Circular economy in perfection

Georgsmarienhütte GmbH and Volkswagen Osnabrück intensify their activities to completely reuse raw materials

Osnabrück/Georgsmarienhütte, March 16 2023. Two major industrial companies from the Osnabrück region are joining forces to significantly advance climate protection. Leftover metal produced at Volkswagen Osnabrück is recycled into new high-tech steel at the steel mill of Georgsmarienhütte GmbH before flowing back into the value chain at Volkswagen. In this way, both companies are making a decisive contribution to reducing CO₂ emissions (decarbonization).

Volkswagen has its pressing plant at the Osnabrück site. Here, strip steel is processed into body components for on-site production and other Group locations. For some years, the unused metal from the manufacturing process have been delivered to the electric steel mill in Georgsmarienhütte, around ten kilometers away. It is then melted in an electric arc furnace and recycled into a new high-quality starting material for Volkswagen AG’s transmission production in Baunatal, Hessen. Compared with the same tonnage of steel produced in a conventional blast furnace, the recycling of this type of metal already saves 8,000 tons of CO₂ annually.

The Managing Director of Technology of Volkswagen Osnabrück GmbH, Jörn Hasenfuß, and Dr. Alexander Becker, GMH Group’s CEO, confirm the further strengthening of this long-standing partnership. The delivery volumes of recyclable metal will remain at a high level in the future, significantly reducing the CO₂ footprint of both companies in the process.

“In the course of the decarbonization of the steel industry, recyclable metal is becoming increasingly important as a valuable resource,” explains Becker. “As Germany’s already most climate-friendly steel company, this agreement brings us an important step closer to climate neutrality in 2039,” says the GMH Group CEO.

“Volkswagen benefits in many ways from its cooperation with the GMH Group: on the one hand, we ensure that the unused metal we produce in the stamping plant is returned to the production cycle. On the other hand, we reduce the CO₂ emissions generated during transport to a minimum thanks to the close proximity to the steel mill,” says Volkswagen Osnabrück Managing Director Hasenfuß.

For the GMH Group, the intensification of the partnership also makes a decisive contribution to its claim to be a full-range supplier of recycled input material through ready-to-install components. This process demonstrates the company’s circular economy in action.

About Georgsmarienhütte

Georgsmarienhütte GmbH, based in Georgsmarienhütte in Lower Saxony, is one of Europe’s leading suppliers of crude steel, bar steel, and bright steel made from carbon and engineering steels. In addition, machined and partly ready-to-install components are produced by the company. Georgsmarienhütte is already one of the most climate-friendly steel companies in Germany. Its comparatively low CO₂ value chain, in which leftover metal is melted down in the
electric arc furnace and recycled into new steel, makes an essential contribution to the circular economy. It is a pioneer in sustainable steel production. In addition to the automotive industry and its suppliers, customers are served in mechanical and plant engineering and the energy sector. Steel from Georgsmarienhütte is used wherever the load is most significant, where power is generated or transmitted, and where safe and wear-resistant operation is essential. For more information, visit www.gmh.de.

About Volkswagen Osnabrück

Volkswagen Osnabrück GmbH, founded in February 2010, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Volkswagen AG and belongs to the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand. The complete automotive process chain can be mapped at the site, from the initial vehicle concept to series production via the three business units Technical Development, Metal Group (Toolmaking, Plant Engineering, Press Shop), and Vehicle Manufacturing. Around 2,300 employees currently work at Volkswagen Osnabrück GmbH, which has established itself as a specialist for small and very small-scale productions as well as a competence centre for emotional vehicles such as convertibles and roadsters within the Volkswagen Group, on a plant site covering more than 430,000 square meters. The T-Roc Cabriolet and the Arteon Shooting Brake are currently being produced at the Osnabrück site. In addition, the ramp-up phase is underway for the Porsche Boxster and Cayman models, which will also be manufactured for the Porsche brand at Volkswagen Osnabrück from April this year.