Swiss Steel Group plans to restructure its Deutsche Edelstahlwerke (DEW) business over the next two years, concentrating steelmaking at Witten, retaining the Siegen rolling mill and seeking buyers for its Hagen and Krefeld plants.
The restructuring is part of the group’s SSG 2030 strategy and responds to declining European long steel demand, high energy costs, rising import pressure and continued weakness in key customer industries, including automotive and mechanical engineering. Previous cost-cutting measures and workforce reductions have failed to restore operating profitability.
Witten will become DEW’s central production site and competence centre for specialty steel, covering engineering steel, stainless steel and tool steel. The company plans to concentrate production volumes at the site, improve capacity utilization and invest in its electric arc furnace and continuous casting plant. It also aims to focus more on higher-margin markets, including civil aviation and defence.
Steelmaking at Siegen will be temporarily suspended, although its rolling mill will remain part of the production network, with steel production concentrated in Witten.
DEW intends to sell its Hagen and Krefeld plants. If sales cannot be secured, the company plans to cease operations at both sites. Hagen has faced a sharp decline in sales volumes, particularly due to weaker automotive demand, while Krefeld faces high energy and production costs, low capacity utilization and substantial investment requirements.
Swiss Steel Group CEO Frank Koch said the restructuring was necessary to secure DEW’s long-term competitiveness and pledged to implement the changes responsibly, including negotiations with employee representatives over support for affected workers.
The company plans to implement the changes in stages over approximately two years, aiming to maintain product quality and delivery reliability during the transition.