The future of the European industry is in products with the highest technological and quality standards. For this reason, the voestalpine Group has decided to invest in further technological expansion in the area of high-performance steels at its site in Kapfenberg. This investment gives voestalpine a worldwide technological and cost advantage in the production of high-performance steels. In the long term this advantage enables voestalpine to keep this type of production globally competitive at a traditional European location. The basis for this is the comprehensive know-how of the employees in Styria, which was ultimately the decisive factor in choosing Kapfenberg for the new site.
The high-tech plant enables the fully automated production of tool and special steels for the most demanding applications. These are used as starting materials, for instance, for the further processing of highly resilient and weight-saving aircraft parts, the most robust tools for the automotive industry, equipment for sophisticated oil and gas exploration or for the production of components in the 3D printing process.
The investment project, which will cost around 350 million euros, will trigger significant economic effects: As a study conducted by the Industrial Science Institute in September 2017 shows, the construction phase alone (2018-2021) will generate a gross value of around 240 million euros throughout Austria, 145 million euros of it in Styria. The total production value triggered by the project amounts to around 575 million euros (of which 375 million euros are attributable to Styria). The project indirectly secures 3,500 national jobs during the construction phase, more than half of them in Styria.
The new stainless steel plant secures more than 3,000 highly qualified jobs in the region in the long term. The entire project will be accompanied by ongoing training and qualification measures in order to prepare employees in the best possible way for the new fields of activity that will accompany with the digital transformation.
The site area for the new stainless steel plant, adjacent to the existing one, has the size of six football pitches (around 50,000 m²). During the three-year construction period up to 1,000 temporary jobs will be created on site.
A subsequent use of the existing hall as storage space and workshops is planned. Various plant components will be used as spare parts for the new stainless steel plant.
