What Steinert does

Steinert GmbH is a privately held, family-owned German industrial manufacturer founded in 1889 and headquartered in Cologne. The company designs and builds magnetic separation and sensor-based sorting systems used by enterprises in metal recycling, waste recycling, glass recycling, and mining to recover valuable materials from heterogeneous input streams. Its technology portfolio spans magnetic head pulleys, drums, overband magnets, eddy current separators, combination separators, and wet drum separators on the magnetic side, and X-ray, induction, NIR, colour, LIBS, and combined multi-sensor systems (up to four sensors in the KSS platform) on the sensor side. The 2024 acquisition of the MSort product line from Mogensen (JOEST Group) extended the portfolio into optical chute sorting for glass and industrial minerals.

Steinert monetises primarily through capital-equipment sales of bespoke sorting machines, supplemented by multi-year lifecycle service contracts, commissioning, spare parts, and remote maintenance (with up to 95% of facility modifications handled remotely). Customer examples include Hündgen (20 STEINERT systems, 270K tonnes/year), PreZero Sorting Austria (35 NIR sorters, 105K tonnes/year), CMR Green Technologies (600K tonnes/year across India), ReSource Waste Services (650K tonnes/year, 1.4% non-ferrous recovery rate), FANTONI (450K tonnes/year of recycled wood), KIBAG SORTAG (98% mineral purity), Cirrec (3 billion trays/year), and the Navachab Gold Mine. The go-to-market is enterprise field sales supported by wholly-owned subsidiaries in Germany (Cologne, Wedel, Zittau), USA, Australia, and Brazil, plus 50+ sales partnerships and joint ventures globally; proof-of-concept sorting tests are run in Cologne test centres.

The business operates with approximately 600 employees worldwide and reported annual turnover of approximately EUR 180 million. The STEINERT.digital software suite (including the AI-based IOI module) overlays the hardware base with trainable object recognition, condition monitoring, remote updates, and remote commissioning. ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 50001:2018 certifications apply to operations. Management is led by CEO Peter Funke and CFO Marc Pfannhauser; subsidiary leadership includes Lukas Armatys (STEINERT MSort) and Andreas Jäger and Stefan Stettler (STEINERT UniSort). The company has no disclosed external institutional shareholders or venture funding.

Name

Steinert

Legal name

Steinert GmbH

Website

https://steinertglobal.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1889

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

501–1,000 employees

Short description

Steinert GmbH is a privately held German manufacturer of magnetic separation and sensor-based sorting systems serving metal recycling, waste recycling, glass recycling, and mining enterprises globally, with ~600 employees and EUR ~180 million annual turnover.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Industrial sorting and separation equipment

NAICS

Mining Machinery and Equipment Manufacturing (333131)

SIC

Construction, Mining & Materials Handling Machinery & Equip (3530), Mining Machinery & Equip (No Oil & Gas Field Mach & Equip) (3532)

akta.pro primary industry

Advanced/Optical Sorting & Quality Control Services (NIR, AI, Robotics) (BPALADAH)

Keywords

• Magnetic separation equipment
• Sensor sorting systems
• Metal recycling technology
• Industrial sorting machinery
• Mining separation equipment

Headquarters

HQ city

Cologne

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices6 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Sorting Equipment Sales: B2B industrial equipment manufacturer selling magnetic separators and sensor sorting systems for recycling and mining applications
2. Service and Maintenance: Lifecycle services covering commissioning, maintenance, and system optimisation with remote support capabilities - up to 95% of facility modifications handled remotely
3. Annual Turnover: Approximately EUR 180 million annual turnover

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels7 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

STEINERT designs, manufactures and services magnetic separation equipment and sensor-based sorting systems used by industrial recyclers and miners to recover valuable materials from waste and ore streams. Its portfolio spans magnetic head pulleys, drums, overband magnets, eddy current separators and wet drum separators, alongside X-ray, NIR, LIBS, induction, colour and combined-sensor sorting platforms marketed under brands including UniSort, MSort, PLASMAX, KSS, XSS-T and EddyC. The company complements hardware with the STEINERT.digital software suite for AI-based object identification, condition monitoring, remote updates and plant commissioning, plus lifecycle service and multi-year maintenance contracts.

Product overview

Steinert is a manufacturer of innovative magnetic separation technology and sensor sorting systems for resource preservation. The company offers a comprehensive portfolio of sorting solutions across two main technology categories: magnetic separation (including magnetic head pulleys, magnetic drums, overband magnets, eddy current separators, combination separators, and wet drum separators) and sensor sorting (including X-ray, induction, colour, NIR, LIBS, and combined sensor systems). Key product brands include STEINERT MSort (chute sorting systems for glass recycling and industrial minerals acquired in 2024), STEINERT UniSort (NIR-based sorting including UniSort PR, Black, BlackEye, and Film variants), STEINERT PLASMAX (LIBS-based aluminium alloy sorting), STEINERT KSS (combination sensor sorting with up to 4 sensors), and STEINERT XSS T EVO 5.0 (X-ray sorting). The STEINERT.digital suite provides AI-based capabilities including Intelligent Object.Identifier (IOI) for AI-powered object recognition, Intelligent.Declustering, Intelligent.Condition.Monitoring, Intelligent.Remote.Update, and Intelligent.Plant.Commissioning. These technologies serve applications in metal recycling, waste recycling, glass recycling, and mining.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• UniSort: NIR-based sensor sorting systems for waste processing including UniSort PR (camera-based NIR system), UniSort Black (detects dark/black objects using NIR), UniSort BlackEye (separates different black plastics by type), and UniSort Film (sorting system for lightweight 2D film materials).
• MSort
• PLASMAX
• STEINERT EddyC
• STEINERT XSS
• STEINERT KSS
• STEINERT.digital
• FinesMaster
• HGS

Products and services

• Magnetic Head Pulleys Rotary magnetic belt separators providing high iron extraction for conveyor-fed material streams; used by recyclers and miners needing primary ferrous separation.
• STEINERT MT Magnetic Drums Magnetic drums delivering high-performance and robust ferrous separation for bulk material handling; used in recycling and mining plants for tramp iron removal and concentration.
• Self-cleaning Overband Magnets Overhead suspension magnets that automatically extract even coarse tramp iron from material streams; targeted at high-throughput recycling and shredder operations.
• Manual-cleaning Overband Magnets Overhead suspension magnets with manual cleaning for removing tramp iron from lower-volume material streams; suited to smaller recycling and industrial sites.
• STEINERT EddyC Eddy Current Separators Eddy current separator for non-ferrous metal separation from waste and scrap streams; used by metal recyclers, C&D processors and e-scrap operators.
• STEINERT Combination Separators Compact separators that combine several magnetic stages in one machine; designed for tight installation spaces in recycling and mining plants.
• STEINERT Wet Drum Magnetic Separators Drum separators for fine-grained magnetic particle recovery in wet processing media; primarily used in industrial minerals and mining applications such as magnetite processing.
• STEINERT ISS Induction Sorting System Induction-based sensor sorting system that reliably sorts all metals; used for separating stainless steel and other metals from mixed scrap and shredder streams.
• STEINERT XSS-T EVO 5.0 X-ray Sorting System X-ray sorting system for non-ferrous metal sorting and aluminium recycling, delivering high-purity separation down to 5 mm grain size; includes 4-year warranty on X-ray source and sensors plus software and hardware updates.
• UniSort PR EVO 5.0 NIR Sorting System Camera-based NIR sorting system that combines hyperspectral imaging with colour camera data from the same point at the same time, achieving above 99% purity for plastic sorting including food-grade rPET separation.
• UniSort Black NIR Sorting Unit NIR sorting unit that uses HSI camera technology to detect and sort dark and black objects that standard NIR systems cannot handle; deployed in plastics recycling and packaging sortation lines.
• UniSort BlackEye NIR Sorting System Enhanced UniSort Black variant that separates different black plastics by polymer type using HSI NIR technology; used by plastics recyclers needing black-plastic fractionation.
• UniSort Film Sorting System Sorting system designed for lightweight 2D film materials prone to flying, using controlled airflow to keep objects in the detection zone; used in polyethylene film and packaging sortation.
• STEINERT PLASMAX LIBS Sorting System Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy sorting system for precision aluminium alloy identification, capable of distinguishing alloy types down to small grain sizes; used by aluminium recyclers and producers.
• STEINERT KSS Combined Sensor Sorting System Combined sensor sorting platform integrating up to four sensors (3D, colour, induction, NIR, X-ray transmission, or X-ray fluorescence); deployed in mining and complex recycling applications such as Navachab Gold Mine (KSS EVO 6.0).
• STEINERT Colour Sorting System Optical colour sorting system used for material differentiation based on visual properties; deployed across recycling, industrial mineral and food-grade sorting lines.
• STEINERT SteelMaster Compact Sorting system designed for metal streams with small particle sizes; introduced at IFAT 2026 as a compact addition to STEINERT's metal-sorting portfolio for recyclers handling fines.
• STEINERT FinesMaster Combination Separator Compact combination separator combining two serial magnetic separators with one eddy current separator for fine-range separation; deployed in metal recycling fines processing.
• STEINERT HGS High-Gradient Magnetic Separator High-gradient magnetic separator offered as a compact single- or multi-stage system for fine-range magnetic separation work, including industrial minerals processing.
• STEINERT MSort Chute Sorting Systems Optical chute sorting systems using transmitted light and double-sided detection with colour and NIR sensors for homogeneous bulk materials from 0.5 to 250 mm; used in glass recycling, industrial minerals and fine grain mining applications.
• STEINERT.digital Digital Suite Digital software suite that adds AI-based object identification, automated declustering, centralised condition monitoring, remote software updates and central spectral database commissioning to STEINERT sorting systems; sold to recyclers and miners upgrading installed equipment.
• STEINERT Service Portfolio Lifecycle service offering covering commissioning, availability, optimisation and value protection of installed STEINERT equipment, including remote support that handles up to 95% of facility modifications remotely.
• STEINERT Test Centres Sorting trial and demonstration facilities at the Cologne headquarters used to validate equipment performance on customer material samples before purchase.

Quantifiable outcome

• 95% CO2 savings compared to primary production when recycling secondary metals
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability4 records

Feature10 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Mogensen GmbH & Co. KG (JOEST Group)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 16 May 2024STEINERT acquired the MSort sorting systems product line from Mogensen GmbH & Co. KG, which has been part of the JOEST group since January 2024. The acquisition led to the founding of STEINERT MSort GmbH subsidiary. The transaction was finalized with support from the Buchholz family.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves9 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Pellenc ST: French sensor-based sorting specialist for MSW, C&D waste, and industrial recycling using NIR and optical technologies. Direct competitor in advanced optical sorting, especially in Europe.
• TOMRA: Norwegian global leader in sensor-based sorting for recycling, food and mining with optical/NIR/XRT technologies. Directly competes with Steinert in collection/recycling sorting and overlapping mining applications.
• Binder+Co: Austrian specialist in processing, screening and optical sorting for recycling, glass and industrial minerals. Direct competitor in glass recycling and mineral sorting where Steinert MSort also plays.
• Rädlinger ZSK: German sorting equipment maker focused on construction and demolition waste, scrap and commercial waste sorting. Direct regional competitor for C&D and waste recycling applications.
• National Recovery Technology (NRT): US-based sorting equipment manufacturer focused on e-scrap, ASR and metal recovery. Direct competitor in metal recovery applications, particularly for the North American market.
• Eriez: US-based global manufacturer of magnetic separation equipment, eddy current separators, and metal detectors. Direct competitor in Steinert's core magnetic separation product line.
• Sesotec: German manufacturer of metal detectors, X-ray and sorting systems for recycling, plastics and food. Head-to-head competitor in Europe, particularly in NIR/optical sorting and eddy current separation.

Broad incumbents

• Bühler Group: Swiss global processing equipment maker with optical sorting capabilities for food, feed and grain. Overlaps with Steinert in sensor-based optical sorting technology but serves different primary verticals.
• Metso: Finnish broad-line mining and aggregates equipment maker offering crushing, screening, and sensor-based ore sorting. Larger scale incumbent in mining with adjacent (not identical) sorting technology portfolio.

Emerging players

• Key Technology (Duravant): US-based optical and laser sorting equipment maker for food processing and industrial applications. Overlaps in camera/NIR sorting technology but with primary focus on food rather than recycling/mining.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/c/STEINERTglobal
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/steinert
• Instagraminstagram.com/steinertglobal
• Xx.com/SteinertUS
• Facebookfacebook.com/steinertus

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Subsidiaries5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A1 record

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Steinert