Long-lasting experience since 125 years
The Silbitz group has now been in existence for more than 125 years.
On 1st November 1896 the company was founded in Zeitz Rasberg and, due to a courageous and strategically wise decision across all shareholders and directors, has developed into one of the leading foundry groups in Europe.
Our employees' quality awareness and capability, combined with the advantages of our locations, are the drivers of our economic success. At the beginning of the 1990s, pioneering investments such as the introduction of spheroidal graphite iron, the installation of an automatic molding line and the investment in the so-called mechanized hand molding shop were made.
With the acquisition of the foundry in Košice - Slovakia, we have gained an excellent location for the markets in Eastern Europe. Further demand, especially in the field of large casting, led to the decision to expand the foundry group. In 2007, the foundation stone was laid for the future ZGG - Zeitzer Guss GmbH, which was put into operation in 2009. In the following years we invested e.g. in the expansion of piston processing as well as the modernization of the core production center at our site in Silbitz. At the same time, new wind energy key customers could be won and the Zeitz site expanded.
The economic recovery was interrupted in 2013 by the flooding of the White Elster, which hit the location in Silbitz. Due to that secular event, the location in Silbitz has been completely flooded. In addition to the repair of flood damage in Silbitz, we consistently focused on expanding the location in Košice. Here we expanded the smelting plant, so that we can also produce castings in Košice up to a unit weight of 10 tons.
In 2015, we concentrated on the further modernization of the site in Silbitz. So we modernized our arc furnaces, created our own training workshop and training room for our group-wide apprenticeship training, and built the technology center.
In order to deliver already preassembled cast parts to our customers, the former axle bearings plant in Stassfurt was acquired in June 2016.
In the anniversary year 2016, more than 7 million euros were also invested in the expansion and modernization of the group. In the modernization of the location in Silbitz alone, more than 3.5 million euros were invested, i.a. for the new dedusting technology of the arc furnaces, the expansion of the technology center and the quality department.
In the years to come, we want to live up to our claim of being innovative and are therefore investing in a magnesium treatment station at our site in Silbitz. In addition, we will systematically expand our know-how in materials development. At the Zeitz location, we will increase production capacities to unit weights over 50 tons with a second melting furnace. In Košice we will introduce the full-form technique.
