SIAG is a German tower manufacturer that acquired Aerisyn, which operated a tubular steel manufacturing facility in Tennessee. SIAG expanded the factory–it doubled its workforce and now employs 123 people–and increased its output. The company plans to double the workforce again by 2012, and also is looking for a site for a second plant.
According to the article in Energy Digital, "Customers such as GE Wind Energy, Siemens, Vestas, Dewind and Mitsubishi Power Systems urged SIAG to enter the North American market. The privately held, family-owned company is a market leader in Europe, specializing in four arenas: onshore wind energy technology; offshore wind energy technology; mechanical engineering/main frames and generator frames; and environment and energy technology."
Good jobs, SIAG Aerisyn.
—————-
SIAG Aerisyn enters the US wind tower market, promising to deliver faster than anyone else
Written by Ulrika G. Gerth & Produced by Shaheen Mohammadipour, www.energydigital.com
In the small city of Chattanooga, TN operates a new power player in the North American market of wind turbine towers.
Pulled there by customers begging for the expertise, speed of delivery, and quality products that they have become so accustomed to in Europe, SIAG Aerisyn LLC plans to quickly gain the same reputation in the United States.
Take the company’s speed of delivery, for example: “A lot of suppliers may need six to seven months,” says Bernd Becker, President of SIAG Aerisyn. “We can do it in less than four months. The huge history of lessons learned of how to do it and how not to do it in Europe is on full display here in the U.S. for best practice. We’re a lot faster than the competition.”
DRAMATIC GROWTH
Only months after Germany-based SIAG Schaaf Industrie AG signed off on the acquisition of Aerisyn and took over its tubular steel plant in Chattanooga, all signs indicate the company’s ambitious growth plan is right on target.
Before the takeover in August 2009, the plant employed 64 people and produced three sections a week (every tower is divided into four or five sections). Three million dollars of investments later, in everything from machinery and capacity increases to quality improvements and new technology, the workforce has grown to 123 and production has increased to eight sections a week or 120 sections for 2009.
Still, those numbers will change dramatically over the next few years.
In 2012, SIAG Aerisyn plans to employ 240 people and projected output will have skyrocketed to 1,000 sections. At that rate – which translates into 250 towers per year – the SIAG Group’s worldwide capacity will increase to 1600 towers annually.
And there is other big news: The first 100-meter wind tower in the United States is already in production and Becker is actively searching for a location between South Dakota and Texas for the construction of a second facility.
“It’s uncommon for a company to look for a second facility only six months after an acquisition, but we believe in the market and therefore look for an expansion,” Becker says. “We want to be prepared for our customers.”
MARKET LEADER
Customers such as GE Wind Energy, Siemens, Vestas, Dewind and Mitsubishi Power Systems urged SIAG to enter the North American market. The privately held, family-owned company is a market leader in Europe, specializing in four arenas: onshore wind energy technology; offshore wind energy technology; mechanical engineering/main frames and generator frames; and environment and energy technology.
SIAG Schaaf Industrie AG was founded in 1996, carrying on a legacy of high quality steel processing that began at its Ruhland factory in 1925. The company has since enjoyed continuous growth and now operates four plants in Germany, two in the Czech Republic, one in France and in late 2008, SIAG moved into Egypt, breaking ground for the group’s biggest tower plant to date.
The expansion reached yet another milestone last year when the company took over a shipyard, Thyssen Nordseewerke in Emden, Germany, paving the way for Europe’s largest factory for the production of steel components for the offshore wind energy industry, offshore platforms and special purpose ships. As a result of the acquisition, SIAG will nearly double its workforce in 2010, from 1,300 to 2,000.
By Chris Madison (AWEA), www.awea.org/blog/
