BRE-MEN ADDS SCHMIEDEWERKE GRÖDITZ STEELS TO THE PRESTIGIOUS BRANDS THAT REPRESENTS
PRODUCTION
Schmiedewerke Gröditz GmbH (SWG) is a forging factory founded in 1779 with an affiliated electric steelworks in Gröditz, Saxony. Schmiedewerke Gröditz GmbH produces open-die forgings and ring-rolled products, while the steel is supplied by its own electric steel mill. The company is part of the GMH Group.
The electric steelworks produces steel ingots, which are melted in a 50 t electric arc furnace, undergo secondary metallurgical treatment in a ladle furnace and in a VD/VOD (vacuum decarburization with oxygen) plant and are poured into the lower casting (maximum ingot weight 75 t, technical capacity: approximately 125,000 t/year).
Ingots can also be refined in an ESR plant (dual plant with ingot removal and electrode exchange technology; ingot weight between 3.8 and 84 tons). In addition to steel bars, the forge also produces shaped forgings (discs, rings, hollow bodies, step forgings). For this purpose, two open-die presses (27 MN and 60 MN with integrated manipulators and controls) and various forging furnaces are used. Ring mill (HM saws, band saws, rotary heart furnace, reheating furnace, 30MN drilling and lifting press, 6.3MN expansion press, radial-axial rolling mill) produces rings, tires and flanges .
The company has various heat treatment systems (movable hearth, chamber and bell furnaces; oil, polymer and water quenching and tempering tanks), both in horizontal and vertical configurations. For mechanical pre-processing and finishing, various central and vertical lathes, drilling and milling machines and saws are available. Compliance with quality requirements is guaranteed by various material control procedures and non-destructive methods on automated systems.
COMPANY
The Gröditz ironworks was founded in 1779 by Count Detlev Carl von Einsiedel and the foundation stone for the construction of a blast furnace in Gröditz was laid in 1825. Two years later, in 1827, the company was already a leader in the production of aqueduct pipes and gas pipelines. In 1915, construction began on a Siemens-Martin plant for casting high-quality steel for the production of tires, axles and complete wheels. Shortly after the end of the First World War, the company therefore had a Siemens-Martin steelworks, foundries and a strip rolling mill, as well as a forge for parts weighing up to 20 tons. Until the end of the Second World War, the company belonged to Friedrich Flick’s Mitteldeutsche Stahlwerke. After the turmoil of the Second World War and the dismantling of major production facilities, the reconstruction phase concluded in 1954 with the commissioning of a 60 MN forging press. Two years earlier, the steel mill’s first electric furnace had already begun melting operations. In the following years, the company was constantly expanded and modernized.
In 1974, for example, a modern ring mill replaced the strip mill. After the reestablishment of the company in 1990 by the Treuhandanstalt under the name Gröditzer Stahlwerke GmbH, a period of consolidation followed. An extensive investment program in all production areas laid the foundations for satisfying specific customer requests for the highest quality products and led the company towards new markets in the following years. In 1996, a service center for tool steel was opened within Walzwerk Burg GmbH for the processing of forging slabs of Gröditzer Stahlwerke GmbH, which was spun off as an independent company in 2005 (Gröditzer Werkzeugstahl Burg GmbH ). In 1997, the company was finally acquired by Georgsmarienhütte Holding GmbH. Two years later the operating divisions Edelstahl Gröditz and Stahlwerk Gröditz were founded, which led to the privatization of Schmiedewerke Gröditz GmbH and Elektrostahlwerke Gröditz GmbH in September 2002. In August 2004, the steel foundry was renamed Stahlguss Gröditz GmbH and from January 2006 is part of the Georgsmarienhütte Holding GmbH Casting Division.
On March 5, 2015, the last batch of castings was poured into the foundry’s molding shop and the business closed during 2015 with the delivery of the last customer castings. In May 2006, the company acquired Edelstahl GmbH J.P. Schumacher, who has been responsible for product distribution under the name Gröditzer Vertriebsgesellschaft mbH in Willich since January 2008.