Gerdau

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For the town in Lower Saxony, see Gerdau, Germany.

Gerdau S.A.

Type	Public (NYSE: GGB)
Founded	1901
Headquarters	Porto Alegre, Brazil
Key people	Jorge Gerdau Johannpeter, André Gerdau Johannpeter and Claudio Gerdau Johannpeter
Industry	Steel
Revenue	▲R$ 34,2 billion^[1] USD (2007)
Employees	41 thousand
Website	www.gerdau.com

Gerdau S.A. (NYSE: GGB) is the largest producer of long steel in the Americas, with steel mills in Brazil, Argentina, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, 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 24,8 million metric tons of steel per year.

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 Americas. It has 317 industrial and comercial units in the 14 countries where it operates and it has more than 41 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, Toronto e Madrid.

1 History
2 Today
3 Board of Directors
4 Officers and Executive Committee
5 Gerdau's Business Operations
6 Gerdau Group Units
7 External links
8 References

[edit] History

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 1930’s, 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, Curt (as he was informally addressed) 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. This respect, summed up in the Corporate Credo as "Commitment to all Publics", is the basis of Gerdau's relationship with its customers, shareholders, employees and community. Curt's business talent and the Gerdau family's entrepreneurial tradition were the ingredients for the company's tireless striving for customer satisfaction and consequent business success.

[edit] 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 of which raw materials are bought from nearby suppliers and products are primarily sold in the same region. Gerdau operates through three different processes:

Mini mills;
Integrated mills;
Direct reduced iron plant.

[edit] 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
Carlos J. Petry: 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

[edit] 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).

[edit] Gerdau's Business Operations

Long Steel Brazil
Specialty Steel: Brazil (Aços Especiais Piratini), 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), Venezuela (Sizuca)
North America: Canada and United States (Gerdau Ameristeel)
India (Kalyani Gerdau)