Remarks by Dr.-Ing. Ekkehard D. Schulz
Remarks by Dr.-Ing. Ekkehard D. Schulz Chairman of the Executive Board of ThyssenKrupp AG at the Annual Press Conference of the Agence Française pour les Investissements Internationaux (AFII) on the Activities of ThyssenKrupp in France
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- ThyssenKrupp - Excellent positions in the international marketplace |
- Strong international presence |
- ThyssenKrupp in France
I am pleased that I now have the opportunity to talk to you about the activities of ThyssenKrupp in France. I would first like to give you a brief overview of the Group´s core capabilities and activities and then inform you about our engagement in France.
ThyssenKrupp - Excellent positions in the international marketplace
Ladies and Gentlemen, with €36 billion sales and 190,000 employees on all five continents in the fiscal year 2002/2003, ThyssenKrupp is one of the major technology groups worldwide and occupies excellent market positions on an international scale. The key activities Steel, Capital Goods and Services with their five segments - Steel, Automotive, Elevator, Technologies and Services - highlight the Group's capabilities.
Steel is the most important material worldwide, highly innovative and intelligent. ThyssenKrupp Steel focuses on flat-rolled steel products with high value added - tailored to customers' requirements and corrosion resistant. With sales of around €12 billion and 49,000 employees at 94 locations, the Steel segment is one of the world's leading steel producers. In stainless steel and nickel-base alloys we are world market leader, in flat-rolled carbon steel we are the second biggest producer in Europe.
We are also among the world's major suppliers to the auto industry. With some 130 locations in 17 countries, ThyssenKrupp Automotive is a leading supplier of body parts, engine components such as crankshafts and camshafts, steering systems, and suspension and chassis systems. This segment's innovative products are used in cars and trucks on all continents. The 41,000 people employed by the segment generate sales of around €6.3 billion.
ThyssenKrupp Elevator is the third biggest elevator company in the world. Our award-winning elevators, escalators and passenger boarding bridges keep people from Paris to New York to Moscow on the move. Around 30,000 employees in over 60 countries generate sales of €3.4 billion and ensure that all products and services are available on the customer's doorstep.
With around 30,000 employees and sales of €5.4 billion, ThyssenKrupp Technologies holds leading positions in the world markets for plant and machinery, systems technology, components and services thanks to its outstanding engineering capabilities. This segment also builds the innovative magnetic levitation train, the Transrapid, which only a few months ago went into regular service in Shanghai.
ThyssenKrupp Services on the other hand stands for a wide range of process and supply services, including the Mayntenance of plant and machinery, facility management as well as warehouse and logistics solutions. Around 38,000 employees at 600 locations worldwide generate sales of €11.3 billion.
Strong international presence
Ladies and Gentlemen, as you can see from my remarks, our business with innovative products and services already has a very broad international basis today. In the past fiscal year 2002/2003, ThyssenKrupp generated sales of €23 billion with customers outside Germany - that is 64 percent of the Group's total sales. We are now present in over 70 countries. Nevertheless, we aim to further strengthen our international presence and systematically expand our activities in the markets. A good example is our acquisition of Sofédit S.A. in France. I will come back to this shortly.
ThyssenKrupp in France
Ladies and Gentlemen, by tradition, our neighbor France is an important market for the Group. The business ties between ThyssenKrupp and France go back to 1841. In that year, Krupp, one of our predecessor companies, established its first permanent foreign representative office in Paris. In the subsequent decades, Thyssen and Krupp supplied France not only with products such as seemless railway tires, railway tracks and locomotives. Another one of many products worth mentioning is the 13,500 ton structural steel work for the "Centre Georges Pompidou" which we delivered in 1977.
Over time we expanded our activities and product range in France considerably. As a business location, France offers good conditions for investors such as a well-educated workforce, high per capita productivity and a very good infrastructure. In the fiscal year 2002/2003 a total of 41 subsidiaries in France with 10,600 employees generated sales of nearly €2 billion of ThyssenKrupp´s total foreign sales of €23 billion. France is the third biggest market for the Group, behind the United States and Italy. Our five segments have substantial operations in France and offer a wide range of innovative products and services.
Steel
Sales of the Steel segment to customers in France amounted to €425 million in fiscal year 2002/2003. The biggest company in the Steel Segment is ThyssenKrupp Electrical Steel UGO S.A. with over 480 employees, based in Isbergues. We are currently evaluating the increase of capacities from around 84.000 tons per year to 120.000 tons at this location.
Automotive
Sales to customers in France amounted to €253 million in the fiscal year 2002/2003. Effective July 2003, ThyssenKrupp acquired the leading French car parts supplier Sofédit S.A., located in Versailles. At a stroke, this acquisition has given our Automotive segment a leading position on the French automotive supply market. Above all, it has strengthened our relations with the customers Renault and PSA. ThyssenKrupp Sofédit with around 4,000 employees and €500 million in sales has established its credentials as a supplier of automotive stampings and assemblies for body and chassis applications. The company uses the latest production methods such as hydroforming, roll and stretch forming and the newly developed technology of hot stamping. The acquisition of Sofédit strengthens ThyssenKrupp Automotive´s leading positions in the Body and Chassis businesses and underlines the segment´s goal to expand its position as a global automotive supplier. Other important companies of the Automotive segment are ThyssenKrupp Presta France S.A., a producer of steering systems and camshafts, based in Florange, and ThyssenKrupp Mavilor S.A. in L´Horme, a manufacturer of crankshafts.
Elevator
Our segment Elevator has 10 subsidiaries in France which together employ 3,000 people. Sales to customers in France amounted to €315 million in the last fiscal year. The service business is a strong backbone and accounts for 60 % of total sales. The product range of our companies in France, among them ThyssenKrupp Ascenseurs S.A.S. and ThyssenKrupp Elevator Manufacturing France S.A.S., include innovative, high-quality elevators, escalators, moving walks, passenger boarding bridges, stairway and platform lifts. With a market share of 16 % ThyssenKrupp is the second biggest elevator company in France. Elevator´s commitment to innovative technologies is of great importance for our customers in France and elsewhere. New products reinforce our claim to expand technology competencies. To this effect Elevator Mayntains one of three international research centers in Sophie-Antipolis near Nice.
Technologies
Sales to customers in France amounted to €192 million in fiscal 2002/2003. The largest company in the Technologies segment is ThyssenKrupp Defontaine S.A. Division Technologies, based in St. Herblain. In the last fiscal year the subsidiary´s 575 employees produced and sold large-diameter anti-friction bearings and rings. In the Metal Cutting Business Unit Industrie Automation S.A., based in Ensisheim has 190 employees.
Services
France is also a key market for our Services segment. Sales to customers in the country reached nearly €550 million. Services has six subsidiaries in France which together employ 1,000 people. We provide warehousing and complex logistics solutions, with a range of processing services for materials such as carbon and stainless steel, tubes, non ferrous metals and plastics. In order to stay as close to its customers as possible, ThyssenKrupp Materials France S.A. alone Mayntains 20 warehouse and processing locations all over France. Our French subsidiaries are committed to providing the best possible logistic services for their customers. Our Industrial Services unit WIG France S.A.S. aims to expand its activities in Eastern France with a particular focus on Mayntenance and repair.
Ladies and Gentlemen, as you can see from my remarks, France is an important market for ThyssenKrupp. We aim to expand our business in the country and reMayn committed to exploring further business opportunities with our French partners and customers.
