Willy Korf

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Willy Korf (born August 13, 1929 in Hamm (Sieg) ; † November 21, 1990 in Innsbruck ) was a German entrepreneur.

Grave in Baden-Baden

Live and act

In 1948, Korf began his family's building materials and agricultural goods wholesale business. He succeeded in expanding the company in the wood, building materials and hardware sector in Baden-Baden . In the 1950s, Korf succeeded with the production of spot-welded welded wire mesh in Kehl , which gave the impetus to found the Badische Stahlwerke AG electric steelworks in Kehl in the mid-1960s . In 1961, Korf sold the welded wire mesh business to the Klöckner Group for DM 20 million. In competition with the traditional steel groups in the Ruhr area, in Bavaria and Lower Saxony, the Badische Stahlwerke grew and were managed by the Korf Industrie und Handel GmbH & Co. KG, which was designed as a holding company .

Korf benefited from a rebar boom, particularly in the United States, to which he exported a lot. In 1969, Korf built the first steel mill in Georgetown, SC in the USA using his modern process. He founded the Hamburg steel works , which dealt with the production of wire rod, previously he had become a shareholder of the Internationale Baumaschinenfabrik AG Neustadt (IBAG) . In 1974 Korf succeeded in acquiring the rights to the Midrex direct reduction process, which made him less dependent on the scrap supply. The world's second direct reduction plant, which is still in production, was built in Hamburg. In the course of the steel crisis at the end of the 1970s, the company fell into crisis during the first oil price shock . The end of the reinforcing steel boom in the USA, which caused the plant in Georgetown to get into trouble, probably also contributed to the decline.

In 1981, Korf still produced 2.7 million tons of crude steel and achieved a worldwide turnover of 2.78 billion DM. Several companies of the Korf Group announced a settlement . In 1983, the Badische Stahlwerke went bankrupt , but were saved by a state guarantee . BSW is now a medium-sized company run by the Seizinger and Weitzmann families. The native Indian Lakshmi Mittal later took over the Hamburg steel works.

Despite the collapse of his company, Korf founded Korf-Transport GmbH in 1985, with which he made a fresh start. Again, Korf tried to implement the modern Midrex steel production process with the idea of ​​the miniature steel mill.

Korf died in a plane crash near Innsbruck in 1990 .

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Corf on the coast . spiegel.de. 8 May 1972
  2. ^ Steel rebel from the Upper Rhine - the rise and fall of Willy Korf . faz.net. 26 September 2005
  3. ↑ Destination airport Innsbruck: English airline lost two planes on the way to Tyrol - 83 and 48 dead respectively , zauberfuchs.com. Retrieved June 11, 2016

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Korf, Willy
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH August 13, 1929
PLACE OF BIRTH Hamm (victory)
DATE OF DEATH November 21, 1990
Place of death innsbruck