Last Friday, the company premises of Donges SteelTec GmbH in Darmstadt were a hive of activity.

Around 300 current and former employees and their families met in the company’s courtyard in the afternoon to discuss current projects and reminisce about the many successfully completed buildings in recent years. The current projects were presented during a tour of the factory halls and the heavy steel structures for the Pfaffendorf Bridge, the Lufthansa Visitors Centre and the Salzgitter Fireproof Hall were shown up close.

The works council, above all its chairman, Ercan Kaya, who had organised the event and provided the food and drink, was highly praised. After the official opening by the Managing Director, Dr Wolf Cornelius, in the early afternoon, the ‘Donges family’ celebrated carefree and with many personal conversations and memories until late in the evening.

Donges SteelTec is once again involved in training international welding specialists this year.

Darmstadt, 19.02.2024. Donges has been building steel bridges and innovative steel structures for 150 years. Each structure is unique and a small masterpiece. To ensure that the high quality requirements for steel structures can continue to be met in the future, well-trained specialists are needed. With this in mind, Donges SteelTec not only trains construction mechanics and system planners in its own company in Darmstadt, but is also involved in training courses at the Hessen Metal College in Oberursel.

Dipl.-Ing. Andreas Schade, head of quality management/assurance and welding engineer at Donges SteelTec, once again took on part of the theoretical training for the “International Welding Specialist” course at the Hessen Metal College. The practical knowledge of the course participants was deepened during an excursion to Darmstadt in the production halls of Donges SteelTec GmbH.

We congratulate the 18 participants on passing their exams and wish them every success in their future careers.

Donges SteelTec promotes young scientists

Darmstadt, 19.10.2023. It pays to promote young scientists: Darmstadt-based Donges SteelTec GmbH has now awarded a total of 6,000 euros in prize money to four students at Darmstadt Technical University. This is the 11th time that the Donges sponsorship award has recognised outstanding bachelor’s, master’s or doctoral theses in the field of steel construction at TUDa.

The award fulfils several objectives for Donges SteelTec. “On the one hand, this is how we document our solidarity with the Technical University of Darmstadt, which is based on many years of scientific and personal cooperation,” explains Donges SteelTec Managing Director Dr Wolf Cornelius. On the other hand, as one of the leading German steel construction companies, Donges SteelTec is committed to thinking beyond the day and acting sustainably. “And this also includes promoting young technical talent, which is essential for the success of our economy in global competition.”

The jury, including Professors Lange and Vormwald from the Institute for Steel Construction and Mechanics of Materials at TU Darmstadt, sifted through numerous dissertations, bachelor’s and master’s theses and finally selected four young academics, whose work is of outstanding importance in the field of steel construction. The works awarded in two senses deal with the ecological-economic evaluation of sandwich elements, “3-D printing with steel: additive manufacturing of steel columns, the material behaviour of butt welded joints and the load-bearing behaviour of fillet welded joints under longitudinal shear. All papers have experimental as well as theoretical or numerical parts, which mutually confirm the results found.They all lead to findings on the basis of which structural components in steel construction can be designed more economically; thus an essential evaluation criterion for the submission was fulfilled.The four young engineers Alina Behrendt, Niklas Brand, Joachim Schliemann and Anusikah Sivakadadcham were honoured at the ceremony on 19 October 2023 in the guest house of the TU Darmstadt.

In his presentation of the company, Stephan Langer, bridge construction manager at Donges SteelTec, made special mention of the company’s involvement in the construction of the new stadium for the “Lilien” and thus led over to the evening’s keynote speaker, Rüdiger Fritsch. In his rousing speech, the president of SV Darmstadt 1898 provided insights into the business enterprise “football”.

At the subsequent get-together, around 100 guests, including many students from the Department of Civil Engineering at the TUD as well as business partners and employees of Donges SteelTec GmbH, found time to exchange ideas and network.

The next Donges Award ceremony will take place in two years’ time.

Donges SteelTec supports pupils in their career orientation

The practical experience and orientation in the working world of a company is very important for young people on their way to career planning. Against this background, Donges SteelTec again gave boys and girls the opportunity to get to know the world of heavy steel construction on Girls’ & Boys’ Day this year. Nine young people gained their first insights in our technical office, where designers and structural engineers work out the basics for steel structures. After a tour through the individual departments of the company administration, they were finally able to marvel at the heavy, welded steel components for the bridge and building projects in the factory halls.

Donges SteelTec is a training company for construction mechanics and technical system planners. Perhaps the Girls’ and Boys’ Day could contribute to sparking an enthusiasm for building with steel among the young people.

 

Management of Donges SteelTec looks ahead to the new year with confidence

At the last works meeting of the year, Dr Wolf Cornelius thanked all employees for their commitment and successful work in the past business year. Full order books and a correspondingly good presence of the company in the steel construction market allow the management to look positively into the next year. Against this background, the works council and the management agreed in advance on the payment of an inflation compensation to the employees. After so much positive news, the employees celebrated the end of the year in the Christmas-decorated inner courtyard of the company premises. Hot chestnuts, mulled wine and bratwurst from the Donges Grill ensured physical well-being and a good mood until late in the evening.