Portrait 2015

The Siegerland is a very old iron territory; the available ore, hydropower of its rivers and charcoal from the dense forests of the region have fostered the early development of a prosperous metal industry. In 1871, Eberhard Weiss established a forge in this environment with such a rich tradition. He thus lay the foundation for a family business, which has developed to one of the world's leading companies in the area of metallurgical mechanical and plant engineering sector – SMS group. This achieved by mergers and acquisitions and individual development of the company. Around 14,000 employees generate worldwide sales of around EUR 3.4 billion.

Today, the group of companies which has a uniform presence under the SMS group trademark is family-owned in the fourth generation. Under the roof of SMS Holding GmbH, which – as financial holding – is respon-sible for the strategic planning and control, there are several internationally active suppliers of plants and machines used for processing steel and non-ferrous metals.

Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the SMS group is Dr. Heinrich Weiss.

The SMS group is wholly owned by the Siemag Weiss GmbH & Co. KG, the holding of the entrepreneurial Weiss family.

SMS group covers the following product range: plants for the steel, aluminum and non-ferrous metals processing industries from ironmaking, steelmaking technology, continuous casters for flat products and rolling mills, surface-finishing lines for hot and cold strips, steelmaking / continuous casting technology for long products, pipe and tube plants, forging technology, copper and aluminum plants, closed-die forging plants right through to ring rolling machines including compatible heat technology, electric and automation as well as appertaining service.

Environmental technology systems are offered under the Ecoplants brand.

In the context of industrial participations, SMS group has also acquired a 60 percent majority-controlling interest in Paul Wurth S.A., Luxembourg and more than 90 percent of the shares in Elexis AG, Germany. Paul Wurth, as
a worldwide active company, is a leading player in the construction of blast furnaces, coking

plants and environmental protection facilities for iron and steel plants.

The Elexis group with its subsidiaries is technology leader for production automation, drive engineering and quality control. New in the Industrial Participations category of the SMS group is SMS Elotherm. With its de-velopments and system solutions, Elotherm has set standards in induction technology.

Dr. Heinrich Weiss, the majority shareholder of the SMS group, restored the company to a complete family ownership in 2007.

With regard to employees, SMS group attaches great importance to long-term commitment: the average period of employment is more than seventeen years. Long-term planning, sound financial management, action in accordance with values and a good knowledge of the cycles affecting mechanical and plant engineering have determined the strategic business policy of the SMS group for decades. During the financial and economic crisis in 2008/2009, SMS group redoubled its investments, in order to strengthen its competitiveness. Investments were made into the complete modernization of the manufacturing capacities, technical devel-opments, training and further training of employees as well as expansions in the growth areas electric and automation, service and environmental technology.

As a typical medium-size family company with a rich tradition, SMS group attaches great importance on corporate culture. Employees from more than 40 nations work in an atmosphere that is characterized by personal responsibility, honesty, team spirit and flat hierarchies. As a high-technology company, which is in a leading position in several markets, the group needs to employ the brightest minds. Companies of the SMS group cooperate with universities and senior technical colleges and already attract the attention of promising up-and-coming talents by means of scholarships, internships and student research papers. With about six percent, the rate of apprentices is continuously above average. This ideal has always been maintained as a social responsibility for training young people, even in economically bad times. The SMS Academy has been established for employees and offers a wide range of classes for personal development together with classic forms of training. We offer all employees the option of joining our profit-sharing scheme.