Plakoma
Plakoma GmbH is a family-owned German manufacturer of custom mechanical equipment and complete plants for European steel mills, rolling mills, and foundries, delivering full-service engineering from design through commissioning with heavy-lift capacity up to 160 tons.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1969
- HeadquartersNalbach, Germany
- Headcount51–100
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingHardware or Manufacturing
What Plakoma does
Plakoma GmbH is a privately held, family-owned manufacturer of custom mechanical equipment and complete plants for the steel and metals industry, headquartered at a 60,000 m² site in Nalbach-Körprich, Saarland, Germany. Founded in 1969 by Ernst Braun and Rudolf Schirm and wholly owned by the Braun family since 1993, the company designs, engineers, fabricates, and commissions machinery — including continuous casting plant components, cooling beds, shears, straightening machines, flame-cutting systems, deslagging plants, and handling equipment — for steel mills, rolling mills, and foundries. Its in-house manufacturing stack spans modern CAD-based design, CNC machining, certified welding (processes 111, 121, 135, 138, 141), proprietary VSR (Vibrating Stress Relief) processing, blasting and painting up to 12-meter part length, and a 160-ton crane capacity that supports piece weights up to 50 tons in its contract manufacturing service. The company is led by Managing Director Nicolas Fritzen.
Plakoma operates as a project-based, custom-engineering business rather than a serial product manufacturer. Revenue is generated through one-off contracts for bespoke plant components and turnkey installations, supplemented by a contract manufacturing (Lohnfertigung) service for external clients and by on-site assembly, commissioning, service, and maintenance work. Pricing is quote-based and project-specific, with multi-year execution cycles tied to each customer's capital expenditure plan. The go-to-market is direct enterprise field sales targeting a narrow set of European integrated steelmakers — Saarstahl AG, ArcelorMittal, Dillinger Hüttenwerke AG, Outokumpu, Peiner Träger, and Ascoval among them — with the customer base concentrated in Germany, Luxembourg, France, and Sweden.
The company's positioning rests on full vertical integration from planning through commissioning, a 50+ year operational track record, and a regulatory/qualification stack (EN 1090-2 EXC3, EN 1090-1 WPK, ISO 3834-2, ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 45001) that is effectively a precondition for bidding on load-bearing structural steel work in Europe. The most recent capability expansion (2019) integrated electrical and automation engineers to broaden the portfolio into shears, straightening machines, and robotic cells, exemplified by the SPS-1 robot shear commissioned at Dillinger's rolling mill in 2018. There are no AI/ML capabilities, no digital products, and no external funding or M&A activity; growth has been financed organically and reinvested into facility and headcount expansion.
Plakoma firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Plakoma
- Legal name
- PLAKOMA GmbH
- Website
- https://plakoma.de
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1969
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 51–100 employees
- Short description
- Plakoma GmbH is a family-owned German manufacturer of custom mechanical equipment and complete plants for European steel mills, rolling mills, and foundries, delivering full-service engineering from design through commissioning with heavy-lift capacity up to 160 tons.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Where Plakoma is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Nalbach
- HQ country
- Germany
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
Plakoma business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Hardware or Manufacturing
- Cost components
- Personnel, Supply Chain, Operations, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Custom Machine Construction: Design, construction, and delivery of custom machinery and plant equipment for steel mills, rolling mills, and foundries. Projects range from single components to turnkey plants.
- Contract Manufacturing (Lohnfertigung): Job processing services for named manufacturers from various industries. Manufacturing of components with piece weights up to 50 tons.
- Assembly & Maintenance Services: On-site assembly, commissioning, service, repair, and measurement work at customer locations. Includes qualified welding work.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Other | Multi-year contract | Custom Project Pricing |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels3 records
Plakoma product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Plakoma is a custom machine and plant construction company that designs, fabricates, assembles, and commissions mechanical equipment for steel mills, rolling mills, and foundries. Its core offerings include continuous casting plants, steelworks equipment, bloom, billet and thick plate processing lines, flame cutting machines, and heavy-lift contract manufacturing of components weighing up to 160 tons. The company delivers complete turnkey solutions covering the full value chain from planning and engineering through manufacturing, on-site assembly, and commissioning.
Product overview
Plakoma is a machine and plant construction company offering a comprehensive portfolio of products and services for the steel, rolling mill, and foundry industries. The company's core offering consists of continuous casting plants (Stranggussanlage DH), steelworks equipment, and specialized machinery for bloom, billet, and thick plate processing. These are complemented by in-house manufacturing capabilities including cutting, steel construction, mechanical processing, blasting, painting, and workshop assembly. The company also provides on-site assembly, commissioning, and maintenance services. Products range from complete turnkey plants to individual aggregates such as cutting machines, straightening, beveling, and testing systems, including automation technology. The product portfolio integrates components like strand guide segments, cold strand pickups, bending-straightening drivers, cooling beds, and handling equipment into cohesive manufacturing solutions.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Continuous Casting Plants (Stranggussanlagen)
Quantifiable outcome
- World record bloom thickness of 600mm achieved with Dillinger Hüttenwerke continuous casting plant CC6
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use Plakoma
Customer profileNamed customers6 records
Segments2 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Plakoma technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature3 records
Plakoma partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators5 records
Recent moves13 records
Expansion highlights3 records
Plakoma competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Friedrich Kocks: German specialist in rolling mill equipment (reducing/sizing blocks, wire rod mills, stretch-levelling lines). Focused, single-product-line competitor to Plakoma in the rolling mill segment with overlapping European customer base.
- Tenova: Italian supplier of technologies, equipment, and services for the metals and mining industries with continuous casting and rolling mill offerings. Closely comparable niche-scale competitor serving European and global steel producers.
- SMS group: World's leading supplier of machinery and plants for the steel industry, headquartered in Germany. SMS group designs and builds continuous casting and rolling mill equipment—the same core product categories Plakoma serves, with overlapping European steel mill customers.
- Norican Group (DISA): Denmark-headquartered foundry equipment group including DISA and Wheelabrator. Competes with Plakoma in the foundries segment of Plakoma's business (secondary customer segment), with comparable European mid-market industrial fabricator profile.
- Loramendi: Spanish supplier of equipment, molds, and turnkey solutions for foundries. Comparable to Plakoma's foundry equipment offering within a similar European mid-market industrial fabricator profile and customization-led business model.
- Primetals Technologies: Global engineering and plant-building company (UK/Austria) specializing in metals production. Direct competitor in continuous casting and rolling mill technology with overlapping European steel mill customers and turnkey EPCM delivery model.
- Danieli: Italian global supplier of equipment and plants for the metals industry with a strong continuous casting and rolling mill portfolio. Closest Italian head-to-head competitor to Plakoma in European steel plant construction and foundry equipment.
Broad incumbents
- ANDRITZ Metals: Metals processing division of Austrian industrial group ANDRITZ. Supplies equipment for steel and non-ferrous metals processing including continuous casting and rolling mill technology as part of a wider portfolio across pulp/paper, hydropower, and separations.
- Fives: French industrial engineering group with Steel / Glass / Cement / Sugar divisions. Builds custom metallurgical equipment under Fives Steel overlapping with Plakoma's project delivery but with broader scope, larger balance sheet, and global footprint.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Plakoma social profiles
Digital presencePlakoma compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance6 records
Plakoma financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Plakoma leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
Plakoma funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Plakoma M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Plakoma
What does Plakoma do?
Plakoma is a custom machine and plant construction company that designs, fabricates, assembles, and commissions mechanical equipment for steel mills, rolling mills, and foundries. Its core offerings include continuous casting plants, steelworks equipment, bloom, billet and thick plate processing lines, flame cutting machines, and heavy-lift contract manufacturing of components weighing up to 160 tons. The company delivers complete turnkey solutions covering the full value chain from planning and engineering through manufacturing, on-site assembly, and commissioning.
Is Plakoma a public or private company?
Plakoma is a private company. It is classified as family owned and is currently operating.
When was Plakoma founded?
Plakoma was founded in 1969. It employs 51 to 100 people.
Where is Plakoma based?
Plakoma is headquartered in Nalbach, Germany, in the Europe region.
How does Plakoma make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Custom Machine Construction is the primary driver. The others are contract Manufacturing (Lohnfertigung) and assembly & Maintenance Services.
Who are Plakoma's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Friedrich Kocks, Tenova, SMS group, Norican Group (DISA), Loramendi, Primetals Technologies and Danieli. Broad incumbents are ANDRITZ Metals and Fives.
Does Plakoma have an API?
No public API is recorded for Plakoma.