Ib Andresen: the largest independent steel service center in Hungary
We paid a visit to the only non-Scandinavian steel service center of Ib Andresen Industri at Gönyű Business Park, where we were shown around by the company´s COO.
Ib Andresen's Hungarian plant is a 10,000-square-metre unit located in the Gönyű Business Park, just outside the city of Győr. The blue-grey facility is located close to Audi Hungaria's production site. The Danish parent company chose the location for its multi-modal possibilities.
"The raw material arrives from the steel mills on water and public roads, while the finished products are delivered mainly by trucks. Sometimes we use railway delivery as well, so the location is ideal for us," says Mikael Nielsen, the COO of Ib Andresen Industri's Hungarian subsidiary. The expert, who came to Hungary a year ago, illustrates by showing us a special shipping map how every major European waterway and steel mill are connected to Gönyű. He also tells us that the "Ib" in the company's name is not an abbreviation as we might have thought but the first name of the company's founder, who is still an active member of the top management.
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| Mikael Nielsen, the COO of Ib Andresen Industri Hungary |
The company, founded on a farm in 1967 with just four employees, is today a leading global company with a headcount of almost 1,000, engaged in a series of activities, such as the operation of steel service centres and lately, the complete production of wind turbines. Ib Andresen followed one of its partners to Hungary, but in the last decade they have established a business here as a result of which today 90 percent of their orders are from domestic companies with 30 percent related to the automotive industry.
But what do they actually do at Ib Andresen Industri? Although their warehouse seems like a huge storage unit, the company doesn't have its own stock, they supply their customers in just-in-time delivery. Their main profile is the processing of steel coils with a thickness of 0.5 to 5mm and their partners are small and medium-sized companies that are not in direct connection with any steel mills or do not want to buy expensive metal processing machinery.
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| Ib Andresen factory visit - gallery - click for more photos |
"After the labelling, the steel coils ordered by our customers are moved to a 4,000-square-metre storage unit. The 20-30-ton coils are moved by an automatic crane", says Mikael Nielsen.
We had a look at the storage area, where the automatic crane was lifting and moving a coil to the receiving gate as per the operator's command. The coils are then processed and delivered to a well-kept temporary storage space as sheets or rings cut or slit to the dimension required by the customers.
The special machinery of the 6,000-square-metre factory unit includes a high-performance cut-to-length line, which is probably the only one of its kind in Hungary. The levelling process relieves the tension within the material, resulting in a high-quality steel sheet.
"Only the highest-quality work meets the requirements of our customers. We believe that and we work according to that," says the COO and adds, commenting on the cleanliness and order in the facility: "As a metal processing company our fundamental interest is the transparency of our activity. When we have visitors from a new partner, we show them around and they can see for themselves the quality we provide.
"There is a reason why we say that Ib Andresen is Hungary's largest independent steel service centre. We are partners with several steel mills so that we can provide the best price for our customers. Our source matches their requirements and our excellent location guarantees the satisfaction of our customers," says Mikael Nielsen.
The Gönyű-based company is able to supply everyone with steel sheets and slit rings within the specified range, be it for heavy machinery, agricultural machines or radiators. Ib Andresen is a supplier of several automotive brands, including BMW, Volvo, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, Škoda and Suzuki.
The COO of the Hungarian subsidiary says that the region is more and more attractive to suppliers and parts manufacturers from the lower levels of the supplier chain, and Ib Andresen is ready with its capacity to fulfil the increasing order volume.
