Jan 9 2006
Hydro has divested its tooling shop in Linz, Austria, to Meissner Werkzeugbau Linz GmbH, a subsidiary of Meissner AG that is located in Biedenkopf, Germany.
The tooling shop, with 55 employees and 10 apprentices, has been part of Hydro's aluminium foundry Mandl & Berger in Linz, where it has served as an internal supplier for the company's cylinder head production.
Valid from January 1, 2006, Meissner has taken over the employees as well as the production machinery at the tooling facility. The apprentices will be integrated in a joint training agreement between Meissner and Mandl & Berger. At the same time, the companies have agreed upon a long-term supply agreement for foundry tools from Meissner to the Hydro group.
Hydro continues to focus its Linz plant with now approx. 380 employees on the core business of developing and manufacturing complex automotive cylinderheads from aluminium. Inline with this strategy, Hydro´s last remaining, technologically less advanced low-pressure die-casting facility in Linz, had been divested one year ago.
“Now we can, also in further investments, even better concentrate on what will help us progress in our core businesss,“ said Ferenc Havasi, managing director at Hydro's sister plants Mandl&Berger, Linz, and Györ, Hungary.
Hydro is a leading supplier of aluminium solutions to the automotive. For instance, its complex engine blocks and cylinderheads help to save car weight, thus fuel and emissions.
Meissner, a specialist for foundry tools founded in 1922, already can look back on its long-term relationship as an important tooling partner for Hydro´s castings activities.