Westphalian wire industry

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WDI (Westphalian Wire Industry)

logo
legal form GmbH
founding 1856 in Hamm
Seat Hamm , Germany
management Katja Pampus
Number of employees 1,148
sales € 520.4 million (2016/17),
Branch Wire and steel
Website www.wdi.de

The Westphalian wire industry, or WDI for short, is a steel industry company founded in Hamm in 1856 and headquartered in Hamm in Westphalia . The WDI has been run as a stock corporation since 1872 and has since been given the privilege of not having to use the abbreviation for the corporate form in the name. The entire WDI Group with its holdings achieved a sales volume of approx. EUR 470 million in the 2003 financial year.

history

From the foundation in 1856 to joining the association of the Krupp group

In 1856, Carl Hobrecker founded the Hobrecker, Witte & Herbers wire factory in Hamm. The 6 hectare factory site was located directly on the Cologne-Minden railway and the road to Unna and Dortmund in the west of Hamm. The wire mill was the first European plant to use steam power to manufacture wire rod. In 1872 it was decided at the general assembly in the Gasthof Zum Grafen von der Mark to rename the plant “Aktiengesellschaft Westfälischer Draht-Industrie-Verein”. The name was changed in the same year - the entry in the commercial register is dated December 15. In the Cologne newspaper an article in the Berliner Handelsgesellschaft announced appeared that "the largest establishment in the world for the manufacture of rolling this way wire , drawn wire and wire nails" arises.

In a prospectus from the 1870s, the share capital of the stock corporation was stated at 2,000,000 Reichstaler, divided into 10,000 shares of 200 Reichstaler each . As early as 1874, despite the initially sluggish economic success, a wire refining plant was founded in Riga , which was called the Westphalian Wire Industry Association, Riga Department . The foundation aimed to serve the Russian market, whose great demand z. B. should be used after telegraph wires. The factory (later also called the Riga Wire Industry) was lost when the war began in 1914. In 1882 a smelter and rolling mill was founded in Dalsbruck / Finland to secure the supply of raw materials , but it was not profitable because customs policy hindered the transport of goods. A steel wire rope factory was established in 1889; it was supposed to supply the shipbuilding industry. Barbed wire was mainly sold to the colonies and overseas. Finally in 1890 the company name changed again. From then on, the company appeared under the name Westphalian Wire Industry (short name WDI ).

In 1910 Eduard Hobrecker - until now head of the main plant - became a member of the board. The older Hobreckers company , founded in 1820 by the Hobrecker brothers in Hamm, was incorporated into the WDI.

In the association of the Krupp Group (1911–1951)

Share over 1000 RM in the Westphalian wire industry from December 1924

In 1911 the WDI joined the association of the Krupp group, but remained an independent plant. With the beginning of the First World War, the operation of the plant in Hamm came to a standstill. Due to the drafting of employees, not enough staff were available to keep production going. Due to the high demand for wire for the army, the plant soon resumed operations and subsequently employed up to 600 women. During the war, a dock was set up opposite the plant on the Datteln-Hamm Canal in order to be able to handle coal and steel from the Ruhr area. In 1918, at the end of the war, production and shipping came to a temporary standstill. The main Eduard Hobrecker plant became unprofitable in 1921 after renovations at the Hamm (Westphalia) train station because it lost its rail connection. The WDI took over the entire workforce and parts of the machines. As a result of this merger, only two large companies in the wire industry remained in Hamm. The Eduard Hobrecker company was initially continued as a wholesale company.

Inflation and the economic crisis led to a considerable reduction in staff after 1923, and production also fell at the same time. Nevertheless, the WDI took part in the construction steel mesh Düsseldorf in 1929 . After the seizure of power by Hitler and the NSDAP , there was a slight economic recovery up to the outbreak of war in 1939 in view of the incipient preparations for war.

During the war, the plant again delivered products that were important to the war effort and, together with the adjacent largest marshalling yard in the German Reich, became a frequent target for the Allied bomber squadrons. They hit the factory with around 530 high explosive bombs of various sizes and an unknown number of incendiary bombs. As a result, 80% of the buildings on the factory premises were destroyed in 1945 and 50% of the technical systems were unusable. As early as the spring of 1945 - before the surrender - the slow reconstruction began.

Two years after the surrender in 1947, it became known that the Hammer factory was earmarked for dismantling as number 117 on the dismantling list. Dismantling can be averted through a joint approach by the city, board of directors, works council as well as customers and suppliers, so that the plant was struck off the dismantling list in 1949. The reconstruction of the plant was completed as early as 1951. The production capacity almost reached the pre-war level. In the same year the contract with the Krupp Group expires and the plant left the association. The close economic relationships with the Rheinhausen steelworks will continue.

Last years of self-employment (1951–1964)

1956 celebrated the hundredth anniversary of the Hamm plant. In addition to a commemorative publication, the workforce received a special bonus. The upswing in the young Federal Republic of Germany, later called the economic miracle , also carried the WDI. In 1964, Walter Hobrecker, the last member of the founding family, left the board. At the same time, Friedrich Krupp Hüttenwerke AG took over the majority of the shares. This led to the incorporation into the Krupp group and thus ended the legally independent position as a stock corporation.

Krupp Hüttenwerke AG (1964–1978)

In 1969 the company took over the majority of the share capital (80%) in Westfälische Betonstahlgitter GmbH in Hamm. In 1972 WDI was merged with Klöckner Drahtindustrie (KDI) to form the United Wire Industry (VDI) - from 1974 VDG. This was due to changes in ownership. As early as 1978, the Krupp Group changed its strategic orientation in such a way that it gave up its interests in the wire rod sector. As a result, Krupp transferred the shares in WDI to Klöckner-Werke AG , which now renamed WDI Klöckner Draht GmbH.

Klöckner-Werke AG (1978–1987)

The plant found no proper place in the economic considerations of the new group. When Klöckner-Werke AG got into economic difficulties, a sale was even considered in parts to various interested parties. The plans to sell parts of the factory space to LEG to build a shopping center failed, as did a sale to Voest Alpine . Finally, in 1987, the plant was sold to three investors.

WDI, self-employed again (1987-today)

WDI location Iserlohn-Kalthof

The investors Grosse, Weiland and Pampus each acquired a third of the shares. The company was now run again under the name WDI, Westfälische Drahtindustrie GmbH, as a medium-sized company. The partner Werner Pampus took over the management. Economically, the company went uphill again, so that in 1988 it acquired the stainless steel industry Möller in Schwerte. This step marked WDI's entry into the bright steel business . In 1991 the company Wilhelm Klören in Hönnigen was acquired and in 1992 the wire and rope works in Rothenburg (Saale) were taken over from the GDR public property. This company gave WDI the Staßfurt , Zwickau and Wurzen locations . The Brotterode rolling and drawing mill was also part of the group from now on. In the same year the WDI took over the structural steel mesh operations in Salzgitter , Biebesheim and Büdelsdorf . In 1993 the group continued to grow with the takeover of Trefil Europe Kalthof (formerly Schmerbeck & Kuhlmann) in Iserlohn . The managing director Werner Pampus finally took over another third of the WDI shares in 1993 and thus became the majority shareholder. He used his holding company PIB as a vehicle for the majority takeovers. The last third of the shares went to Hamburger Stahlwerke GmbH , today's ArcelorMittal Hamburg GmbH . Subsequent takeovers enlarged the group. The Gelsenkirchen wire drawing factory was purchased in 1998. In 2002, the Roth, Heck and Schwinn group in Zweibrücken took over Nedri Industriedraht (formerly Thyssen Draht) in Hamm and Nedri Spanstaal in Venlo (only partially) and finally in 2005 the Berlin overhead line company .

WDI Today

The WDI Group is divided into the following product areas:

WDI wire works WDI bright steel works WDI Baustahl-Werke Python WDI Rope Works
Hamm Hamm Salzgitter Dortmund
Gelsenkirchen Swords Büdelsdorf Syke
Brotterode Zweibrücken-Ixheim Rothenburg Spice up
Rothenburg Zwickau
Altgandersheim Mississauga
Iserlohn
Berlin

There is also a thirty percent stake in Nedri Spanstaal in Venlo and another stake in a plant in Mississauga .

Brands

The WDI sells or sells its products over time under different names. Well-known examples are Nirosta , Arostit , Karostit , Python , Karofil , Fegenicht and Secutronik . Another trademark of the WDI were the lightning bolts of the Zeus trademark .

Web links

Commons : Westphalian wire industry  - collection of images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Annual financial statements for the financial year from October 1, 2016 to September 30, 2017, available at https://www.bundesanzeiger.de
  2. ↑ Walter Hobrecker and the somewhat older brother Hermann Hobrecker were members of the Corps Borussia Tübingen .

Coordinates: 51 ° 40 ′ 31.8 "  N , 7 ° 48 ′ 23.3"  E