Bohler-Uddeholm history

Since education did not become compulsory nationally in Sweden until 1842, Waern’s ideas were groundbreaking and he received a lot of support from his administrator, Torsten Rudenschöld, who also saw how the often one-sided and physically intense work at the plant wore the workers’ bodies out.

1854: A hot rolling mill is founded in Bruckbach, Austria.

The Bruckbach site launched production in 1855.

In 1870 they negotiate exclusive agency with the imperial chartered cast steel plant in Kapfenberg and found Gebrüder Böhler & Co Handelsgesellschaft company, with headquarters in Vienna, on April 15.

Uddeholm added to its growing steel empire with the creation of a new steel mill at Hagfors in 1873.

The Hagfors mill added a rolling mill in 1882, and Uddeholm expanded into the tool steel market, producing steel products for tool and die machinery.

By 1886, Uddeholm began experimenting with newly developed methods for producing cold-rolled steel at Munkfors.

In 1894 they acquired the steel mill, modernized and expanded the production.

1900: Böhler introduces Böhler Rapide, the first high-speed steel.

1905: Uddeholm constructs a cold rolling mill at the Munkfors site and launches thin and ultra-thin steel production.

Then, in 1908, Böhler became the first in Austria to build an electric arc furnace.

Whereas that furnace was rated at just three tons, in 1910 the company opened a new hammer forge with a hammer weight of 30 tons.

The groundbreaking ceremony for the BÖHLER steel mill in Düsseldorf was in March 1914.

1926: Böhler develops welding wire, launching the Welding Consumables operation.

Welding consumables then became an important part of Böhler's operations, particularly after the company developed a new type of welding wire, called core wire, in 1927.

BÖHLER was the first steel mill in Europe who set up a business management department in Düsseldorf in 1929.

In 1933 an extensive expansion of the factory began and later the partial transition to armament production.

In 1940, Böhler acquired the Gerstlmill, which specialized in the production of cold-rolled strip steel and galvanized steel.

By 1944, the company had expanded its capacity again, installing a press with a force of 1,200 tons.

1946: Böhler is nationalized by the Austrian government.

An orderly operation of the steel production started in 1947 after the company was removed from the disassembly list.

In 1960 the building was renovated again and returned to ecclesiastical use as today’s Uddeholm’s chapel.

1975: Böhler is combined with two other Austrian steel producers to form VEW.

In 1976, Uddeholm bought the others out and ASSAB, thus became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Uddeholm.

The company also expanded internationally, acquiring steelworks in a number of foreign markets, such as Belgium's Stora in 1978.

Closer to home, Uddeholm added AGA AB to its operations in 1985.

In 1988, Uddeholm itself was purchased by privately held Trustor Industrier AB. Soon after, however, Trustor put Uddeholm back up for sale.

Afterwards, the railway is only used for goods transport until October 1st, 1990 when the Hagfors – Deje line was closed.

The passage of new legislation in 1993 established a strict timeline for carrying out OIAG's privatization effort.

By 1994, the company's reorganization had succeeded in transforming Böhler-Uddeholm into a streamlined and profitable company.

1995: The Austrian government lists 25 percent of Böhler-Uddeholm's stock on the Vienna exchange in the first step of privatization.

The company then capped its restructuring with a secondary offering, which reduced the OIAG's stake in the company to just 25 percent, in 1996.

Böhler-Udderholm became the world's second largest high-speed steel producer in 1998, when it acquired Allegheny Teledyne.

The company also invested in expanding its own production capacity, opening electro-slag re-melting plants in Austria and Sweden, as well as a powder metallurgy steels facility in Kapfenberg in 1999.

The company then built a new vacuum re-melting plant at the Kapfenberg site in 2000.

Despite the global slowdown following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States, Böhler-Uddeholm continued its expansion.

In 2002 the company formed a number of joint ventures, including one with Fileur S.A. of Italy, and another with Dan Spray A/S, a Denmark-based spray forming specialist.

2003 ÖIAG withdraws completely from Böhler-Uddeholm, which becomes a fully privatized company.

The company distributes its products to more than 100 countries, generating revenues of EUR 1.93 billion ($2.2 billion) in 2004.

2005 Böhler-Uddeholm acquires Buderus Edelstahl in Germany.

2007 voestalpine AG acquires Böhler-Uddeholm AG; one year later the company is fully integrated into the voestalpine Group as the Special Steel Division.

2011 The holding company Böhler-Uddeholm AG is renamed voestalpine Edelstahl GmbH.

In 2013, the new DUO rolling mill was opened in Mürzzuschlag.

2016 Acquisition of long term service- & distribution-partners Advanced Tooling Tek (Shanghai) and Sermetal Barcelona (Spain) Ramp-up of voestalpine Additive Manufacturing Center in Düsseldorf.

2017 voestalpine Edelstahl GmbH and Special Steel Division change its name to High Performance Metals GmbH and High Performance Metals Division respectively.