With Austria nestling so prettily in the Alps, it is no surprise that its leading manufacturer of wire rope finds half of its rope business in cableways and ski lifts. Most of the rest in fact about 35% of the total is high performance crane rope. The manufacturer is Teufelberger, which sells steel wire rope under the brand Perfekt to OEMs worldwide, including Liebherr, Terex PPM and Palfinger.
Although Austria is land locked, Teufelberger is also enjoying success in the offshore sector, where the environment is particularly tough on rope and customers expect depend upon the highest performance. Offshore crane manufacturer Liebherr Nenzing, also in Austria, is a major customer, and just last December National Oilwell’s offshore crane group (formerly Hydralift) placed a contract with Teufelberger for the supply of all of its ropes for offshore crane, winch, drilling and sub-sea applications. Another customer in this sector is Tsuji Cranes of Japan.
Only 40% of the crane rope business is for OEMs, though. The majority of Teufelberger’s crane rope goes direct to end users, through distributors all over the world, such as Bishop Lifting in the USA.
It is well known that the wire rope business has been having a hard time in recent years, and has not been helped by consolidation among crane manufacturers, which has put pressure on all component manufacturers. Managing director Dr Josef Hackl recognises that not many people are making money in the wire rope business, but he has definite plans for growth.
Hackl joined the company just a year ago, after spending 14 years in the automotive OEM business. The previous year, in April 2001, Teufelberger had taken over another Austrian manufacturer of wire rope, Draht-St. Aegyd. This widened its range of full locked steel wire ropes, increased production capacity and added 40% to Teufelberger’s turnover. (In 2002 Teufelberger had revenues of E77m and today has 550 employees).
The Draht integration is still continuing and will not be complete until next year, Hackl says. The original Teufelberger plant in Wels, one of four Teufelberger factories in Austria, will concentrate on crane rope.
Hackl believes that the key to success and to growth lies in quality product and quality service. On product, he says: ‘We are state of the art in Superfill compacted special wire ropes and in plastified rope.’
And he adds: ‘We are going to launch new product, especially in the offshore business.’
Hackl says that Teufelberger has a strong sense of service and wants to be close to its customers. There is a 24 hour telephone hotline, for example, for rapid response to enquiries. It is not just a case of selling rope, but offering technical advice and consultancy services. Emergency rope inspections on offshore rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, in the North Sea or on mobile harbour cranes are done by technical experts within 48 hours of receiving a call, Teufelberger claims.
Hackl regards customers as partners and his aim is to establish long term relationships with all of them. ‘Customers are steadily getting more professional and expect a professional partner,’ he says.
There is more to Teufelberger than just wire rope, however. It has two other divisions: one producing strapping and yarns (fibres and plastics) and one producing high-tech fibre rope. According to Hackl, these three divisions provide stability for the company. He has no plans to diversify into other product areas, but believes there is room for expansion within the niches that Teufelberger is already active.
