Peter Schwab has worked in the voestalpine Group since 1993. During his 12 years as the Group’s Head of R&D, he was substantially involved in groundbreaking innovations and entirely new production methods, especially for the automotive segment (incl. “phs-ultraform”). These continue to ensure global unique selling points for voestalpine. Under his leadership, the structures of an internationally leading Group R&D were built up, enabling voestalpine to develop from a fast follower into an innovation leader. This was appreciated not least with the awarding of the Austrian National Innovation Award in 2015. Peter Schwab is also closely associated with the establishment of the competence center K1-Met. In the early 2000s, research was carried out there on climate-friendly steel production, which resulted in a patent for “CO2-free steel production based on hydrogen” being granted in 2013.
As Head of the Metal Forming Division, Peter Schwab also advanced the worldwide rollout of key technologies in the automotive segment from 2014, with a focus on China and the NAFTA region. The production location in Linz for laser-welded circuit boards for the automotive industry grew to become the largest of its kind in the world under his leadership.
Under the guidance of Peter Schwab, the Metal Forming Division developed into an international group with production locations in Europe, China, South Africa as well as North and South America with a headcount of around 12,000 employees. Resilience in times of crisis was particularly put to the test during the Covid-19 pandemic—which it convincingly passed with good results. In the 2021/22 business year, the division generated an all-time high in terms of revenue and profit. This success was itself surpassed with another record result in business year 2022/23.
