Voestalpine has injected EUR16m (US$18.6m) into an expansion of its production site for laser-welded blanks in Linz, Austria.
Rapidly growing demand for lightweight construction solutions for the vehicle sector is generating another 50 new jobs at the site in Upper Austria, and will contribute to increasing annual revenue in this product segment to around EUR200m.
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A second plant for the production of laser-welded blanks for the automotive industry was opened in autumn last year, making Linz what Voestalpine maintains, is the world’s largest production site for the sector.
The 2016 investment of around EUR30m by Voestalpine Automotive Components Linz, a company in the Metal Forming Division of the Voestalpine Group, was the most recent phase in the expansion of the site to date. The 290 employees currently working at the two sites produce around 20m ultra high-strength steel blanks a year, exported around the world and processed further in automotive manufacturing.
“The positive developments in the lightweight construction sector, due not least to our product portfolio as well as our steel and forming activities, require correspondingly modern production sites,” said Voestalpine chairman, Wolfgang Eder.
Studies forecast by 2025, the global market for lightweight automotive components will have increased five-fold, to around EUR100bn.
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By GlobalData“We are growing significantly faster than the market,” added Voestalpine board member and head of the Metal Forming Division, Peter Schwab.
“This is the consequence both of our pioneering technology and our flexible and highly-qualified employees.”
The latest expansion phase will generate 50 new jobs. Extension will result in additional production and warehousing facilities, as well as a new dispatch area.
In the next two years a total area of 5,000 m2 will be modified and expanded. At the heart of the development lie the two new laser welding lines. The first will start production in autumn next year with the second line following in 2019.
The additional expansion phase is designed to increase revenue in the blanks sector from its current level of EUR150m to EUR200m during the coming years.
The Metal Forming Division achieved a total sales volume of EUR2.4bn and an operating result (EBITDA) of EUR317m during 2016/17.
The division employs around 11,000 staff members and has business with almost all European car manufacturers.
