframe during preliminary assembly

The demand for raw materials continues to grow world-

wide. Outputs are expected to double globally by 2030. Ensur-ing corresponding production is a constant challenge, yet also offers major opportunities – both for the companies involved in such production and for the companies supplying the materi-als-handling technologies.

FWH Stahlguss has close, traditional links with raw ma-terials extraction and handling through its “heavy-duty casting” products. Originally it supplied parts for underground mining operations. Today the focus is on surface mining, where gigantic hydraulic excavators built from highly durable materials and components are in use.

One of these giants is the Type 6060 excavator built by Caterpillar (formerly the RH 340 from Bucyrus Hex GmbH). It has a total weight of around 570 t, a Diesel engine output of 2,240 kW and a mammoth bucket volume of 34 m3.

Friedrich Wilhelms-Hütte Stahlguss manufactures ma-chined and ready-to-install bearing brackets weighing 5.7 t, and sticks weighing 4,3 t, for these buckets, using the hand-moulding process and G21Mn5V cast steel with good welding properties. The throughput time for a part, from hand-moulding through to external finish-machining and accept-

ance at FWH Stahlguss amounts to around ten weeks. This period also includes all testing, which has to demonstrate conformance to the exacting requirements of quality levels 1 to 3 (maximum) for both internal and external quality. There is good reason for such requirements particu-larly where welding ends are concerned, because these are welded into the stick and boom and have to transmit enormous digging/break-out forces as high as 120 t.

Should the requirements become even more exacting in future, and there are already indications of this being the case, then FWH Stahlguss is well-equipped to handle them. It certainly has materials in its repertoire that, by comparison, offer extra-high strength and en-hanced weldability. Caterpillar’s plans for the future give cause for optimism, too. It intends to expand the assembly capacity of its Dortmund production facil-ity, which also means that much higher numbers of excavators will be assembled there than in previous years.

Mark Vierbaum

Quite a size: stick with markings for machining, as-cast weight 4.4 t.

Solid “wrist joint” for giant bucketFWHS · Hand-moulded steel casting from

Mülheim for hydraulic excavator

cast steel with good weldingproperties. The throughput timefor a part, from hand-mouldingthrough to external finish-machining and accept-

Quite a size: stick with markings for machining, as-cast weight 4.4 t.

photo: Henning Wehnsen (REpower)



Over 850 representatives from companies involved in wind

power and other associated in-dustries travelled to Bremerhaven in June to attend the meanwhile traditional “Windstärke 11 Kurs Offshore” trade conference organised by Windenergieagen-tur Bremerhaven Bremen e. V. (WAB). The venue and centre of this three-day international meeting was the Atlantic Hotel Sail City located directly on the banks of the River Weser. Weser-Wind was a sponsor of the con-ference and also organiser of the “Maritime Wind Dinner”.

The conference programme involved a wide range of variety. Participants thus had ample op-portunity to find out about new developments, share their experi-ence and, last but not least, make new contacts in order to expand and reinforce the wind energy network.

The event got off to a good start with four interesting visits to companies from Bremerhaven and the Elbe-Weser and Weser-

marsch regions. These companies are all involved in the fields of on- and offshore wind power. The visits provided delegates with the opportunity to make preliminary contact as well as to engage in deeper technical discussions – and the conversa-tions also continued afterwards at a champagne reception in the evening.

The conference was officially opened by WAB Managing Direc-tor Ronny Meyer. In his words of welcome he described the dis-tinctly positive prevailing trend in this sector. At the same time he made a plea for constructive collaboration between onshore and offshore wind power.

Chief Governmental Officer Dr. Torsten Bischoff, a represent-ative of the German government, was next to speak. On behalf of the German Ministry of the Environment, he assured confer-ence delegates of governmental support in the expansion of re-newable energies. He also made reference to the gradual phasing-

out of nuclear power by 2022 on which the German government had recently passed a resolution. In this context he talked about the increase to 35 % in the pro-portion of renewable energies and the missions, challenges and

opportunities for wind power in this connection.

Over 60 talks and presenta-tions took place on the following two days of the conference. Rep-resentatives of wind power and offshore-related industries pre-sented information concerning the most recent developments, experiences and technologies. Key topics included logistics, safety and environmental protection, re-search and development, financ-ing as well as service and mainte-nance for offshore wind projects. In addition, synergies between different branches of industry were often identified, for example in connection with the fact that lessons learned from the oil and gas sector can also be applied to the offshore wind industry.

The afternoon of the second day of the conference provided participants with the opportuni-ty to chat and exchange further thoughts and ideas during an excursion on MS Oceana. Most people enjoyed the opportunity to relax and enjoy the view of Bremerhaven from the Weser. The trip terminated at Weser-Wind’s heavy-load quay. There were plenty of interesting items for guests to look at here before moving on to their “Maritime Wind Dinner”.

The consistently high level of participation at the talks throughout the last day illus-trated how industry-focused the topics were. There’s no doubt about it: for companies involved in the wind power sector. “Wind-stärke” 2012 already features as an important date on next year’s calendar.

Eike Lindau

Upsurge in wind powerWW · Representatives of the international wind power industry met

for three days in Bremerhaven to share information and experience –

and co-sponsor WeserWind hosted a “Maritime Wind Dinner”.

Premiere: Shifting the first tripod foundation structure towards the door of the building.

Discussion in virtually gale-force conditions: WeserWind Managing Director Dirk Kassen talking to a guest in front of the new WeserWind production building. Later on at the “Maritime Wind Dinner” the surroundings were much calmer!

photos: Matthias Ibeler

glück auf · 1/2011 · Extraits en langue française ......................... 17 glück auf · 3/2011 · Extracts in English ........................................ 17 1/2011 · Extraits en langue françaiseglückglückauf · auf · 31/2011 · Extraits en langue 1/2011 · Extraits en langue ..........................françaisefrançaise ......................... ......................... 17 17

The 1st of July was the tenth anniversary of the establish-

ment of Rohstoff Recycling Dortmund (RRD). This milestone birthday was, with good reason, a fitting occasion for all the em-ployees to celebrate with their family members. Dortmund-based RRD is today a modern processing centre. Covering an area of over 80,000 m², it com-prises not only several scrap han-dling yards but also processing facilities such as three torch-cut-ting hood enclosures, two drop-weight crushers, a detonation bunker, and a scrap shear.

Its customers include the steel plants and foundries belonging

to the GMH Group as well as external consumers at home and abroad. The location at the har-bour in Dortmund is extremely easy to reach and is also ‘tri-mod-al’, i.e. connected via road, rail and water to (almost) all means of transport.

RRD meanwhile occupies a leading position in the special and heavy scrap market seg-ments, not only in Germany but also in Europe. As a result, its personnel structure has devel-oped dynamically over the past ten years, from the four people employed initially, to 66 in the meantime, so that all the work can be done according to cus-

tomer requirements and on time. It all began at the start of the

new millenium. At that time there were deliberations within the GMH Group about improv-ing the raw materials base with an additional operating location so as to secure scrap supplies for the capacity expansion of the GMHütte steel plant.

What was required was a loca-tion in a source region that had good scrap availability and a good infrastructure with rail con-nections to GMHütte. The deci-sion was eventually made in fa-vour of the former ore stockyard of Hoesch AG at the harbour in Dortmund-Hardenberg.

In retrospect, the trip by barge via the Dortmund canal harbour to the site at Hardenberg har-bour in August 2001 proved to be extremely symbolic. Among those on board were Dr. Jürgen Großmann (owner of the GMH Group), Hubert Collas (former executive board member of Dort-munder Hafen AG), Heinrich Engemann (former managing director of RRD and Rohstoff Re-cycling Osnabrück GmbH) and Gustav Schreiber (then and today managing director of RRD).

When they alighted from the barge via a ladder onto the bank and viewed the idle site, they all had the same vision in mind: a modern scrap logistics and recy-cling centre would soon be cre-ated here.

Over the years since then, the vision has become a reality. The new company was brought to life on 1 July 2001 and initially run with four employees on the basis of drop shipment transactions. Once all the permits had been acquired, it was possible to com-mence scrap transhipment and handling operations in August 2002.

Due to a number of objections raised by local residents, howev-er, the startup of the processing facilities planned for mid-2003 had to be postponed – for two years in the case of the torch-cut-ting hood enclosures and detona-tion bunker, and for three years where the drop-weight crushers were concerned.

But a way of improvisation was found. In early 2004 a Mühl--heim-based firm with two drop--weight crushers was leased, which are still operating succes-sfully today. And in late 2007, RRD took over a further firm in the Dortmund harbour area that has a scrap shear and a rail connection, thus suitably roun-ding off the RRD’s portfolio of services.

Gustav Schreiber and Dr. Knut Schemme

Vision realisedRRD · Tenth anniversary for Rohstoff Recycling Dortmund. The

recycling company located at the harbour in Dortmund-Hardenberg

processes mainly special and heavy scrap and has meanwhile seen

a fivefold increase in its workforce.

Milestone birthday: The RRD workforce have formed up into a figure “10“. The success story of the company suggests that in a fur-ther ten years’ time the “20” may well be composed of many more employees.

photo: Felix Treppschuh

glück auf · 3/2011 · Extracts in English ........................................ 17


The International Stainless Steel Congress, which takes place every two years in the

Czech Republic, meanwhile ranks among the most important events for the stainless industry – and worldwide, at that. This is be-cause the presence of every major representa-tive of the stainless industry provides the ideal opportunity to establish and cultivate contacts with (potential) cooperation part-ners and customers.

It goes without saying that Edelstahl Service Center Burg was also represented at the two-day congress in Brno in late May. Following sporadic visits in previous years, attendance there has become a firm part of the company’s exhibition and conference schedule since 2009.

This year, too, the opportunity was taken to meet with established and potential cus-tomers over a very short period. Topics for discussion included the general trends on the world market and the special capabilities that Edelstahl Service Center Burg has to offer. Particular interest was shown by customers from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Lithuania, Hungary, Austria, Slovenia and Russia.

Will it be possible though to develop these contacts and bring about new business relations? The intensive discussions with customers and interested industry experts locally give reasonable grounds to hope so.

Ronald Kleinsorge

The art of marketing oneself successfullyESC · Great interest: 6th International Stainless Steel

Congress in Brno.

At the Congress in Brno (from left to right): Martin Kästner (ESC, Sales), exhibition stand visitor, Ronald Kleinsorge (ESC, Sales) and Bernd Skibbe (ESC, Sales).

Photos by courtesy of the GMH Group

Take a look here!Where is Monika Hansen (Mannstaedt) reading glückauf 2/2011? Which castle is in the background? A little hint: in order to find the name of the castle you need to get to “grips” with Tucholsky and let your thoughts wander to his “home” in Sweden. Send your reply to [email protected] or (by postcard) to Matthias Krych, RRO GmbH, Rheinstraße 90, 49090 Osnabrück. Closing date for entries is 11th November 2011. If more than one correct answer is received, the win-ner will be drawn from all correct entries submitted. The winner will re-ceive a polo shirt from the GMH Fan Shop. (No legal recourse permitted.)

And where is your photo? Would you also like to submit a picture puzzle? Just take a photo featuring glückauf in the foreground. In the background there should be enough specific details to be able to recog-nise in which place or in which town the the photo was taken. Mail your photo to [email protected].

Did you know?In our last picture puzzle you could see Dirk Strothmann (Rohstoff Recycling Osnabrück) with his glückauf in front of the Westfalen-stadion (Signal Iduna Park) in Dortmund. The winner, Dieter Lorenz of Rohstoff Recycling Osnabrück, was drawn from all the correct entries submitted (thank you for taking part!).

Congratulations!

The winner will be informed by the glückauf editorial team.photo: privat

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