Beginning of March 2013 INTECO received the order for another ESR project.
The company Outokumpu VDM ordered the supply of an ESR static mold plant with which ingots with a max. diameter of 600mm and a max. ingot weight of 8t can be produced.

Already in 2006 VDM ordered a to a great extent similar plant, which was delivered, assembled and started up in only 5 months time. This follow up project will be delivered within 7 months and will be erected in fall 2013

With the order for engineering and delivery of a 3,5t multi chamber Vacuum Induction Melting and Pouring (VIMP®)-plant from the special steel manufacturer Ruspolymet, INTECO also received its first order from a Russian customer on the special metallurgy sector. The plant will feature separated chambers for melting, casting, material charging and tundish charging. Melting- and Casting chamber are of diagonal split design with moveable parts.

The casting chamber is equipped with a turntable enabling the casting of 1 to 6 ingots with a diameter from 190 to approx. 600mm and a maximum total mold height of 2700mm by top pouring of remelting electrodes as well as the possibility of casting forging ingots by bottom pouring method.

Start of erection will be in spring 2014.

This project will be the basis for a long term relationship with Ruspolymet, a renowned specialist in the production of special steel and superalloys, who will strengthen its international market position through further cooperation with INTECO.

INTECO designed, delivered and commissioned the largest ESR plant in the company history for the Italian company Forgiatura A. Vienna. Beginning of 2013 the Final Acceptance Certificate was signed by the customer. With this facility, ESR ingots with a maximum weight of 250t and a diameter of 2600 mm can be remelted by means of electrode exchange technology comprising of up to 5 electrodes. As the customer had no prior ESR experience INTECO besides supplying the engineering of the facility, also delivered a considerable amount of process engineering and process know how, in order to establish this very complex electro slag remelting process.

In 2011 SeAH Besteel appointed INTECO with the supply of a 150 ton ladle furnace and 150 ton VD plant for its Gunsan steel mill. After a ten month design and engineering phase, three month assembly as well as only a three month start up phase a new secondary metallurgical line was created.

This new installed plant now produces, only a few hundred meters away from its INTECO sister plants (finalized in 2009 and 2011),to the full satisfaction of the customer. Also the Final Acceptance Certificate (FAC) has already been signed.

In April 2012 Friedr. Lohmann GmbH awarded INTECO with the turnkey supply of a 7 ton DETEM VD-VOD Degassing unit. By successfully carrying out the first heat beginning of January 2013 INTECO was able to manage the challenge of a 6 month only delivery time. The technology, investment as well as operational costs of the plant and reproducibility of high quality steel grades were the main criteria to select the DETEM degasser. Highlights of the plant are the mechanical vacuum pump system in combination with a new high temperature filter unit for the VD-VOD process.

In 2009 INTECO was able to receive the order of one of Japan’s largest steel and forging companies for the engineering, design and supply of one 145 ton ESR plant with two furnace heads and two melting stations. After the completion of the engineering work in the end of 2010 and following on time assembly and start up phase the Final Acceptance Certificate was now signed by the customer.

Sechs Jahre lang mussten das INTECO Tennis Team auf den so ersehnten Sieg im Business Tennis Cup der Kleinen Zeitung warten, 2012 konnte die goldene Trophäe endlich mit nach Bruck genommen werden. Das glorreiche Team bestehend aus Katrin Gaber, Thomas Csima, Christian Morales, Bertram Ofner, Alexander Scheriau, Thomas Steger und Jürgen Wöls gaben an jedem der vier Spieltage ihr Bestes und das wurde belohnt ! Gratulation !!!

In February 2012 INTECO was commissioned to perform a conversion project comprising the conversion of one of the existing VAR furnaces, supplied by INTECO in 2007, to a multifunctional furnace.

End of October the first ingot was produced with this unprecedented combination of ESR and VAR process technology. One production unit using both VAR and ESR operational modes increases the client’s flexibility of the existing remelting capacity and also enables Deutsche Edelstahlwerke to adapt more rapidly to changing market trends. The joint patent for this new technology was already handed in by INTECO and Deutsche Edelstahlwerke.

Good news for the INTECO Group: In this year’s Austria’s Leading Companies Ranking (ALC) INTECO ranked first in the „Big Player“category. This ranking published every year by “Wirtschaftsblatt”, KSV 1870 and Pricewaterhouse Coopers is mostly based on the hard figures of each company’s balance sheet, but also the sustainability of each company is evaluated. INTECO CEO Harald Holzgruber and his management team were delighted to accept this award on behalf of all INTECO Group employees worldwide. (photo copyright Wirtschaftsblatt/Foltin)

After the on time delivery of the ESR/ESRR® installation at Xingtai, the Chinese steel plant now signed the Final Acceptance Certificate. The facility can produce billets that are longer than 9 m in a continuous process proven ESR quality using the rapid remelting process developed by INTECO and in addition manufacture 600 diameter ingots when operated in conventional ESR mode. The plant was further developed through a remodeled high current supply and a more efficient electrode exchange system and constitutes the first installation with this specification to be implemented on the Chinese market. This project was successfully carried out in close cooperation with the customer and the start of a long lasting business relationship.

In September INTECO also participated in the MMMM taking place in New Delhi, India.It was a very interesting and popular exhibition for the Austrian INTECO team as well as for the CEO of INTECO India Ltd. Mr. Vinay Sethi. Several new contacts to potential customers were made and also the Austrian style booth attracted lots of passersby.

In September INTECO also participated in the MMMM taking place in New Delhi, India.It was a very interesting and popular exhibition for the Austrian INTECO team as well as for the CEO of INTECO India Ltd. Mr. Vinay Sethi. Several new contacts to potential customers were made and also the Austrian style booth attracted lots of passersby.

At the end of September 2012 the first heat in the 36t ESR plant at Dongbei, Special Steel was successfully accomplished.

This installation is the smaller one of altogether two ESR plants, ordered by Dongbei, with a max. ingot diameter of 1100 mm. The larger ESR installation was started up a few months ago is able to produce ingots with a max. diameter of 1750 mm and an max. ingot weight of 100 tons. This is the largest facility of this kind on the Chinese market.

In November 2011, the BGH Freital awarded INTECO with an additional contract for the construction of a new 6t ESR Plant, after successfully completing two conversion projects.

Only nine months after signing the contract, the first heat at the new ESR plant was successfully executed. Just like the two reconstructed plants, this plant also produces the same ingots with a max. diameter of 420 mm. In addition this new plant is equipped with state of the art characteristics, such as a protective gas hood and coaxial design.

In February 2012 the assembly of a 34t ESR plant at one of the most renowned stainless steel manufacturers in China, Fushun Special Steel, started. Now at the beginning of August 2012 the first heat was successfully executed.

With these combined plant concepts, ingots with a max. weight of 34t and max. diameter of 1000mm can be produced in the short collar mold- as well as in static mold operation. The pre-assembly and parts of the manufacturing of the plant were carried out by INTECO Dalian, in China.

After the successful start up of one of the first ESR plants at Metal Ravne in 1981 by INTECO, which still produces at its maximum capacity, in August 2010 the contract for another ESR unit was signed.

The new project consists of a combined static- and short collar mold ESR plant producing ingots with a max. weight of 50t and a max. diameter of 1400 mm. The new plant by INTECO is equipped with state of the art technology such as a protective gas hood, coaxial design and an innovative control system etc.


The plant will allow the implementation of INTECO´s patented current conductive mold (CCM®) at a later stage. The excellent cooperation and teamwork of INTECO and Metal Ravne has been again strengthened through this new project and finally resulted in the issuance of the Final acceptance Certificate in July 2012.

As every year INTECO celebrated the beginning of the school holidays with its traditional summer party. The fun and gourmet joys were topped with a special surprise guest: Armin Assinger, former world cup skier and TV host of the "Millionenshow" came to join the INTECO employees and their families for this occasion. And of course he would not leave without asking 6 candidates on the "hot seat" of a special INTECO edition of his quiz show. Altogether the INTECO candidates were able to win 9000 Euro which will be donated to the PIUS Institute Bruck. The money will allow several people to do an apprenticeship at one of the workshops at the Institute.

Besides the management certification ISO 9001 INTECO now also has been certified by an environmental management system and is now proud owner of the ECOPROFIT logo. During the last months small measures and information by the INTECO ECOPROFIT project team lead to a better understanding and more environmental friendly action in daily business life among the INTECO employees.

INTECO was also able to profit from several renowned experts invited by ECOPROFIT to give important tips on how to save energy and costs. Herwig Brauneis, INTECO project manager doesn’t see the award of the ECOPROFIT certificate as a finalizing step: “This certification is just the kick off for further stainable consideration of the subject Ecology.”

In June INTECO and many other well known Austrian companies were invited to a special award ceremony at the Austrian Economic Chambers.

There Dr. Heinz Müller, member of the board and head of the steelplant technology at INTECO was proud to accept the award, stating that INTECO is one of “Austria’s Top Exporters” by the president of the Austrian Economic Chambers, Dr. Christoph Leitl, who thanked INTECO for its commercial commitment and effort abroad