Klaus Schmitz started working with Otto Junker in 1996 as a Project engineer for the Thermoprocessing of Plants. Subsequently, he was promoted to Project Manager, Leader of Product Group, and Division Manager of Thermoprocessing plants for Copper alloys. Since 2017, he is serving the German company as Vice President Sales, Thermoprocessing Plants for Aluminium and Copper. Born in 1968, Klaus Schmitz completed his master's degree in mechanical engineering from RWTH Aachen University.

AL Circle: Can you briefly overview Otto Junker's history and contributions to heat treatment in the aluminium industry?

Mr Klaus Schmitz, Dipl.-Ing: Mr Otto Junker founded our company exactly 100 years ago, in 1924. The foundation was mainly based on a patented casting mould for brass, which was invented by his father Andreas Junker. Accordingly, the business was very much connected to the copper and brass industry semi’s industry at that time. Beyond the aforementioned casting moulds, electrically heated strip annealing furnaces, including strip processing (today’s DAP lines), already became part of Otto Junker’s product range in 1931. Industrial applications of aluminium came up in the 1930s, and based on our experience with brass semi’s, the Otto Junker Company was involved with this from the beginning. In the 1940s, Otto Junker for aluminium already supplied reverberatory melting furnaces, ingot and billet preheating furnaces for hot rolling mills, extrusion presses and forging applications, as well as coil annealers and heat treatment furnaces for strip, plate, tubes and profiles.