This year, the week-long main excursion of our chair took place in Austria. We travelled by bus via Linz, Kapfenberg and Bruck an der Mur to nearby Donawitz, covering a total distance of 450 km. 14 highly motivated students took part, with the chance to get to know future employers better. The tour included the following companies:
- voestalpine Stahl Linz GmbH
- Primetals Technologies Austria GmbH
- Ebner industrial furnace construction GmbH
- INTECO melting and casting technologies GmbH
- Pankl Racing Systems AG
- voestalpine Stahl Donawitz GmbH
The excursion started with a visit to voestalpine in Linz. A short presentation of the company was followed by lunch. Here our students were able to have lively discussions with the company’s employees about the future of steel production and the energy transition. Then a tour of the steelworks and the hot strip mill was given. The evening ended with an invitation to a renowned steakhouse. On Tuesday, guided tours of the heavy plate rolling mill as well as the cold rolling mill including galvanising and coating formed a nice conclusion to the industrial facilities of voestalpine in Linz. The next point of our tour was Primetals Technologies, where we got to know each other for the first time over dinner. On Wednesday, after the company tour of Primetals, our way led us to the plant tour of Ebner Industrieofenbau in Leonding. After many interesting conversations and positive impressions, we started our journey back home to Leoben, where we visited regional companies over the next few days. Thursday morning we followed the offer of Inteco, which included a short company presentation and lunch in a congenial atmosphere. The afternoon resulted in a detailed tour of Pankl Racing Systems, which included the Engine, Drive Train, High Performance and Additive Manufacturing Systems divisions. In the evening, Professor Bernhard thanked the students for their attentive participation in the entire excursion in form of a dinner. The grand finale was the tour of the new Bloom CC4 continuous casting plant at voestalpine Donawitz. The high degree of digitalisation, including fully automated production processes, manipulation and loading of the ingots, sets new standards in Austrian steel production.
We would like to thank all sponsors and companies who made this trip possible. A big thank you also goes to the employees for their organisation and commitment, which gave the students unforgettable impressions.
