US Ambassador Traina visited voestalpine site in Kindberg, Austria

4 October 2019 |

For years the USA has been a key strategic market for voestalpine. With 48 sites in the US and a local workforce of around 3,500 employees, the Group makes a significant contribution to value creation in the country. During his visit to the Styrian voestalpine factory in Kindberg today, Trevor Traina, the United States Ambassador to Austria, expressed his personal interest in the Group’s activities and its economic relations with the USA. A guided tour through the high-tech seamless tubes production facilities was followed by a discussion with voestalpine CEO, Herbert Eibensteiner, and voestalpine Management Board Member and Head of the Metal Engineering Division, Franz Kainersdorfer.

voestalpine has invested around USD 1.4 billion in state-of-the-art production locations in the USA over the past years.

Due to our extensive production capacities in the US, we are now well established in this market, not just as a trading partner, but also as a local manufacturer. Therefore, we are particularly delighted to welcome US Ambassador Traina to our local site in Kindberg today and to talk to him about current technological and economic issues.

Herbert Eibensteiner, Chairman of the Management Board of voestalpine AG

As a regional employer, voestalpine is also part of the “US Pledge to America’s Workers” program, a commitment to enhancing the qualifications of American skilled employees.

“voestalpine is an exceptionally valued investor in the USA, and I’m delighted to have been invited by CEO Eibensteiner to view the production facilities for high-tech seamless tubes in Kindberg today. I’ve already had the opportunity to visit the headquarters in Linz earlier this year, and was impressed with how voestalpine succeeds in standing out from the competition and ensuring it remains competitive in the global marketplace. It is essential that the USA and Europe work together to secure prosperity for all and to strengthen our economies,” said US Ambassador Trevor D. Traina during his visit to Kindberg.

Extremely high-load-bearing OCTG from Kindberg

At the site in Kindberg, voestalpine develops and produces extremely high-load-bearing seamless tubes which are primarily used in international oil and gas exploration. voestalpine Tubulars, a joint venture between voestalpine’s Metal Engineering Division and the American company NOV Grant Prideco, has around 1,180 employees and reported revenue of EUR 534 million in the business year 2018/19. The global enterprise generates around a third of its annual revenue from exports to the USA.

Over the past five years more than EUR 120 million has been invested in enhancing quality and the processing of high-tech seamless tubes at the Kindberg site, so that we can continue to offer our customers the best possible support.

Franz Kainersdorfer, Member of the Management Board of voestalpine AG and Head of the Metal Engineering Division

Metal Engineering Division

The Metal Engineering Division of the voestalpine Group is the global market leader for rail infrastructure systems and associated signaling technology (Railway Systems). Moreover, the division’s Industrial Systems business unit is the European market leader for quality wire and a leading supplier of seamless tubes and high-quality welding consumables. It serves customers in the rail infrastructure, oil & gas, mechanical engineering, automotive, and construction industries. In the business year 2018/19, the division reported revenue of around EUR 3.1 billion with its Railway Systems and Industrial Systems business units, more than 40% of which was generated outside Europe. The division, with its approximately 13,500 employees worldwide, generated an operating result (EBITDA) of EUR 369 million.

The voestalpine Group

In its business segments, voestalpine is a globally leading technology group with a unique combination of materials and processing expertise. voestalpine, which operates globally, has around 500 Group companies and locations in more than 50 countries on all five continents. It has been listed on the Vienna Stock Exchange since 1995. With its top-quality products and system solutions using steel and other metals, it is a leading partner of the automotive and consumer goods industries as well as of the aerospace and oil & gas industries. voestalpine is also the world market leader in complete railway systems as well as in tool steel and special sections. In the business year 2018/19, the Group generated revenue of EUR 13.6 billion, with an operating result (EBITDA) of EUR 1.6 billion; it had just under 52,000 employees worldwide.