HC Starck

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HC Starck GmbH

logo
legal form GmbH
founding 1920
Seat Goslar , Germany
management Executive Director:
  • Jens Knöll
Number of employees ~ 2,600 (December 31, 2017)
sales EUR 688.4 million (2016)
Branch chemistry
Website www.hcstarck.de

The HC Starck GmbH , headquartered in Goslar is a company of the chemical and metallurgical industry, with approximately 2,600 employees worldwide at 13 production sites in Europe, North America and Asia and one of the leading custom manufacturers of powders and components of technology metals and technical ceramics.

Products

HC Starck produces powders of the refractory metals tungsten , molybdenum , tantalum , niobium , rhenium as well as their compounds ( borides , carbides , nitrides , oxides , silicides , sulfides ). Another focus of production are ceramic powders , sintered metal powder , thermal spraying powder , non-ferrous metals, nickel and cobalt and its salts, and boron and boron compounds.

In addition to metal powders, semi-finished and finished products made of molybdenum, tungsten, tantalum, niobium, titanium , zirconium and nickel as well as their alloys are produced. HC Starck produces electrically conductive polymers for the electronics industry .

In the area of ​​engineering ceramics in Selb , HC Starck has a range of ceramic raw materials. The subsidiary HC Starck Ceramics GmbH manufactures machine and engine components as well as foundry products made from silicon carbide , silicon nitride , aluminum titanate , zirconium oxide and aluminum oxide . The HC Starck Ceramics R&D laboratory carries out material tests and process developments.

history

The company was founded in 1920 by Hermann Carl Starck as a trading company for metals and ores in Berlin and in 1935 took over the majority of shares in the Goslar company Chemische Fabrik Gebr. Borchers AG. The founding and environmental history of HC Starck as well as the production during the Nazi era were presented by Knolle & Schyga (2012).

From 1986 to 2007, HC Starck belonged to the Bayer Group (whose plastics division Bayer Material Science was renamed Covestro in 2015 ). In February 2007 Bayer sold HC Starck to the financial investors Advent International and Carlyle Group for 1.2 billion euros . During this time the company was held by a holding company in Luxembourg (Opus Investment).

The time after the sale was marked by restructuring and the sale of parts of the company. Numerous jobs were cut in 2008, 2010 and 2015. In 2007 the business with battery products was sold to the Japanese company Toda Kogyo, in 2008 the silica sol business to Akzo, in 2010 the business with the conductive polymer Clevios to Heraeus, and in 2017 the business unit Surface Technology and Ceramic Powders to the Swedish company Höganäs , and in 2018 the Tantalum and Niobium division to the Japanese JX Nippon Mining & Metals. In 2010 a joint venture with Japan New Chisso Corporation was established, which was dissolved in 2018. In 2011, two joint ventures were established with Jiangxi Rare Metals Tungsten Holding Group Co. Ltd. in China and in 2013 a joint venture with Nui Phao Mining in Vietnam. This last joint venture partner took over the tungsten production of the HC Starck Group in 2019. The infrastructure company Chemitas, which operates at the Goslar location, was also sold. The engineering ceramics plant and business in Selb was sold to Kyocera (Japan). After the sale of the companies outside the USA, HC Starck only operates there (production of sintered parts from molybdenum and tantalum and production of so-called tungsten heavy metal) in the plants in Coldwater (OH) and Newton near Boston.

The total turnover of the HC Starck Group fell from 905 million euros in 2007 to 688.4 million euros in 2016.

criticism

The company was founded in 2001 by the Association Coalition against Bayer Dangers accused (CBG) that with tantalum from the Congo is, thus supporting the Congolese rebel troops. The UN counts the company among the largest buyers of tantalum. The export proceeds from the raw materials enable the rebel troops to finance the civil war in the Congo . The UN therefore called for an import ban on tantalum from the Congo. In its final report, however, a United Nations investigative body assessed the allegations made against the company as follows: "Category 1 - Resolved - No further Action required". HC Starck has its raw material sources for tantalum in Australia and recycles certain tin slag from Asia. No tantalum raw materials are bought in the DRC .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d OTS: HC Starck GmbH / HC Starck expects a sustainable recovery in 2017 ... In: onvista.de. April 5, 2017. Retrieved June 11, 2017 .
  2. ↑ Search for traces of the Harz region e. V.
  3. ↑ press release
  4. ↑ Negotiations on the realignment of the HC Starck Group at the German locations concluded
  5. ↑ 70 jobs are lost: frustration and anger at HC Starck
  6. ↑ HC Starck has to save - and is cutting jobs
  7. ^ Toda Kogyo has acquired the Battery Products business of HC Starck
  8. ↑ HC Starck sells silica sol business to Akzo Nobel
  9. ↑ HC Starck sells Clevios to Heraeus
  10. ↑ Höganäs takes over the HC Starck subsidiary with a plant in Laufenburg
  11. ↑ Japanese buy Starck daughter In: goslarsche.de , accessed on February 28, 2018.
  12. ^ HC Starck: company history
  13. ↑ Statements on the course of business in 2007
  14. ^ The coordination against BAYER dangers: "HC Starck finances rebel groups" Sueddeutsche.de ( Memento from June 29, 2003 in the Internet Archive ) Die Tageszeitung (taz)
  15. ↑ Declaration of the HC Starck Group on raw material procurement ( Memento from September 25, 2011 in the Internet Archive )

Web links

Commons : HC Starck  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 51 ° 54 ′ 32 ″  N , 10 ° 28 ′ 12 ″  E