The Zapp Group is an international group of companies in the field of

metal working Metalworking is the process of shaping and reshaping metals to create useful objects, parts, assemblies, and large scale structures. As a term it covers a wide and diverse range of processes, skills, and tools for producing objects on every scale ...

based in

Ratingen Ratingen ( li, Rotinge) is a town in the district of Mettmann in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It lies in the northwestern part of Berg about 12 km northeast of Düsseldorf. Administration With a communal reform of 1975 the independent mu ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. The group's lead company is the Zapp Precision Metals GmbH in

Schwerte Schwerte ( Westphalian: ''Schweierte'') is a town in the district of Unna, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Schwerte is situated in the Ruhr valley, at the south-east border of the Ruhr Area. South of Schwerte begins the mountainous ...

and

Unna Unna is a city of around 59,000 people in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, the seat of the Unna district. The newly refurbished Unna station has trains to all major cities in North Rhine Westphalia including Dortmund, Cologne, Münster, Hamm, D ...

, Germany. The group is a leading manufacturer of metallic precision semi-finished products and specialized in

cold forming In metallurgy, cold forming or cold working is any metalworking process in which metal is shaped below its recrystallization temperature, usually at the ambient temperature. Such processes are contrasted with hot working techniques like hot roll ...

stainless steel Stainless steel is an alloy of iron that is resistant to rusting and corrosion. It contains at least 11% chromium and may contain elements such as carbon, other nonmetals and metals to obtain other desired properties. Stainless steel's corros ...

titanium Titanium is a chemical element with the symbol Ti and atomic number 22. Found in nature only as an oxide, it can be reduced to produce a lustrous transition metal with a silver color, low density, and high strength, resistant to corrosion in ...

carbon steel Carbon steel is a steel with carbon content from about 0.05 up to 2.1 percent by weight. The definition of carbon steel from the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) states: * no minimum content is specified or required for chromium, cobalt ...

and special materials to

strip Strip or Stripping may refer to: Places * Aouzou Strip, a strip of land following the northern border of Chad that had been claimed and occupied by Libya * Caprivi Strip, narrow strip of land extending from the Okavango Region of Namibia to ...

wire Overhead power cabling. The conductor consists of seven strands of steel (centre, high tensile strength), surrounded by four outer layers of aluminium (high conductivity). Sample diameter 40 mm A wire is a flexible strand of metal. Wire is c ...

, rod, and profile.

History

The history of the family Zapp goes back to 1701, when Hermann Zapp, father of Engelberth Zapp, started a steel production north of

Ründeroth Engelskirchen (literally "angel’s churches") is a municipality in Oberbergischer Kreis, Germany in North Rhine-Westphalia, about east of Cologne. The neighbouring municipalities are (clockwise from the west) Overath, Lindlar, Gummersbach, Wiehl ...

in the valley of

Leppe Leppe is a river of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It flows into the Agger in Engelskirchen. See also *List of rivers of North Rhine-Westphalia A list of rivers of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany: A * Aa, left tributary of the Möhne * Aa ...

. He bought an iron hammer and registered a trade. In 1852 he built his first puddle furnace for steel of constant quality. Steel was produced there for five generations. Also

Krupp The Krupp family (see pronunciation), a prominent 400-year-old German dynasty from Essen, is notable for its production of steel, artillery, ammunition and other armaments. The family business, known as Friedrich Krupp AG (Friedrich Krup ...

bought refined steel from Zapp. When in 1857 the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

caught Zapp in a financial imbalance, the company was sold. However, they remained true to steel. In 1869 Robert Zapp left Ründeroth and founded the steel trading company Zapp (today: Zapp AG) in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...

in 1871, concentrating in particular on the Europe-wide distribution of English special steels. Zapp had previously studied

iron metallurgy Ferrous metallurgy is the metallurgy of iron and its alloys. The earliest surviving prehistory, prehistoric iron artifacts, from the 4th millennium BC in Egypt, were made from meteorite, meteoritic Iron–nickel alloy, iron-nickel. It is not know ...

and the

Bessemer process The Bessemer process was the first inexpensive industrial process for the mass production of steel from molten pig iron before the development of the open hearth furnace. The key principle is steelmaking, removal of impurities from the iron by ox ...

in England and now used his know-how for the production of special steel. But the new steel grades needed explanation. The competitive advantages that resulted from this required intensive cooperation with the toolmakers. In the course of time the assortment became ever broader. From 1913 the sales organization introduced the new Krupp steel

Nirosta Outokumpu Nirosta is a business segment of Outokumpu, headquartered in Krefeld, Germany. It produces flats of stainless steel. Prior to January 2012, it was named ThyssenKrupp Nirosta and part of ThyssenKrupp AG. The unit has a plant in Bochum. Th ...

, from 1927 the new carbide Widia. In 1926 the company Robert Zapp took over the Ergste steelworks, which had specialized in cold forming of stainless steel. For 70 years, the two companies operated largely independently of each other. In the post-war period, the Robert Zapp trading house concentrated on innovative high-performance materials and expanded its branch network. In contrast, the Ergste steelworks increasingly shifted its production to high-alloy and new special steels and expanded its special position among drawing and cold rolling mills. In the 1960s it was decided to concentrate entirely on stainless, acid and heat-resistant steels. In 1991, the Ergste steelworks bought the Westig steelworks in Unna. In 1995, the two companies merged to form Stahlwerk Ergste Westig. In the following years, production plants in the USA in Summerville (

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

) and Dartmouth (

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

), the second most important market after Europe. In 1998, the companies of the group were merged into a family controlled

joint-stock company A joint-stock company is a business entity in which shares of the company's capital stock, stock can be bought and sold by shareholders. Each shareholder owns company stock in proportion, evidenced by their share (finance), shares (certificates ...

. Since then, the company has expanded primarily in the USA, Germany and China. In Germany, the companies Ferd. Wagner GmbH in

Pforzheim Pforzheim () is a city of over 125,000 inhabitants in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg, in the southwest of Germany. It is known for its jewelry and watch-making industry, and as such has gained the nickname "Goldstadt" ("Golden City") ...

and

uro Titan Handels GmbH Uro or URO may refer to: * Aurochs, the predecessor of modern cattle * Uro Bonsai technique; see deadwood bonsai techniques * Uro, Delta, Nigeria * ''Uro'' (film), directed by Stefan Faldbakken * Uro (trucks), a Spanish truck manufacturer * ''Ur ...

in Ratingen were taken over by the Zapp Group and Zapp Precision Metals (Taicang) Co. was founded in China. In the USA, the Zapp Group also grew through acquisitions. As a further step towards a uniform international market presence, Zapp Medical Alloys GmbH and Ferd. Wagner GmbH were merged into Stahlwerk Ergste Westig GmbH in 2013. In addition, Stahlwerk Ergste Westig GmbH was renamed Zapp Precision Metals GmbH to better express its core business as a niche supplier of precision products internationally. At the same time, Robert Zapp Werkstofftechnik was renamed Zapp Materials Engineering and Robert Zapp Service-GmbH was renamed Zapp Systems GmbH. In 2018, it became known that the Zapp Group had acquired the Sandvik Stainless Wire business from

Sandvik Sandvik AB is a Swedish multinational engineering company specializing in metal cutting, digital and additive manufacturing, mining and construction, stainless and special steel alloys, and industrial heating. The company was founded in Sweden ...

Products

The core competencies of the company lie in the cold forming of stainless metallic materials in the product forms strip, wire, rod and profile into precision semi-finished products. Mainly

austenitic Austenite, also known as gamma-phase iron (γ-Fe), is a metallic, non-magnetic allotrope of iron or a solid solution of iron with an alloying element. In plain-carbon steel, austenite exists above the critical eutectoid temperature of 1000 ...

ferritic A ferrite is a ceramic material made by mixing and firing large proportions of iron(III) oxide (Fe2O3, rust) blended with small proportions of one or more additional metallic elements, such as strontium, barium, manganese, nickel, and zinc. Th ...

and

martensitic Martensite is a very hard form of steel crystalline structure. It is named after German metallurgist Adolf Martens. By analogy the term can also refer to any crystal structure that is formed by diffusionless transformation. Properties Mart ...

are processed Stainless steels,

nickel Nickel is a chemical element with symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive but large pieces are slow to ...

- and nickel-based

alloy An alloy is a mixture of chemical elements of which at least one is a metal. Unlike chemical compounds with metallic bases, an alloy will retain all the properties of a metal in the resulting material, such as electrical conductivity, ductility, ...

s, cobalt-based alloys, but also

and titanium alloys. In addition, there are trade and service centres for special materials and tool alloys.

Locations

The production sites, consulting and service centers are located in Ratingen (Germany), Schwerte (Germany), Unna (Germany), Pforzheim (Germany), Sheffield (Great Britain), Sandviken (Sweden), Summerville (SC), Dartmouth (MA),

Santa Fe Springs Santa Fe Springs (''Santa Fe'', Spanish for "Holy Faith") is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is one of the Gateway Cities of southeast Los Angeles County. The population was 16,223 at the 2010 census, down from 17,43 ...

(CA), Stratford (CT),

Pearland Pearland ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, within Brazoria County, with portions extending into Fort Bend and Harris counties. The city of Pearland is a principal city within the metropolitan statistical area. At the 2020 U.S. census, t ...

(TX),

Gurnee Gurnee ( ) is a village in Lake County, Illinois, United States. Its population was 30,706 as of the 2020 census. It borders the city of Waukegan, and is a popular tourist attraction within the Chicago metropolitan area. Best known for being th ...

(IL),

Taicang Taicang is a county-level city under the jurisdiction of Suzhou, Jiangsu province, China. The city located in the south of the Yangtze River estuary opposite Nantong, being bordered by Shanghai proper to the south, while the river also delineates ...

(China) and

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

Companies of Zapp Group

The group has several companies in Germany, UK, USA and China.

Companies in Europa

* Zapp AG (Headquarters), Ratingen, Germany * Zapp Precision Metals GmbH, Schwerte, Germany * Zapp Materials Engineering GmbH, Ratingen, Germany * Zapp Systems GmbH, Ratingen, Germany * Zapp Immobilien-Verwaltungs-GmbH, Ratingen, Germany * Zapp Immobilien GmbH & Co. KG, Ratingen, Germany * Argeste Edelstahlverarbeitung Beteiligungs-GmbH, Ratingen, Germany * Zapp (GB)Ltd., Sheffield, Great Britain

Companies in USA

* Zapp Precision Strip Inc., Dartmouth, Massachusetts * Zapp Precision Wire Inc., Summerville, South Carolina * Zapp Tooling Alloys Inc., Summerville, South Carolina

Companies in Asia

* Zapp Precision Metals (Taicang) Co., Ltd., Taicang, China * Ferd. Wagner (Far East) Ltd., Hongkong

Participation in cartels

The German

Federal Cartel Office The Federal Cartel Office (, ; BKartA) is Germany's national competition regulatory agency. First established in 1958, BKartA comes under the authority of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action. The agency is headquartered ...

(German: Bundeskartellamt) imposed fines totalling 205 million euros on several stainless steel producers, including Zapp Group, in July 2018 for

price-fixing Price fixing is an anticompetitive agreement between participants on the same side in a market to buy or sell a product, service, or commodity only at a fixed price, or maintain the market conditions such that the price is maintained at a given ...

. From 2004 until its search in November 2015, the company has agreed the method of calculating scrap and alloy surcharges with

ArcelorMittal ArcelorMittal S.A. is a Luxembourgian multinational steel manufacturing corporation headquartered in Luxembourg City. It was formed in 2006 from the takeover and merger of Arcelor by Indian-owned Mittal Steel. ArcelorMittal is the second larg ...

, Saarstahl AG,

Voestalpine Voestalpine AG – stylized as voestalpine – is an Austrian steel-based technology and capital goods group based in Linz, Austria. The company is active in steel, automotive, railway systems, profilform and tool steel industries. As of 201 ...

and Dörrenberg Edelstahl, among others. The companies would also have exchanged prices for products for engineering steel. These companies have acknowledged the allegations against them. The companies' agreements were uncovered on the basis of a reference from Voestalpine, who, as

turn state's evidence A criminal turns state's evidence by admitting guilt and testifying as a witness for the state against their associate(s) or accomplice(s), often in exchange for leniency in sentencing or immunity from prosecution.Howard Abadinsky, ''Organized C ...

, does not now have to pay a fine.

References

External links

Company website
{{Authority control Multinational companies headquartered in Germany Manufacturing companies of Germany Summerville, South Carolina Dartmouth, Massachusetts Steel German companies established in 1998 Manufacturing companies established in 1998