【钢铁&英语 】德国最大的钢企转型升级之路

张其悦 编译

Germany’s Biggest Steelmaker Set to Unveil a Future Beyond Steel

德国最大的钢铁制造商开启不只是钢铁的未来

It is a mark of the transformation going onat Thyssenkrupp AG that the most profitable operation at Germany’s biggeststeel company is producing elevators not metal.

对于德国最大的钢铁制造商——蒂森克虏伯股份公司(以下简称“蒂森克虏伯”)来说，其最为盈利的项目不再是生产金属产品，而是电梯，这也正是它发生转变的一个标志。

The industrial giant, with roots dating to 1811, has poured research into its elevator unit to turn what was a sideline into a primary business.

早在1811年，这个工业巨头已经将其研究力量“聚焦”于电梯部门，使得电梯制造这一曾经的副业转变为了现在的主业。

In the past six years, Thyssenkrupp has earned more from elevators than steel as the market for metals weakened. The company’s investments are pushing the elevator industry into new areas, with innovations like the first model to move sideways as well as up and down, and moving walkways that levitate on magnets. In addition, Thyssenkrupp’s twin system, where two cars travel independently in the same shaft, led others to push alternatives such as double-decker elevators.

在过去的6年时间里，由于全球钢铁市场不景气，蒂森克虏伯在电梯部门的收益已经远超其钢铁生产部门。该公司的投资正在将其电梯产业推向新的阶段，如今还推出了创新产品，如第一个既能左右移动又能上下移动电梯样机，还有磁悬浮移动走道。另外，蒂森克虏伯的双子电梯系统可以让两个轿厢在同一井道互相独立运行，促使其他人推出像双层电梯之类的替代品。

 “We’ve managed to stimulate competition, in some cases to the point where our concepts are taken over or adapted,” Andreas Schierenbeck, the elevator unit’s chief executive officer, said in an interview at its main office in Essen, Germany. “That’s good. If you’re being copied, you’re doing something right.”

“我们刺激了竞争，而且，在一些情况下我们的理念正在被大家所接受或被采用。”电梯部门的CEO安德里亚斯·席伦贝克在德国埃森的办公室接受采访时说道，“如果你被别人模仿，那么说明你正在做正确的事情。这很好！”

While the elevator business has been growing for a decade, and earnings are rising, steel revenue has been droppingas competition from China slashed prices and eroded profit. While Thyssenkrupphas recovered from three years of losses that ended in 2014, the materialsdivision including steel made up 28 percent of total earnings last fiscal year,down from 40 percent just before CEO Heinrich Hiesinger took the helm inJanuary 2011.

随着10年来电梯业务的不断发展，蒂森克虏伯的利润额在不断增长；而随着中国钢铁价格骤降带来的竞争，其钢铁板块的利润不断下降。在2011年1月海里希·赫辛根接任首席执行官一职之前，包括钢铁在内的原材料部门占到了总盈利的40%。（2010财年，蒂森克虏伯盈利9.27亿欧元。而在2011财年，蒂森克虏伯净亏损17.8亿欧元。随着企业发展方向的调整，）蒂森克虏伯在2014财年结束了3年的亏损，实现盈利。在上一财年，原材料部门盈利额占总盈利的比例已经下降至28%。

Almost a decade after the global financialcrisis, demand for European steel is still about a quarter below 2008 levels.More than 75,000 jobs, or about one in five, have gone in that period.

全球金融危机后的大约10年，欧洲钢铁的需求量仍只有2008年需求水平的约75%。在那一时期，超过75,000个（约五分之一）工作岗位消失。

Thyssenkrupp isn’t alone inseeking creative answers to market woes. Voestalpine AG, Austria’s oncestate-owned steelmaker, is focused on making components for the auto andaerospace industries, and even branching out into systems for monitoringrailroads.

蒂森克虏伯并不是唯一一家寻求创新以应对市场困境的公司。奥地利曾经的国有钢铁制造商——奥钢联集团公司如今正集中精力为汽车和航空航天工业生产零件，甚至拓展到铁路监控系统。

As steel margins declined at Thyssenkrupp,Hiesinger has sought to rely less on the volatile business and build up otherareas including the elevator operation.

随着蒂森克虏伯钢铁领域利润的下降，赫辛根已经试图减少对不稳定业务的依赖，加强包括电梯项目在内的其他领域。

The company agreed in February to sell itsBrazilian steel plant to Ternium SA, drawing a line under the worst investmentin its history. It completes Thyssenkrupp’s exit from itsSteel Americas unit, following 8 billion euros ($9 billion) of losses from adecision to expand in the region in 2005.

今年2月份，蒂森克虏伯与特尔尼翁钢铁集团达成协议，向后者出售了旗下的巴西钢厂，与其史上“最糟糕”的投资划清了界限。在2005年决定拓展美洲地区业务导致亏损80亿欧元（90亿美元）之后，蒂森克虏伯彻底告别了其在该地区钢铁领域的业务。

The producer has also been in talks with Tata Steel Ltd. for over a year on placing their European steel businesses into a joint venture. Such transactions set the German company on a path that would see it changed fundamentally.

蒂森克虏伯也与印度塔塔钢铁公司展开了耗时一年多的谈判，准备将双方旗下的欧洲大陆钢铁业务合并，成立一家合资公司。这些交易和动作正是这家德国公司正在发生根本改变的标志。

The company could potentially spin off the venture in an initial public offering and sell the Materials Services division that includes managing steel supply, warehousing and inventory, according to a Credit Suisse Group AG report this month.

根据瑞士信贷集团的本月报告，公司可能在首次公开募股中分拆企业，出售材料服务部门，包括管理钢铁供应，仓储和库存。

History is littered with efforts atcorporate metamorphosis.

历史上有许多为公司转型而作出努力的例子。

Nokia Oyj, a one-time maker of paper andgaloshes, ended up as the dominant producer of mobile handsets before AppleInc.’s iPhone eclipsed its business in a matter of years. John MenziesPlc, with origins as an Edinburgh bookshop in 1833 and chain of newspapershops, now runs global parcel distribution, cargo handling and aviationservices.

在苹果公司的iPhone用几年时间吞噬诺基亚之前，诺基亚公司曾经是纸张和橡胶制造商，最终成为垄断手机市场的巨头。John Menzies Plc 在1833年原是一家爱丁堡的书店和连锁报亭，如今却经营着全球包裹配送、货物装卸和航空服务。

Such strategies typically face hurdles.Germany’s biggest labor union, IG Metall, opposes Thyssenkrupp’s jointventure plans. It fears they’re a way to exit steel entirely and cut jobs, according to WilhelmSegerath, a member of the union board and chairman of the works group council.

这些战略一般都面临着障碍。德国最大的工会——德国金属行业工会反对蒂森克虏伯的合资公司计划。工会董事会成员和集团委员会主席威廉称，德国金属行业工会担心蒂森克虏伯从此完全淡出钢铁市场并面临裁员危机。

Yet, standing still isn’t an optionas long as Thyssenkrupp’s steel business bleeds cash.

然而，对于蒂森克虏伯而言，如果其钢铁业务不断流失资金，坐以待毙并不是解决办法。

The elevator division has spent about 400million euros on research and development in the past five fiscal years,allowing it to “try wild things out,” unit chief Schierenbeck said. The division already provides almost60 percent of adjusted earnings before interest and taxes and aims to boostprofit to 1 billion euros from 860 million in the fiscal year ended inSeptember.

在过去的5个财年，电梯部门花费了约4亿欧元用于研发，部门主管席伦贝克称允许该部门“试验疯狂的事情”。部门已经提供几乎60%的息税前利润，旨在将截至9月的财年利润从8,600万欧元提升到10亿欧元。

On June 22, Thyssenkrupp will unveil afirst prototype of its Multi elevator that uses magnets instead of cables tomove multiple cars up, down and sideways, reducing the space needed for shaftsand greatly expanding people-carrying capacity. The technology, which may be installedby customers as early as 2019, has the potential to revolutionize buildingdesign and the market for elevators, according to Schierenbeck. An agreement isready on the first project to test the market, he said without elaborating.

今年6月22日，蒂森克虏伯将推出其Multi全功能电梯的第一台原型机，该系统利用磁悬浮技术代替钢缆将多台轿厢左右上下移动，从而减少了轴的空间，大大增加了人员的承载能力。席伦贝克称，这种多功能电梯最早在2019年就会正式安装使用，有望彻底改变建筑设计和电梯市场。第一个项目的协议已准备就绪，以检验市场反应，他对此并未进行具体描述。

“We will talk to competitors about licensing,” he said. “The issue istoo big for us to be able to roll up the market on our own.” The company, which supplied elevators andmoving stairs for New York’s One World Trade Center, competes with U.S.-based UnitedTechnologies Corp.’s Otis unit, the largest elevator producer by revenue. Europeanpeers include Finland’s Kone Oyj and Switzerland’s Schindler HoldingAG.

“我们将与竞争者谈论授权的问题。”他说，“这个项目对我们而言太大了，我们不能够靠自己扛起整个市场。”蒂森克虏伯为纽约贸易中心1号大厦供应电梯和电动扶梯，与美国联合技术公司的奥的斯电梯进行竞争，以收入而论，奥的斯电梯有限公司是最大的电梯生产商。而其在欧洲的竞争伙伴还包括芬兰的通力股份有限公司和瑞士迅达控股公司。

Another of Thyssenkrupp’s majorinnovations is its magnetic levitating walkway. Borrowing technology fromhigh-speed trains, the Accel system will be able to accelerate to 4.5 miles anhour and travel as far as a mile. The company will also install Microsoft Corp.systems in more than 100,000 of its 1.2 million existing elevators by the endof the year, aiming to cut in half the time they spend out of service.

蒂森克虏伯的另一个主要创新是其磁悬浮式走道。Accel系统通过借鉴高速列车的技术，能够提速到每小时4.5英里，并最远运行1英里。年底，蒂森克虏伯也在其现有的120万台电梯中为10万多台电梯植入微软HoloLens技术，旨在削减在服务方面所花费的时间。

“We’ve never really been known as particularly pushy or inventive,”Schierenbeck said. “Because of our innovations, our image is now being transformed.”

席伦贝克称：“我们从未真正被认为是极富进取心或有发明才能。但因为创新，我们的形象正在发生改变。”

本文编译自彭博社同名文章

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