e 48.27389 n 14.33333 e 48.27389 ; 14.33333 voest alpine redirects here . for other uses see voest alpine disambiguation . voestalpine ag type aktiengesellschaft traded as wbag voe industry steel based technology and capital goods founded 1938 ; 78 years ago 1938 headquarters linz austria key people wolfgang eder ceo joachim lemppenau chairman of the supervisory board products tool steel plates pipes and wires steel automotive components revenue 11.07 billion 2015 2016 1 operating income 888.8 million 2015 2016 1 profit 602.1 million 2015 2016 1 total assets 14.01 billion march 2016 2 total equity 5.65 billion march 2016 2 number of employees 48 367 march 2016 3 subsidiaries b hler uddeholm website www.voestalpine.com voestalpine ag is an international steel based technology and capital goods group based in linz austria . the company is active in steel automotive railway systems profilform and tool steel industries . 47 per cent of its workforce is based in austria . 4 the linz hot strip mill is a fully integrated steel works operated by voestalpine stahl gmbh a part of the steel division of voestalpine ag . 5 in addition to linz the most important plants are in leoben in styria and in krems in lower austria . it had a large plant at liezen in styria which closed in the 1990s . the name of the company amalgamates its two principal components the v est vereinigte sterreichische eisen und stahlwerke in upper austria established through nationalization in july 1946 6 and the amg sterreichische alpine montangesellschaft in styria established in 1881 . contents 1 major divisions 2 history 2.1 alpine montan 1881 1945 2.2 construction of reichswerke in linz 1943 2.3 reconstruction 1945 55 2.4 post war development of linz donawitz process 1948 1990 2.5 private corporation 1990 2001 2.6 voestalpine ag 2001 present 3 american operations 4 submission of false information 5 see also 6 notes 7 references 8 external links major divisions edit voestalpine stahl voestalpine railway systems including voestalpine schienen which is the top rail manufacturer in europe 7 voestalpine profilform the company s third largest division 8 and the largest maker of cold rolled form steel sections 9 voestalpine division automotive started in 2001 and originally called motion division supplies parts to high end automobile manufacturers 10 history edit alpine montan 1881 1945 edit the alpine montangesellschaft english alpine mining society was founded in vienna on july 19 1881 as a vehicle of consolidating austrian iron and steel assets . some of these assets were later depleted abandoned or sold . the core assets that remained concentrated in styria the iron ore pits in erzberg and a steel mill in donawitz . the company also owned smaller businesses and railroads in the mur river valley and in lower austria krems and schwechat . alpine chaired by karl wittgenstein peaked in 1912 when it owned four coal mines two iron ore mines and six metallurgical plants . in 1922 56 % of alpine montangesellshaft then owned by fiat see camillo castiglioni was purchased by hugo stinnes for the german giant vereinigte stahlwerke ag vs . 11 after the nazi party came to power in germany the nazi leadership and the german steel barons clashed in a conflict over the rate of economic growth the nazis demanded rapid buildup of industrial capacity while the big business feared overproduction and preferred to keep status quo . 12 in the first half of 1937 the nazi leadership openly broke with the steel barons and settled for state control over iron and steel production . 13 in the same year hermann g ring expressed his desire to control austrian iron reserves at erzberg . 14 after the anschluss state owned reichswerke hermann g ring purchased a 13 % share in alpine and for the next six months wrestled with the vs over control of the company . 15 in march 1939 the vs stepped aside and the reichswerke acquired 70 % share of alpine 16 in exchange for a 10 % share in the new plant in linz . 17 in june 1939 its name was changed to alpine montan ag hermann g ring . 16 the reichswerke continued acquisitions and outright confiscations and soon controlled around half of austrian heavy industries . 18 in 1944 the peak year for alpine its sales reached 371 million rm 16 % of the whole mining and steel sales of the reichswerke . 19 construction of reichswerke in linz 1943 edit panorama of the linz steelworks 2009 the reichswerke announced its plans for a new steel mill in linz before the takeover of alpine as an incentive for vs to extract more ore at erzberg . 11 linz had a special place in nazi system and the steel project received full financial commitment of the state . 14 guido schmidt was appointed chief of the reichswerke in linz for his services to the nazis during the anschluss . 20 the synergy of steel works in linz and ore reserves at erzberg vertically integrated into the reichswerke made it virtually independent of the steel elite of the ruhr . 16 the works in linz were viewed as a hub of a future steel conglomerate spanning over the whole central europe . 21 the integration was completed with the takeover of danube shipping companies and local construction businesses . 16 the steel mill was completed during the war and was generously subsidized by the state . 22 in 1943 1944 when the ruhr was heavily bombed see battle of the ruhr hitler demanded a sharp increase in steel production in austria . g ring launched a huge and unmanageable expansion campaign and spared no expense 23 all in vain the allied bombers levelled most of linz too . 24 reconstruction 1945 55 edit in 1945 allied occupied austria was partitioned into four occupation zones ; the heavy industries of the former reichswerke concentrated in the american linz and british erzberg zones . the future of linz was debated in 1945 1946 . local government of styria and the british objected to reconstruction of linz works calling it the white elephant too far from coal and ore reserves and too large to be economical . 25 the american authorities at first concurred and suggested to reduce the linz works to eight coke ovens under alpine mountain management dismantle the furnaces and use the parts for the needed repairs in donawitz styria . 26 the soviets voted to dismantle linz altogether . 26 the austrian national government carefully persuaded the americans to save linz . 27 in the summer of 1946 when allied negotiations on linz reached a stalemate the americans decided to restore linz unilaterally regardless of british or soviet opinion . 28 tactics of reconstruction became a subject of a debate between the department of state which advocated nationalization and the u. s. army represented by mark w. clark who stood for privatization . 29 the diplomats prevailed and the austrian government was allowed to nationalize the former german assets at will . the mills of linz were nationalized in july 1946 as the v est vereinigte sterreichische eisen und stahlwerke united austrian iron and steelworks . 6 v est decided to dispose with three of its six blast furnaces . one was dismantled and sold to sweden ; the proceeds were used to purchase coal in poland . the supply of coal allowed v est to restart its pig iron smelting in june 1947 ; the first pig iron was shipped to sweden . 28 two other furnaces were earmarked for sale to czechoslovakia ; mark clark objected to this deal since 1946 30 and it finally fell apart after the czechoslovak coup d tat of 1948 . 28 v est assets became the principal austrian recipient of the marshall plan aid but access to american cash came only after a protracted political battle within austrian establishment . geoffrey keyes had to recruit steel expert william e. brewster to sort through the austrian proposals . 31 brewster supported the austrian four year plan but its key opponent franz nemchak called it a colossal stupidity and demanded a halt on v est program . 31 the controversy spilled into the u. s. senate causing delays in marshall plan financing for v est. 32 v est received its new slabbing mill but the new hot strip mill was delayed by the opposition of the pentagon which feared that v est product would be sold to the soviet bloc . 32 the pentagon removed their objections in january 1952 conforming to the consensus of other u. s. agencies . the hot and cold strip mills were at last put into operation in 1953 . 33 by the end of 1953 the first phase of reconstruction was complete . 33 post war development of linz donawitz process 1948 1990 edit in the summer of 1948 v est amg and swiss roll ag agreed to co develop the basic oxygen steelmaking process proposed by robert durrer itself a development of henry bessemer s 1858 patent . 34 by june 1949 v est developed an adaptation of durrer s process the ld linz donawitz process 33 35 german ld verfahren ; u.s. names oxygen converter process basic oxygen furnace process bop osm . 36 in december 1949 the v est and the amg committed to building their first 30 ton oxygen converters . 35 they were put into operation in november 1952 and may 1953 35 and temporarily created a surge in steel related research . 37 34 thousand businesspeople and engineers visited the v est converter by 1963 . 37 the ld process reduced processing time and capital costs per ton of steel contributing to the competitive advantage of austrian steel . 33 however errors made by the v est and the amg management in licensing their technology made control over its adoption elsewhere impossible and by the end of the 1950s the austrians lost their competitive edge . 33 v est was merged with sterreichisch alpine montangesellschaft and other companies in the 1970s and the resulting company took the name v est alpine ag . 38 restructuring of austria s nationalised industries by 1988 produced a company called voest alpine stahl ag . private corporation 1990 2001 edit in 1990 sterreichische industrieholding ag austrian industry holding ag became austrian industries ag as it took the first steps toward privatisation . 39 in 1993 three companies formed from austrian industries ag voest alpine technologie ag and voest alpine stahl ag and b hler uddeholm . 40 privatisation began in 1995 41 and the government sold its last shares of the company in 2003 . 42 voest alpine stahl owned 21.25 of voest alpine technologie which was the parent company of the former voest alpine plant building unit voest alpine industrieanlagenbau split from the larger company in 1956 . 43 in 1996 voest alpine bought polynorm a bunschoten netherlands manufacturer of auto parts for 118 million . the company s goal was a 15 percent share of european auto body parts . 44 in 1998 voest alpine stahl and vossloh ag joined to purchase 90 percent of vae group . 45 the austrian manufacturer of railroad switches turnout systems and related products was founded in 1851 . 46 as hugo h tte by hugo henckel von donnersmarck and owned by sterreichisch alpine montangesellschaft from 1889 until that company s 1973 merger with voest alpine ag and had been independent since 1990 . 45 47 in 2002 the 45 % vossloh share in vae was bought by voest alpine for 140 million 48 49 and in 2003 vae group gmbh became a subsidiary of voestalpine bahnsysteme division . 47 voestalpine ag 2001 present edit in 2001 the name of voest alpine stahl group changed to voestalpine ag 41 in order to fit the standard naming pattern of austrian public corporations . citation needed in 2006 voestalpine decided to sell its steel trading group