Franklin, Massachusetts, USA – on Tuesday October 27, 2009, the employees of PLANSEE USA will celebrate the company’s 70 year anniversary.

President and CEO Egon Okorn states: “Customers from the electronics, lighting technology, glass, medical technology, aerospace and thermal processing industries have been relying for decades on our extensive knowledge in high performance materials and expertise in high precision machining and fabrication of refractory metals and composite materials.”

The company under the name of American Electro Metal Corp was incorporated in the state of Maryland on October 27, 1939 by Dr. Paul Schwarzkopf, a pioneer in powder metallurgy and founder of PLANSEE in Reutte, Austria. Demands in the lighting industry and material developments to support the U.S. Industry during and after WWII contributed to increased business activities with refractory metals. As a result the company changed its name to Schwarzkopf Development Corp in 1955 and established a warehouse and sales operation in Holliston, Massachusetts in 1970. The company continued to undergo rapid growth which resulted in the investment into machining and fabrication of refractory metals in the 1980s. To enhance the company’s focus on high-tech applications, the company changed its name to Schwarzkopf Technologies in 1991.

Limited space and further increase in business activities led to the decision to build a new production facility with a square footage of 62,000 in Franklin, Massachusetts in 1996. With the full integration into the PLANSEE High Performance Materials (HPM) division and as part of a global operating company Schwarzkopf Technologies changed its name to PLANSEE USA at the end of 2007.

PLANSEE USA creates an important link between the PLANSEE HPM division in Europe and the U.S. market. Mill products which are produced in different production sites in Austria, Germany, Switzerland, and France are sent to Franklin, MA to manufacture and distribute innovative products for our customers in the U.S. and Canada.