Gerdau

For other uses, see Gerdau (disambiguation).

Gerdau S.A.

Type	Sociedade Anônima
Traded as	BM&F Bovespa: GGBR3, GGBR4 NYSE: GGB BMAD: XGGB
Industry	Steel
Founded	(1901)
Headquarters	Porto Alegre, Brazil
Key people	Jorge Gerdau Johannpeter, (Chairman) André Gerdau Johannpeter, (CEO)
Products	Iron & steel
Revenue	US$ 22.0 billion (2010) [1]
Net income	US$ 1.4 Billion (2010) [2]
Employees	47.200
Subsidiaries	Aços Villares Sidenor Gerdau Ameristeel
Website	www.gerdau.com

Gerdau (BM&F Bovespa: GGBR3, GGBR4 / NYSE: GGB / BMAD: XGGB) is the largest producer of long steel in America, with steel mills in Brazil, Argentina, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, India, Mexico, Peru, Spain, the United States, Uruguay and Venezuela. It also holds 40% stake in the Spanish company Sidenor and has a joint venture with Kalyani Group in India. Currently, Gerdau has an installed capacity of 26 million metric tons of steel per year and it offers steel for the civil construction, industry and agricultural sectors.

The Gerdau Group is one of the agents in the consolidation process of the global steel business. Gerdau is the world’s 14th largest steelmaker and the largest producer of long steel in the American continent. It has 337 industrial and commercial units in the 14 countries where it operates and it has more than 38 thousand employees. Its products, sold on five continents, serve the civil construction, industrial and agricultural sectors. Shares of Gerdau Group companies are traded on the stock exchanges of São Paulo, New York and Madrid and was delisted in Toronto.

History

Residence and company Estate Society João Gerdau, 1885

Always seeking new opportunities, João Gerdau moved again, this time to Porto Alegre, with his wife Alvine Gerdau and his three children, Hugo, Walter and Bertha. There he went into industry, buying the Pontas de Paris Nail Factory in 1901. In the 1930s, the Hugo Gerdau Nail Factory (successor of the Pontas de Paris Nail Factory) expanded production with the establishment of a second factory in the regional city of Passo Fundo.

Curt Johannpeter's entry into the Gerdau family marked the beginning of a brave new direction for the company. Born in Germany in 1899, Curt Johannpeter made his career in finance. In 1922 he began to work for the German Transatlantic Bank, a subsidiary of Deutsche Bank. In 1930 he became the branch inspector for Portugal, Spain and Latin America, and in the same year was introduced to the young Helda Gerdau during a trip to Brazil. They married and had four sons, Germano, Klaus, Jorge and Frederico.

In 1946, Johannpeter took the wheel of the Gerdau company and directed a critical phase in its expansion. Two years later, the Hugo Gerdau Nail Factory began its highly successful course as a steel-maker, with the Riograndense mill. Curt Johannpeter's period as director was crucial for the modernization and professionalization of Gerdau. He brought to the company the same values he cultivated in the family, showing that respect for people is an essential factor in the success of an organization.

Today

Gerdau's core business is to transform steel scrap and iron ore into steel products. It clients encompasses the civil construction, industrial and agricultural sectors.

Its operations are based on the integrated regional market mill concept by which raw materials are bought from nearby suppliers and products are primarily sold in the same region. This brand of by-product synergy led to the acquisition of Chaparral Steel in 2007, a company which has been noted for creating interchange between head management and workers and deliberately employs a maximum of 1000 people (the size of a village).^[3] Gerdau operates through three different processes:

• Mini mills;
• Integrated mills;
• Direct reduced iron plant.

Board of directors

The Board of Directors monitors the implementation of its policies and is responsible for determination of the long-term strategy, choosing the Executive Board and designating the members of the Executive Committee, in addition to deciding matters relevant to the business and to operations. It has eight members, listed below:

• Jorge Gerdau Johannpeter: Chairman
• Germano H. Gerdau Johannpeter: Vice chairman
• Klaus Gerdau Johannpeter: Vice chairman
• Frederico C. Gerdau Johannpeter: Vice chairman
• Affonso Celso Pastore: Board member since 2002
• André Pinheiro de Lara Resende: Board member since 2002
• Oscar P. Bernardes Neto: Board member since 2002

Officers and Executive Committee

The Executive Committee (GEC) consists of the chief executive officer (CEO), chief operating officer (COO) and six vice presidents. They are responsible for general business operations, presentating plans to the Board of Directors, leading the proposal and application of approved strategies, promoting synergies and improving results by working directly with the Business Operations and Functional Processes.

• André Gerdau Johannpeter (Chief executive officer and president of the Gerdau Executive Committee)
• Claudio Gerdau Johannpeter (Chief operating officer)
• Alfredo Huallem (Executive vice president of the Long Steel Brazil Business Operation),
• Manoel Vitor de Medonça Filho (Executive vice president of the Açominas Business Operation),
• Marcio Ramos (Executive vice president of the Latin America Business Operation),
• Mario Longhi Filho (Executive vice president of the North America Business Operation and CEO of Gerdau Ameristeel),
• Osvaldo Schirmer (Executive vice president of Finance and Investor Relations),
• Paulo Fernando Bins de Vasconcellos (Executive vice president of the Specialty Steel Business Operations).

Business operations

• Long Steel Brazil
• Specialty Steel: Brazil (Aços Especiais Piratini e Aços Villares), Spain (Corporación Sidenor), United States (Gerdau Macsteel)
• Açominas: Brazil
• Latin America: Argentina (Sipar Gerdau), Chile (Gerdau AZA), Colombia (Diaco), Mexico (Sidertul and Aceros Corsa), Peru (Siderperu), Dominican Republic (Inca), Uruguay (Gerdau Laisa), Guatemala (Corporación Centroamericana del Acero), Venezuela (Sizuca)
• North America: Canada and United States (Gerdau Ameristeel)
• India (Kalyani Gerdau Steels Ltd)

Assets

• 48 steel mills
• 21 downstream operations
• 94 fabricated reinforcing steel facilities
• 4 flat steel service centers
• 80 retail facilities
• 32 scrap collection and processing facilities
• 4 iron ore extraction areas
• 2 solid pig iron production units
• 2 private port terminals

Associated companies

• 10 steel mills
• 7 downstream operations
• 13 retail facilities

Joint ventures

• 2 steel mills
• 4 downstream operations
• 1 fabricated reinforcing steel facilities

References

1. ^ [1]
2. ^ [2]
3. ^ Leonard-Barton, Dorothy, "The Factory as a Learning Laboratory", Sloan Management Review Winter 1993 

Further reading

WERLANG, William. A Família de Johannes Heinrich Kaspar Gerdau: Um estudo de caso sobre a industrialização no sul do Brasil Dissertação de Mestrado defendida em 1999. MILA. UFSM

External links

• Gerdau Group homepage
• Gerdau Ameristeel
• History of Gerdau

Companies portal