List of the 400 largest metal processing companies Germany [2024]

List of the 5 largest metal processing companies in Germany

Metal processing is one of the major German industrial sectors. It is predominantly dominated by Mittelstand companies. There are around 5,000 – mostly family-owned – companies with around 500,000 employees and these are the 5 biggest companies:

1. thyssenkrupp AG, Essen

thyssenkrupp is Germany’s biggest steel producer. In addition to steel production, the Group is active in plant engineering and materials trading. thyssenkrupp was formed in 1999 from the merger of Hoesch-Krupp and Thyssen. This united the major steel names of the Ruhr region. The Group employs over 103,000 people.

Update 2023: The steelmaker is planning to build a direct reduction plant at the Duisburg site to enable the production of “green steel”. The plant is to be operated with hydrogen produced in a climate-neutral way, so that the greenhouse gases produced during steel production will be reduced enormously. The German government and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia are supporting the project with around two billion euros. The plant is scheduled to be in operation by 2026/2027, although construction has not yet started as of today (June 2023).

2. Valeo GmbH, Bietigheim-Bissingen

Valeo is a French automotive supplier. Its German activities are conducted under the umbrella of Valeo GmbH. It has over 7,100 employees and operates 14 production sites. Valeo produces a wide range of automotive components (comfort and driver assistance systems, drive systems, thermal systems, vision systems).

Update 2024: Around 300 jobs are planned to be cut at the production plant in Lower Franconia. The automotive supplier and metal processor wants to relocate its production to Poland. However, research and development work is to continue in Bad Neustadt.

3. Schaeffler AG, Herzogenaurach

Schaeffler AG is the central group company of the Schaeffler Group, one of Germany’s largest suppliers to the automotive and mechanical engineering industries. Schaeffler produces transmission components, clutch systems, (ball) bearings, camshaft phasing units and linear technology components under the INA, FAG and LuK brands. The group employs over 83,000 people.

4. MAHLE GmbH, Stuttgart

MAHLE is one of the largest system suppliers for pistons, cylinders, and valve control systems for combustion engines. The company’s history began in 1920 in a workshop in Cannstatt. Today, the Group employs around 20,000 people worldwide and has approximately 160 production locations. The owner is the non-profit MAHLE Foundation.

5. Salzgitter AG, Salzgitter

The Salzgitter Group was created in 1998 as a spinoff by the steel division of the then Preussag AG (today: TUI). Almost everything revolves around steel and metal processing at the roughly 100 Salzgitter subsidiaries, which together employ a good 24,000 people. Well-known Group companies: Salzgitter Flachstahl, Ilsenburger Grobblech, Salzgitter Klöckner-Werke, Mannesmannröhren-Werke.

Directory of the German metal fabricators

We present in our unique list the industry of metal fabricators. We include in the industry all companies that process metal to create a product. Machine builders are only included in this list if they also manufacture other metal products. For example, Thyssenkrupp AG from Essen in North Rhine-Westphalia, which is active in mechanical engineering, but also mines metals such as iron and also operates the complete production process up to stainless steel.

This information will be included

• Company name
• General contact data (address, e-mail address, telephone number, URL)
• Name of the management
• Serial letter suitable for addressing the management (e.g. “Dear Dr. Müller”)
• Sales figures for the years 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016 and 2015 (taken from the annual and consolidated financial statements)
• Employee figures for the years 2021, 2020, 2019 and 2018 (taken from the annual and consolidated financial statements)
• Sector classification & Field of activity

Note: If the sales and employee figures are not included in a company’s own financial statements but in the parent company’s consolidated financial statements, the data from the respective consolidated financial statements are provided.

Picture source: Unsplash (Josh Beech), Unsplash (Ant Rozetsky)