Benteler International

Benteler International AG
Industry Automotive supplier, Steel/Tube production, Distribution
Founded 1876 (1876)
Headquarters Salzburg, Austria
Key people
 Ralf Göttel, CEO
Guido Huppertz, CFO
Isabel Diaz Rohr, Member of the Executive Board
Revenue € 7,856 million (2017)
Number of employees
 Approx. 30,000 FTE
Website http://www.benteler.com

Benteler International AG (BENTELER) is a holding company in German family ownership. The Group companies operate worldwide in the fields of automotive technology, steel and tube production, engineering and distribution.[1] The headquarters of Benteler International AG is in Salzburg (Austria), as of 2010. The owner is the Benteler family.

The operational activities of the Benteler Group are organized into three independent business divisions: Benteler Automotive, Benteler Steel/Tube and Benteler Distribution and administered by Benteler Business Services GmbH (until 2016 Benteler Deutschland GmbH[2]) based in Paderborn (Germany).[3] The Benteler Group employs around 28,000 people at 144 locations in 39 countries; approximately 8,800 of those employees are in Germany. Revenue in the 2017 financial year was 7,856 billion.[4]

History

Foundation, first delivery of tubes, expansion of production

In 1876 Carl Benteler opened an ironmongery store in Bielefeld, which his son Eduard Benteler took over in 1908. In 1916 Eduard Benteler then bought an engineering factory in Bielefeld in which drawn tubes were manufactured for the first time in 1918. In 1922 Eduard Benteler founded the Benteler-Werke Aktiengesellschaft, which in 1923 started production of seamless and welded tubes in Paderborn and Schloß Neuhaus. In 1935 the company won its first major order from the automotive industry: Benteler produced exhaust pipes for the Ford Eifel. During the Second World War anti-aircraft guns were made in the Benteler factory in Bielefeld (including anti-aircraft guns 2-cm-Flak 38 and 2-cm-Flak-Vierling 38), until the factory was destroyed in 1944 in an air raid.[5]

Following the Second World War Eduard Benteler's sons Erich and Helmut built up the works again and greatly expanded the product range. Benteler was now supplying to the bicycle and car industries, it was producing seamless and hot rolled tubes and machinery for textile fishing, plastics and glass processing. In the buildings of the former military airfield Paderborn-Mönkeloh Benteler worked with the racing driver and car-maker Hermann Holbein:[6] Between 1950 and 1952 about 2,000 "Champion" cars were produced. After that, for a short time, Delta refrigerators were made in Mönkeloh.[7]

The Benteler logo - a triangle, made up of three smaller triangles and standing on its tip - has been used since 1949. The three small triangles stood for Eduard Benteler's children - Ilse, Erich and Helmut - who became owners of the company, in equal parts, after the death of their father. The enclosing larger triangle is meant to symbolize the continuation of the company as a whole.

Consolidation and development of the main business areas

Steel/Tube

In 1955 the first steel was poured in the newly built steel works at Paderborn-Schloß Neuhaus, and in 1958 the world's first continuous casting plant went into operation there. In 1974 the electric steel mill in Lingen (Ems) started production, and still today this plant is producing steel for the company's own hot rolling mills in Dinslaken and Paderborn and for external customers.[8]

In 2007 Benteler took over the Swiss company Rothrist Rohr AG, which makes precision welded tubes, mainly for the automotive industry. With this steel tube plants in Rothrist and Bottrop passed into Group ownership.[9] In 2011 there was a major fire in the hot rolling mill of Benteler Steel Tube GmbH in Dinslaken and production had to be stopped for several months.[10] In 2015 Benteler Steel/Tube opened a hot rolling mill in Shreveport, Louisiana.[11][12]

Automotive

In 1977 car axles were produced for the first time at the Benteler location in Paderborn-Talle, which was founded in 1956. Today this plant is the most important components factory in the Automotive Division.[13] In 1985 a transfer line[14] was installed for the first major order to manufacture rear axle beams.

In 1979 the company started to expand worldwide with the opening of its first plant in the US. From 1991 onwards Benteler specialized also in the just-in-time production[15] and delivery of pre-finished components for automotive manufacturers. The automotive technology business area was now larger than the steel tube area.[16] From now on new Benteler plants were opened almost every year. In order to deliver efficiently to local automotive manufacturers, production locations were opened or taken over in North America (from 1979, 9 plants to 2017), South America (from 1996, 6 plants), Southern Europe (from 1990, 14 plants), Eastern Europe (from 1995, 10 plants), Northern Europe (from 2009, 3 plants) and Asia (from 2000, 15 plants).[17] Further production locations in China - set up, for example, as part of a joint venture with the Chinese company Changan Automobile Group - are currently (at the start of 2018) under construction.[18] Construction work for a new Benteler plant in the Czech town Klášerec nad Ohří started in 2016.[19]

In 2008, in cooperation with the Wiesbaden-based SGL Group,[20] Benteler set up the company Benteler SGL,[21] a joint venture specialized in lightweight carbon materials, to supplement the focus on steel with competence in lightweight engineering. In early 2009 this joint venture took over Fischer Composite Technology GmbH in Ried im Innkreis, Austria. In November 2017 Benteler and the SGL Group agreed on the sale of Benteler´s 50-percent joint venture participation in the SGL Group; this sale then took place in the same year.[22] Also in 2009 Benteler acquired the Automotive Structures division of the Norwegian company Norsk Hydro, an international aluminum producer based in Oslo.[23] In 2012 the company purchased the aluminum pressure-casting operations of Farsund Aluminium Casting (FAC) in Norway.[24]

Distribution

In 1957, in Berlin, Benteler opened its first tube and steel warehouse, which today is a part of the Distribution Division. Over the years Benteler founded or took over more than 50 distribution and warehouse subsidiaries in Europe, Asia and Australia.[25] Benteler Distribution today has 24 national companies in Europe and Asia, and other associated distribution companies in Germany, Switzerland, Northern and Eastern Europe.[26] In April 2014 construction work officially started on the new central warehouse in Duisburg port. Completed in 2015 this location, which has Europe´s biggest high-bay facility, has over 35,000 square meters of storage space for 27,000 tons of tubes.[27]

Restructuring

In 1999 Benteler was reorganized as a holding company with initially four independently operating business areas of Automotive, Steel/Tube, Engineering (integrated in 2005 into Automotive) and Distribution.[28]

In 2010 the newly founded Benteler International AG, headquartered in Salzburg, took over the strategic management function of the Group.[29] The operational business, with the three Divisions Automotive, Steel/Tube and Distribution has since then been organized in Benteler Business Service GmbH (until 2016 Benteler Deutschland GmbH[30]) which is headquartered in Paderborn.[31]

In April 2017 the long-standing Chairman of the Executive Board moved to the Supervisory Board. Ralf Göttel, until then Head of the Automotive Division, took over as CEO. For the first time in the company´s 140-year history, the reins are not in the hands of a family member.[32]

In 1976, one hundred years after the company was founded, Benteler employed 9,000 people and for the first time it surpassed DM1 billion in revenues. In 1995 company revenue broke through the €3 billion level.[33] In 2001 the Group employed 17,000 people worldwide.

According to a survey by the trade publication “Die deutsche Wirtschaft”, Benteler was ranked 28th in 2016 in the list of the largest family-owned businesses in Germany.[34]

Business activity

Business areas

Automotive

With approximately 22,000 employees (counted in full-time equivalents), 70 plants in 25 countries and revenue (2017) of around €6.3 billion, Benteler Automotive is the biggest of the three Divisions.[35] This business area develops and manufactures prefinished systems, modules and components for car bodies, chassis, engines and exhaust systems and solutions for electric vehicles. The following areas are part of Benteler Automotive[36]

  • Chassis & Modules: Lightweight-optimized chassis components, development and assembly of highly complex modules (e.g. axle modules and front-end modules)
  • Chassis & Modules: Lightweight-optimized chassis components, development and assembly of highly complex modules (e.g. axle modules and front-end modules)
  • Engine & Exhaust Systems: Powertrain systems and components (engine and exhaust systems) to reduce emissions and CO2
  • Electro-Mobility: Lightweight-optimized systems for use in electric vehicles[37] (scalable battery trays, electrified front and rear axles, battery storage systems with thermomanagement)
  • Mechanical Engineering: Glass machinery manufacture; machines, systems and tools for the automotive industry
  • Lightweight Protection: Weight-optimized products for vehicle protection

Steel/Tube

The Benteler Steel/Tube Division employs around 3,700 people (full-time equivalents) at 15 locations in eight countries[38] and generated revenues in 2017 of something over one billion euros.[39]

Benteler Steel/Tube develops and produces steel and standard and customized seamless and welded steel tubes for a diverse range of applications, for example in the chemicals and petrochemicals industry, in vehicle and machine engineering and in the energy sector. Also offered is first-stage processing, for example surface coating, bending of U-pipes and serpentine tubes, cutting to desired lengths and processing of tube ends.

The following areas are part of Benteler Steel/Tube

  • Energy: Tubes for oil and gas exploration (drill pipes, casings[40] tubing, hollow carriers for perforating guns[41][42]), for pipelines[43] and for heat transfer in energy-generation plants and in the chemicals industry (boiler tubes, heat exchanger tubes, multi-lead rifled tubes – for use in high-pressure boiler systems and power stations with fossil fuels, individually processed serpentine tubes).[44]
  • Automotive: Custom-made steel tube solutions for vehicle construction (incl. drive shafts, lines and injection tubes, camshafts, structural parts for vehicles, seat-belt tensioners, shells for airbag generators and hood-lifting systems, precision tubes for steering and gas springs)[45]
  • Industry: With its sections on construction (steel tubes for engineering and plant construction, for the construction and machining industries, for wind turbines)[46] and hydraulics (corrosion-protected cylinder tubes, piston tubes, line tubes for agricultural and construction machinery and commercial vehicles)[47]

Distribution

Benteler Distribution is a stockholding company for steel tube products. It employs around 1,500 people (full-time equivalents) at 50 locations in 30 countries. Revenue in 2017 was €716 million.[48] The subsidiaries stock a range of tubes (seamless and welded steel and stainless-steel tubes of various types, piston rods, hollow sections, fittings[49] and flanges[50]) and offers its customers (e.g. in the fields of engineering, hydraulics and pneumatics, the automobile industry, construction, energy and process plants, consumer industry) additional services such as first-stage processing, packaging and logistics, as well as strategic consultancy in large-scale projects.[51]

Glass Processing Equipment

The business area Glass Processing Equipment generated revenues of around €50 million in 2016. This business develops and builds glass-processing machinery and plant for flat glass that is used in the construction, automotive, solar and display glass industries. For the areas of architectural glass, automotive glass and technical glass, the company supplies grinding machines, drilling machines, washing machines and screen-printing machines, plus complex processing lines (combination of machines), CNC processing centers, systems to manufacture laminated glass,[52] systems for assembling solar modules, mirror-coating lines, production lines for automotive glass (windscreens, side lites and rear windows), and handling systems for automatic loading of systems and production lines (robots, portal stackers, specialized systems for automotive glass).[53]

Locations

Benteler has 81 plants and 61 subsidiaries and trading firms[54] in 39 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, North and South America.

In Germany Benteler has subsidiaries (plants, sales and engineering offices, warehouses, offices) in 24 cities. Benteler plants are located in the German cities of Paderborn-Talle, Bielefeld, Düsseldorf, Cologne, Saarlouis, Siegen-Weidenau, Kleinenberg, Warburg, Eisenach and Schwandorf (Automotive and Glass Processing)[55] and in Schloß Neuhaus, Paderborn, Lingen, Dinslaken and Bottrop (Steel/Tube).[56]

Miscellaneous

Research and development

In 2017 1,200 employees at 32 locations in 18 countries were working in research and development at Benteler, the Group invested €87 million in these areas and filed 81 patent applications.[57] The research and development activity focused on the fields of lightweight construction, safety and efficiency in automotive technology and on materials development in Steel/Tube.[58]

Social engagement and sponsoring

At the University of Paderborn the Company has been funding an endowed professorship in lightweight construction in cars since 2007.[59][60] Benteler is also the main sponsor of the “UPBracing Team” of the University of Paderborn, which takes part each year in the competition to build a racing car in the “Formula-Student-Events”.[61][62] Since 2012 Benteler has been a name sponsor of the Benteler Arena[63] of the football club SC Paderborn 07.

In Paderborn/Schloß Neuhaus Benteler has been operating the children´s day nursery “Rohrspatzen” since 2008.[64]

Company structure

The strategic management holding company of the Benteler Group is Benteler International AG, which has its headquarters in Salzburg (Austria). The 2016 Annual Report lists 134 subsidiaries and associated companies. In 2016 the Automotive Division comprised a total of 70 companies. As well as national Automotive companies, these include companies that belong to the business areas Aluminum Systems, JIT (Just-in-Time production), Lightweight Protection and Engineering, joint Ventures with Chinese companies: Benteler JianAn Automotive (since 2015),[65] Shanghai Benteler Huizhong (since 2002)[66] and the joint venture with the German SGL Group, the end of which (through the sale of Benteler´s shares) was announced in November 2017 by the partners.[67] The Steel/Tube Division comprised in 2016 12 companies, the Distribution Division 31 companies – among them the national companies and a 75-percent share in the Swedish steel tube trading company Heléns Rör (the remaining shares are held by the steel company SSAB[68]).[69]

Notes

  1. ↑ "Benteler – ein Erfolgsmodell aus Paderborn".
  2. ↑ "Online Handelsregister".
  3. ↑ Große deutsche Familienunternehmen: Generationenfolge. Familienstrategie...,. p. 76.
  4. ↑ "BENTELER at a glance".
  5. ↑ Große deutsche Familienunternehmen: Generationenfolge. Familienstrategie... p. 74.
  6. ↑ https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann-Holbein-Fahrzeugbau. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  7. ↑ "Warum Paderborn keine Autostadt wurde - nw.de".
  8. ↑ "Steel/Tube Image brochure" (PDF).
  9. ↑ https://www.automobil-industrie.vogel.de/uebernahme-von-rothrist-rohr-a-99206/. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  10. ↑ http://www.rp-online.de/nrw/staedte/dinslaken/benteler-brand-vier-monate-keine-produktion-aid-1.1200621. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  11. ↑ https://industriemagazin.at/a/stahl-tochter-von-benteler-expandiert-in-die-usa. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  12. ↑ "Case studies: Benteler Group".
  13. ↑ https://www.benteler.com/de/aktuelles/presse-details/news/60-jahre-werk-talle-in-paderborn-von-der-umformtechnik-zur-innovativen-automobiltechnik/. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  14. ↑ https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transferstra%C3%9Fe. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  15. ↑ "Just-in-time production".
  16. ↑ . p. 74 https://books.google.de/books?id=0ZnzDg6fDm4C&pg=PT76#v=onepage&q&f=false. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  17. ↑ (PDF) https://www.benteler-automotive.com/fileadmin/automotive/Locations/BENTELER_Automotive_Locations_FINAL_20170329.pdf. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  18. ↑ https://www.benteler.com/de/aktuelles/presse-details/news/benteler-automotive-and-changan-automobile-establish-joint-venture-in-chongqing-china/. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  19. ↑ (PDF) https://www.benteler-glass.com/fileadmin/corporate/News/2016/de/BENTELER_investiert_in_Wachstumsregion_Osteuropa_11.07.2016.pdf. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  20. ↑ https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/SGL_Carbon. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  21. ↑ https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_Venture. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  22. ↑ https://www.benteler.com/de/aktuelles/presse-details/news/benteler-and-sgl-group-agree-to-the-sale-of-benteler-shares-in-the-joint-venture-benteler-sgl-to-sgl/. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  23. ↑ https://www.handelsblatt.com/unternehmen/industrie/autozulieferer-benteler-ein-erfolgsmodell-aus-paderborn-seite-2/3370384-2.html. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  24. ↑ http://www.alu-web.de/nc/home/branche/news-detail/news/6/1349073000benteler-bernimmt-farsund-aluminium-casting/. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  25. ↑ "BENTELER Distribution".
  26. ↑ Annual Report 2017
  27. ↑ http://www.benteler-distribution.de/company/zentrallager.html. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  28. ↑ Große deutsche Familienunternehmen: Generationenfolge. Familienstrategie... p. 75.
  29. ↑ "Benteler zieht nach Österreich - nw.de".
  30. ↑ Annual Report 2016, Bundesanzeiger
  31. ↑ Große deutsche Familienunternehmen: Generationenfolge. Familienstrategie... p. 76.
  32. ↑ https://www.automobil-produktion.de/menschen/neuer-automotive-chef-bei-benteler-111.html. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  33. ↑ Grosse deutsche Familienunternehmen: Generationenfolge, Familienstrategie. p. 75.
  34. ↑ "Top Deutsche Familienunternehmen nach Umsatz".
  35. ↑ "BENTELER at a glance".
  36. ↑ https://www.benteler-automotive.com/de/. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  37. ↑ http://www.nw.de/nachrichten/wirtschaft/21959903_Autozulieferer-Benteler-erwartet-Wachstum-mit-Elektroautos.html. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  38. ↑ (PDF) https://www.benteler-steeltube.com/fileadmin/steel-tube/Locations/BST_Footprint_DE.pdf. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  39. ↑ "BENTELER at a glance".
  40. ↑ https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rohrtour. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  41. ↑ https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hohlladung. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  42. ↑ https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perforation_(Erd%C3%B6l-_und_Erdgasf%C3%B6rderung). Missing or empty |title= (help)
  43. ↑ https://www.benteler-steeltube.com/de/produkte-kompetenzen/energy/octgline-pipe/. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  44. ↑ https://www.benteler-steeltube.com/de/produkte-kompetenzen/energy/waermetransfer/. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  45. ↑ https://www.benteler-steeltube.com/de/produkte-kompetenzen/automotive/produktportfolio/. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  46. ↑ https://www.benteler-steeltube.com/de/produkte-kompetenzen/industry/konstruktion/. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  47. ↑ https://www.benteler-steeltube.com/de/produkte-kompetenzen/industry/hydraulik/. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  48. ↑ https://www.benteler.com/benteler-at-a-glance/facts-and-figures/annual-report-2017/. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  49. ↑ https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fitting. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  50. ↑ https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flansch. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  51. ↑ "BENTELER Distribution Image brochure" (PDF).
  52. ↑ https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verbundglas. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  53. ↑ https://www.benteler-glass.com/de/produkte/. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  54. ↑ "BENTELER at a glance".
  55. ↑ (PDF) https://www.benteler-automotive.com/fileadmin/automotive/Locations/BENTELER_Automotive_Locations_FINAL_20170329.pdf. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  56. ↑ (PDF) https://www.benteler-steeltube.com/fileadmin/steel-tube/Locations/BST_Footprint_DE.pdf. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  57. ↑ "BENTELER at a glance".
  58. ↑ Liste der von Benteler Automobiltechnik GmbH angemeldeten Patente.
  59. ↑ https://www.uni-paderborn.de/nachricht/8661/. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  60. ↑ (PDF) https://www.benteler.com/fileadmin/corporate/News/2016/de/Stiftungsprofessur_mit_der_Universitaet_Paderborn_geht_in_die_dritte_Foerderphase_20.12.2016.pdf. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  61. ↑ https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formula_Student_Germany. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  62. ↑ https://formulastudent.uni-paderborn.de/index.php/sponsoring/sponsoren. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  63. ↑ https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benteler-Arena. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  64. ↑ http://www.nw.de/lokal/kreis_paderborn/paderborn/paderborn/6731000_Eine-Kita-fuer-zufriedene-Mitarbeiter.html. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  65. ↑ https://www.automobil-industrie.vogel.de/benteler-und-changan-gruenden-joint-venture-a-497651/. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  66. ↑ http://www.autointell.com/News-2002/January-2002/January-2002-3/January-16-02-p10.htm. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  67. ↑ https://www.benteler.com/de/aktuelles/presse-details/news/benteler-and-sgl-group-agree-to-the-sale-of-benteler-shares-in-the-joint-venture-benteler-sgl-to-sgl/. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  68. ↑ https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/SSAB. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  69. ↑ Annual Report 2016
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