Georgsmarienhütte forms forging group

The GMH Group has merged Kind & Co., Schmiedewerke Gröditz and Buderus Edelstahl to form the Open-Die Forging Group.

“With the merger of Kind & Co., Schmiedewerke Gröditz and Buderus Edelstahl to form the GMH Open-Die Forging Group, we are bringing together three strong companies to create an organisation with a unique portfolio of products and services,” explains Dr Alexander Becker, CEO of the GMH Group. As a full-service provider of highly complex open-die forged components, tool steel, high-grade structural steel and seamless rolled rings, the company offers its customers fully integrated solutions from a single source – ranging from technical consultancy for demanding applications, through in-house steel production and finishing, to forging, heat treatment and complex machining.
As part of the integration of Kind & Co. and Buderus Edelstahl into the GMH Group, the company is now bringing both firms together with Schmiedewerke Gröditz to form the GMH Open-Die Forging Group. To support the integration and further expand its expertise, the GMH Group will invest around 30 million euros in the GMH Open-Die Forging Group. The integration will focus on coordinated production planning, metallurgy, logistics and sales across the three companies. The GMH Group expects efficiency gains through joint capacity management, harmonised processes and the consolidation of interfaces.

Clear positioning of the three brands within the GMH Group

The Open-Die Forging Group assigns a defined industrial focus to each company:

• Kind & Co.: Hot forming, premium and remelted tool steels for technically demanding applications, with a strong focus on the end-user business, including technical application support and vacuum hardening services.
• Schmiedewerke Gröditz: Complex open-die forged components, rolled rings, structural steel and technical forgings for plastic moulded parts, as well as stainless steel and remelted steel (ESR).
• Buderus Edelstahl: A full-range supplier of tool steel for large components, plastic moulded parts, tool holders and mould frames with a high degree of vertical integration, as well as high-grade structural steels.

This clear differentiation enables the GMH Group to meet diverse customer requirements across a broad spectrum of applications. By offering standard, performance-optimised and premium solutions within the Open-Die Forging Group, the GMH Group enables its customers to select the solution that best meets their technical requirements and expected service life, thereby supporting operational efficiency and reducing total cost of ownership.
Together, the three companies cover the entire value chain for tool steel and open-die forging – from scrap and melting through to remelting, forging, machining and heat treatment, right through to sales.

A broad portfolio ranging from standard grades to high-quality remelted steels

Within the new group, more than 400 steel grades and over 2,500 chemical compositions are available – ranging from standard tool steels to high-quality remelted grades. Production also includes small batch sizes and small-format components, which are supplied directly from a single source. This flexibility is particularly relevant for industries requiring small production runs, prototypes or special geometries. The annual production volume of the integrated portfolio totals more than 100,000 tonnes.
The €30 million investment programme comprises:

• a new casting car at Schmiedewerke Gröditz (higher production output and greater purity).
• a new hardening furnace for large structural and gigacasting components in Bielstein (increased capacity and vacuum hardening capabilities for larger components, thereby opening up new market opportunities).
• Relocation of energy-efficient forging furnaces from Wetzlar to Gröditz (lower gas consumption and reduced CO₂ emissions).
• Further modernisation measures across the entire Open-Die Forging Group.

According to the company, these investments are aimed at expanding capacity, increasing energy efficiency and modernising production technology.
The GMH Group continues to rely exclusively on production in electric furnaces using recycled scrap, thereby achieving CO₂ savings of up to 80 per cent compared with conventional blast furnace processes.
Source: GMH Group