Plansee Group
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| Joint-stock company | |
| Headquarters | Breitenwang, Austria |
Key people | CEO: Dr. Michael Schwarzkopf |
| Products | Powder-metallurgical materials |
| Revenue | €1.520 billion (2011) |
Number of employees | 6,120 (2011) |
| Website | Plansee Group website |
The Plansee Group, trading name: "Plansee Holding AG", is an Austrian company which has its head office in Breitenwang (in the district of Reutte). The group of companies focuses on manufacturing powder metallurgical materials which it also processes to produce tools and formed parts.[1] The Plansee Group is a private company, now in its third generation of ownership, that is managed by Dr. Michael Schwarzkopf.
Corporate divisions
The Plansee Group is subdivided into three corporate divisions:
PMG Sinterformteile was sold in December 2011.[2]
Sites
Worldwide, the Plansee Group has 36 production sites in 3 continents as well as sales offices and representatives in 50 countries. In 2010, the Plansee Group achieved sales of 1.244 billion Euros. 50% of this turnover was earned in Europe, 31% in America and 19% in Asia. Every year, the Plansee Group invests approximately ten percent of its sales revenue in developing new products as well as in new processes and technologies.
Products
The Plansee Group companies cover the entire powder metallurgy process chain. The mined ore is used to produce pure metal powder. This is further processed using pressing, sintering and forming techniques to manufacture semi-finished products and tool blanks which are then subsequently machined. Depending on requirements, the Plansee Group supplies metal powder, semi-finished products or ready-to-install components made from refractory and hard metals. Due to the scarcity and high price of resources, the initial step - namely the procurement of raw materials through collaborations with mines or by means of recycling - is becoming increasingly important. Although the materials that are most frequently processed by the Plansee Group are molybdenum and tungsten, it also works with other refractory metals such as tantalum, niobium and chromium as well as the associated alloys and composite materials. The company's target markets include the consumer electronics, coatings and medical technology, semiconductor, automotive, aerospace, mechanical engineering and construction industries.
Company history
The story of the Plansee Group starts with the inventive genius of the company's founder, Dr. Paul Schwarzkopf. The history of his life is closely bound up with the history of powder metallurgy itself. In 1921, he founded Metallwerk Plansee GmbH. Between 1936 and 1952, the company was owned by Deutsche Edelstahlwerke AG before Paul Schwarzkopf once again became sole proprietor of Metallwerk Plansee GmbH in 1952. In the 1980s, the Plansee Group consisted of 14 companies worldwide. By the mid-1990s, this number had grown to 24 companies. The year 2002 saw the emergence of the Ceratizit corporate division. A joint venture with the Japanese Mitsubishi Materials Group in 2005 led to the founding of the PMG corporate division. In 2008, the Plansee Group acquired the GTP division from Osram. This represented the birth of the Global Tungsten & Powders corporate division. Since 2011 Plansee Group holds shares in Molymet, a Chilean molybdenum supplier.
Plansee Seminar
Every four years, the Plansee Group invites guests to the Plansee Seminar. Since it was founded by Dr. Paul Schwarzkopf in 1952, this event has established itself as a meeting place for the cream of the world's powder metallurgy experts from the fields of science and industry. The 17th seminar was held in May 2009. Only hitherto unpublished research results are presented at the Plansee Seminar, which also acts as a forum for the discussion of the latest findings relating to the technologies, materials and applications for high-performance materials manufactured using powder metallurgy. The 18th Plansee Seminar was held from June 3 to 7, 2013.