History

Commissioning of an 8 tons forging manipulator for the 1,000 tons hydraulic forging press

Commissioning of a 30 tons forging manipulator for the 3,000 tons hydraulic forging press

Construction of a fully automated finished storage and sawing centre

Commissioning of a 3,000 tons hydraulic forging press

Acquisition of the US company “Lake Park Tool & Machine Inc.” (name change to “Lake Park Tool & Machine, LLC”) for the extrusion market

Founding of the subsidiary “Kind Special Alloys US, LLC” for the closed-die forging, die-casting and hot-pressing markets in the US

Acquisition of “GS Tooling GmbH” (name change to “KC GS Tooling GmbH”) as a further subsidiary with focus on 3D contour preprocessing and deep hole drilling

Change of the company with limited partnership “Kind & Co., Edelstahlwerk, KG” to a company with limited liability “Kind & Co., Edelstahlwerk, GmbH & Co. KG”

Introduction of an energy management system according to ISO 50001: 2011

Termination of the ring rolling business

Commissioning of the world's largest evacuable, horizontal nitriding tempering furnace

Celebration of the company's 125th anniversary following the motto “Soul of Steel”

Founding of the subsidiaries in Asia (Kind Special Alloys Asia Ltd. in Hong Kong / representative office in Beijing) and in Italy (Kind Special Alloys Italia Srl)

Construction of the two largest containers for the aluminium extrusion market in the company's history, each with a delivery weight of over 80 tons

Introduction of the mission statement: respect, commitment, willingness to change

Commissioning of a new vacuum hardening furnace for a wide range of dimensions and weights

Obtaining of NORSOK approval M-650 (from the Norwegian petroleum industry) by the "National Institute of Technology - Certification Norway"

Recertification according to the aerospace standard AS 9100 (corresponds to DIN EN 9100)

Capacity expansion of the mechanical workshop commissioning a multi-functional machine (5 axis machining) and a horizontal machining centre

Start of production of the business unit Ring-rolled Products in the newly built RAW factory (Radial-Axial-Walzwerk-Fabrik = radial-axial rolling-mill) in Wiehl-Bielstein

Integration of sawing units, a new 3,500 tons forging press for ring blanks, a radial-axial rolling mill, heat treatment facilities and machining centres

Capacity expansion of the mechanical workshop by a multi-functional machine (5 axis machining)

Certification according to DIN EN 9100: 2003 (aerospace) and DIN EN ISO 9001: 2000

Capacity expansion of steelworks through further ESR (electro-slag remelting) equipment

Commissioning of another nitriding furnace

Capacity expansion for milled products

Certification according to DIN EN ISO 9001: 2000 by LRQA (Lloyd's Register Quality Assurance)

Takeover of the company “Gebrüder Höver GmbH + Co. Edelstahlwerk Kaiserau”

Capacity expansion of the tempering shop

Capacity expansion of the steelworks

Capacity expansion of the vacuum hardening shop by commissioning a hardening furnace with a quenching pressure of 13 bar

Capacity expansion of the finished goods warehouse

Improvement of material logistics through the construction of a new finishing and dispatch hall

Introduction of SAP / R3 as a continuous data system for all operational and business areas

Commissioning of a bogie hearth forging furnace, a development in collaboration with the BFI (Betriebsforschungsinstitut = German research institute)

Commissioning of a CNC turning centre with a table load of 25 tons

Optimization of the manufacturing processes in the range of forging and in the machining shops

First certification according to DIN EN ISO 9002 by LRQA (Lloyd's Register Quality Assurance)

Development of a worldwide sales network

Commissioning of a further vacuum hardening furnace with vertical loading

Commissioning of a vacuum induction furnace for steel melting

Increase of the pressing force of the 16 MN press up to 20 MN and modernization of its control system

Expansion of the finished goods warehouse with a computer-controlled high-bay system

Expansion of processing capabilities for piece weights up to 30 tons

Implementation of a vacuum hardening shop

Capacity expansion with a second forging press (10 MN)

Installation of an electro-slag-remelting equipment (up to 10 tons block weight)

Commissioning of the first hydraulic forging press (16 MN)

Installation of the first forging manipulator in the hammer mill

Implementation of a mechanical processing workshop

Start of production of an electric steelworks with two furnaces

Establishment of a laboratory

Installation of the first steam hammer

Founding of the company Carl Kind & Co., Wiehl/Bielstein