Established in September 2003, ThyssenKrupp Hoesch Bausysteme GmbH will make its first trade show appearance at Deubau in Essen. The company brings together three long-standing suppliers of construction elements - ThyssenKrupp Bausysteme GmbH, Hoesch Siegerlandwerke GmbH and ThyssenKrupp Bauteile Hof GmbH. "As ThyssenKrupp Hoesch Bausysteme GmbH, our organization is now far better geared to market requirements", is how Management Board Chairman Dr. Dieter Lindenblatt explains the restructuring. The new company has one of the broadest ranges of steel roof, floor and wall elements in Europe. With the basic products and all variants, customers can choose from over 1,000 items.

Shortly after it was formed, ThyssenKrupp Hoesch Bausysteme GmbH extended its range in December 2003 by launching the Agrotec product line - panels with a surface coating specially developed for agricultural buildings. The panels can be supplied in single-shell or sandwich design in three agricultural protection classes matched to the prevalent conditions in stables and barns. ThyssenKrupp Hoesch Bausysteme is the only supplier in the world to offer an affordable alternative to the aluminum and stainless steel products currently in common use.

The company`s portfolio is organized in three product lines: CreativLine with high-quality sandwich elements, SpecialLine with construction elements for special applications such as ThyssenKrupp Solartec®, Agrotec or elements for container construction and parking garage floors, and ClassicLine with the proven structural steel elements. ThyssenKrupp Hoesch Bausysteme GmbH has production facilities in Kreuztal, Leipzig and Hof (all Germany) and Scheifling (Austria).

One of the central aims of the restructuring was to further improve customer-related processes. The sales/distribution concept is decentralized for greater closeness to customers. Branches in the cities of Siegen, Oberhausen, Hamburg, Leipzig, Frankfurt, Nuremburg/Hof, Stuttgart and Munich, plus offices in Dresden, Rostock, Waltrop, Winsen, Herford, Osnabrück and Rosenheim, ensure that architects, planners and construction companies receive the support and advice they need for their projects quickly and easily. There is a separate distribution network with five branches in Oberhausen, Langenhagen, Stuttgart, Frankfurt and Hof for ThyssenKrupp Solartec®, the roof and facade system comprising lightweight steel elements with power-generating photovoltaic coatings. ThyssenKrupp Hoesch Bausysteme can thus provide ThyssenKrupp Solartec® users with all the help and advice they need, including information on government subsidies.

While the companies merged to form ThyssenKrupp Hoesch Bausysteme previously enjoyed a strong presence in western and southern European countries, the new organization is also looking to develop the northern and eastern European markets. Progress has already been made on this: in Norway, for example, the first noise barrier to be made from the company`s isorock® akustik sandwich elements has been erected along a stretch of highway between Oslo and Drammen. These elements comprise an insulating layer of non-flammable rock wool sandwiched by a perforated stainless steel panel on one side and a hot-dip coated steel panel on the other. The insulating layer absorbs the traffic noise penetrating the element through the perforations. Noise barriers like this can be installed quickly and at low cost using isorock® akustik. It took five persons aided only by a truck-mounted crane less than five working days to fasten the panels for the three-meter-high barrier into the pre-installed posts along the 2.5 kilometer test stretch.

As well as new products and a new organization, ThyssenKrupp Hoesch Bausysteme GmbH also stakes a new claim. Marketing manager Thomas Keßeler: "Particularly with our new ReflectionsOne® color collection and the ThyssenKrupp Solartec® modules that can be combined with it, we offer architects, planners and building owners an integrated, ecology-based concept for a new building culture. Our products help bring industrial and commercial buildings closer to people and their natural or built environment."

Contact:
Dietmar Stamm
Tel.: +49 203 / 52 - 2 62 67
Fax: +49 203 / 52 - 2 57 07
e-mail: dietmar.stamm@tks.thyssenkrupp.com

Bernd Overmaat
Tel.: +49 203 / 52 - 4 51 85
Fax: +49 203 / 52 - 2 57 07
e-mail: bernd.overmaat@tks.thyssenkrupp.com