Outokumpu facts for kids
 |
|
| Public company | |
| Traded as | OMX: OUT1V |
| Industry | Stainless steel |
| Founded | 1914 |
| Headquarters | Helsinki, Finland |
|
Key people
|
Kari Jordan (chairman), Heikki Malinen (President and CEO) |
| Products | Stainless steel |
| Revenue |  €7.7 billion (2021) |
|
Operating income
|
€705 million (2021) |
| €553 million (2021) |
|
|
Number of employees
|
 9,395 (2021) |
Outokumpu Oyj is a big international company based in Helsinki, Finland. It has about 10,600 employees in over 30 countries. Outokumpu is known for making stainless steel. It is the largest producer of stainless steel in Europe. It is also the second largest in North and South America.
Outokumpu has a long history as a mining company. It still mines a special rock called chromium ore. This ore comes from the Keminmaa area in Finland. Chromium is a key ingredient used to make stainless steel. The Government of Finland is the biggest owner of Outokumpu. It owns about 26.6% of the company.
Contents
Company History
In 1908, a large amount of copper ore was found in Outokumpu. This area is in Northern Karelia, Finland. Outokumpu company was started to develop this mine. The mine is now empty. In the 1940s, Outokumpu created a new way to melt copper. This method is called flash smelting.
In 2001, a company called Avesta Sheffield joined with Outokumpu. Avesta Sheffield was formed from a merger in 1991. It combined British Steel Stainless with a Swedish company called Avesta. The new company was named AvestaPolarit. It became the third-largest stainless steel producer in the world at that time. Outokumpu and the Corus Group owned this new company together.
In 2004, Outokumpu bought all the shares owned by Corus. This made AvestaPolarit a fully owned part of the Outokumpu Group. Outokumpu then became the main company. Its main office moved to Espoo, Finland.
In 2005, Outokumpu sold its copper business. It also combined its zinc business with a Swedish company called Boliden. In 2006, a part of Outokumpu called Outokumpu Technology became its own separate company. It was renamed Outotec in 2007.
In 2008, Outokumpu closed a factory in Sheffield, UK. This was part of a plan to reduce costs. The company still makes material for long steel products in Sheffield.
In 2012, Outokumpu announced it would buy Inoxum. This was the stainless steel part of a German company called ThyssenKrupp. This deal was worth 2.7 billion euros. The European Commission approved the merger. But it required that a part of Inoxum, called Acciai Speciali Terni (AST), was not included in the deal. Through Inoxum, Outokumpu gained stainless steel factories in China, Mexico, Bochum, Germany, Werdohl, Germany, and Calvert, Alabama, USA.
In 2013, Outokumpu agreed to sell AST back to ThyssenKrupp. ThyssenKrupp also sold its shares in Outokumpu. This helped to separate the two companies.
In 2015, Outokumpu sold most of its shares in a joint company in Shanghai, China. This company was called Shanghai Krupp Stainless (SKS). It was a joint project with Baosteel. Outokumpu sold its remaining shares in 2016. The SKS factory then stopped its operations.
In 2017, Outokumpu opened a new service center in Vilnius, Lithuania. It employs 100 people. In 2020, Heikki Malinen became the new chief executive of Outokumpu.
In 2023, Outokumpu sold its Long Products business. This included the factories in Sheffield, UK, that made rods and bars. Outokumpu still has a service center and sales office in Sheffield.
Production Sites
Outokumpu has factories in several countries. These sites make different types of stainless steel products.
Finland
Outokumpu's biggest factories are the Tornio Works. They are located in the small Finnish town of Tornio. This town is on the coast of the Gulf of Bothnia. The Tornio Works make hot and cold rolled steel. They produce about one million tons each year. This site includes a ferrochrome melting plant, steel-melting shops, and rolling mills. The steel works were built in 1975–1976. Most of the products are sold in the EU. About 85% of what they make is exported worldwide.
The Kemi mine is in Keminmaa, near Tornio. This mine provides chromite. Chromite is the raw material needed to make chromium for stainless steel. In 2012, it was estimated that the mine had about 105 million tons of chromite. This amount goes down to a depth of one kilometer.
Sweden
Outokumpu bought Avesta Sheffield in 2001. This site has a stainless steel mill. It includes a melting shop and hot and cold rolling mills. Avesta is known for making special types of stainless steel. These steels are strong and resist rust well. They are also easy to shape and weld.
Avesta has a long history of making steel. Sheffield in the UK also has a long history. Stainless steel was first invented there.
Thin Strip Nyby makes cold rolled stainless steel. It focuses on special types of steel. The Nyby Ironworks in Torshälla started in 1829. But ironworking has been done there since the 15th century.
The Degerfors Long Products steelworks was owned by Outokumpu in 2021.
United Kingdom
After buying Avesta Sheffield, Outokumpu owned the Sheffield factory in the UK. This factory has a melt shop and facilities for finishing steel bars and rods. It is part of Outokumpu's Long Products business. They also have a center for storing and distributing products. The factory makes stainless steel in many forms. These include coils, plates, sheets, rods, and bars. They also make semi-finished products like slabs and billets.
Outokumpu's UK factories came from older companies. In 1967, the steel industry in the UK became nationalized. Outokumpu's main sites in the UK were in Sheffield, Stocksbridge, and Blackburn.
In 2005, some cold rolling units in Sheffield were closed. This resulted in job losses. Production stopped in 2006. The company continued to operate the melting shop and other specialized production. In 2008, the Stocksbridge site closed. Its work moved to the Meadowhall site.
Germany
As of 2018, Outokumpu has factories in Krefeld, Dillenburg, and Dahlerbrück, Germany.
The Krefeld mill has over 100 years of experience in making stainless steel. Its melt shop closed in 2012. Now it focuses on cold rolling and research. The nearby Benrath cold rolling mill moved to Krefeld. Together, they make many types of steel with different finishes. The Dahlerbrück cold rolling mill makes precision steel strips. It has a 300-year history of iron and steelmaking. The Dillenburg cold rolling mill specializes in surface finishes. These are used for things like buildings and architecture. The Bochum melt shop closed in 2014.
U.S. and Mexico
Outokumpu has a melt shop and a cold-rolling mill in Calvert, Alabama. This factory was bought from ThyssenKrupp. There is also a cold rolling mill in San Luis Potosí, Mexico. This factory makes coils, strips, sheets, and plates.
Organization
The company is managed by a board of directors and a leadership team.
As of June 2022, here are some of the people on the Outokumpu Leadership Team:
- President and Chief Executive Officer: Heikki Malinen
- Chief Financial Officer: Pia Aaltonen-Forsell
- Chief Human Resources Officer: Johann Steiner
- President – Advanced Materials: Thomas Anstots
- Chief Technology Officer: Stefan Erdmann
- President – Ferrochrome: Martti Sassi
- President – Stainless Europe: Niklas Wass
- President – Americas: Tamara Weinert
See also
In Spanish: Outokumpu para niños
