IAB – An Outstanding Company
IAB is an independent supplier of high-end steel machine construction, supporting structures and welded constructions from Austria. As a traditional family business, IAB is a specialist for any individual problem solution.
Since its founding in 1982, INDUSTRIEANLAGENBAU GmbH combines committed management and precise planning with consistent and precise execution. This standard has developed and further strengthened our position as a reliable partner of the national and international industry.
In our modern production plant in St. Stefan in the Lavanttal, a state-of-the-art machinery pool, high-performance steel gravel blasting plant and heated preservation hall master any production technical challenge on a production area of 5,000 m².
All types of containers, storage tanks, hoppers, parts of furnace and boiler jackets, chimneys, mast components, machine and steel parts with a piece weight of up to 55 t represent only part of our comprehensive product range.
We see our daily challenges in recognising and performing your individual tasks – IAB solutions are specific and complete. We combine all competences of development and production of high-quality industrial products in our company IAB.
Our Products
Our company is a leader in the four key areas of steel water construction, mast construction, traffic technology and transformer construction and also has a long tradition in steel machine construction.
Our principles
IAB is the specialist for individual problem solutions.
We solve the challenges our customers set to us based on technology. Our competence includes the entire value-added chain from R&D to engineering, material and process know-how to user knowledge.
IAB is successful on the international market through technical competence.
We secure our position in competition by utilisation of all innovation potentials in products and systems. We maintain continuous know-how exchange with our customers.
IAB is customer- and market-oriented in all areas.
We try to achieve competitive benefits through products and solutions that offer our customers above-average use.
IAB uses its market potentials across Europe.
We consider ourselves an internationally acting company. To utilise all market potentials, we promote international know-how exchange and tackle strategic partnerships where necessary.
IAB wants to be attractive for committed employees.
We see our employees as carriers of all company performance. We want to have an organisation of trust, not of control. We respect the personal targets and convictions of our employees. We ensure a performance-promoting climate and support professional and personal development of our employees.
IAB produces products that meet the highest quality requirements.
We understand performance leadership to mean not only best product performance for the customer but also a customer service.
IAB ensures its long-term existence on the market with research and development.
We secure our competitive position through permanent innovation in procedures, products and systems. For this, we promote the creativity of all employees. We want to achieve our growth from our own power. Our risk compensation by product and region ensures long-term continuation of our company, its autonomy and independence.
IAB respects the social values and standards of all countries.
We include ethical value ideas in our corporate policy in the scope of our social responsibility, follow state provisions and go beyond this.
IAB maintains the tradition of an open family-owned company.
Continuity, open-mindedness and mutual trust, as well as entrepreneurial thinking, are characteristics of this tradition. They comprehensively determine the relationship between the company and the owner family. They also characterise our relationship with shareholders, employees and customers.
Our History
Background: Tradition and a Crisis
In the summer of 1982, Industrieanlagenbau GmbH (IAB) was founded in St. Stefan, in the Lavanttal. Industrial facilities were to be the focus of the new company as well as part of its name.
IAB and its role in development of the Lavanttal industry
The Lavanttal region actually has a crisis to thank for its development into the blooming industrial region, in particular with a focus on steel construction and engineering. In the 1960s it became more and more certain that the valley’s largest operation, the Lavanttaler Kohlenbergbau GmbH (LAKOG), which mined lignite in St. Stefan in the Lavanttal, had to be discontinued in the foreseeable future. After large parts of the pit burned down in 1967, the mine was shut down in March 1968.
That was the starting point for the restructuring of the industry. With financial aid from the Federal government and the state of Carinthia, the equivalent of about 7.3 M € was invested into the settlement of new operations, in particular in the area of the metal-processing industry. These new operations still characterise the appearance of the valley’s industry today. Slowly, a workers’ potential developed in the area of metalworking. It had to be used.
It also became foreseeable that the once-bad traffic situation of the valley would improve a lot as compared to the remaining part of Carinthia. Since the early 1960s, the Lavanttal had been connected to the central area of Carinthia by railway. With the decision of routing the Southern motorway between Vienna and Villach through the Lavanttal via Graz and the Packalpe, the location grew less isolated in the course of the years. Therefore, the future good traffic situation and the existing workers’ potential were decisive for settlement of the operation.
The founding and the first years
In fact, another small crisis contributed to settlement of the operation. When a metalworker’s operation became insolvent in 1982, the state of Carinthia approached entrepreneur Dr. Monika Egger, asking her to take it over to preserve the jobs or even create new ones.
IAB was founded on 30 July 1982 and entered in the corporate register in Klagenfurt on 3 August 1982. Subsequently, IAB developed an amazing competence in the area of welding of steel and welded structures. The IAB assembly office was first located in Attnang-Puchheim in Upper Austria. Together with this assembly office, IAB now had about 120 employees already.
Strong independence and responsibility
IAB developed a strong independence that went hand in hand with an organisational and personal restructuring. It worked mostly in steel, machine, plant and device construction. Since 1997, the core competence was increased continually with expansion of the welding permits (DIN18800 class E, DIN6700-2C1). In 2000, the ÖNORM 7812 part 1 and ISO-certificate 9001 were introduced.
Since the early 1990s, IAB has been active in the supplier industry for telecommunications. It developed into the market leader for production and assembly of free-standing antenna support structures.
In 1999 alone, the 130 employees built more than 500 masts for mobile phone lines. A delivery warehouse was built in Knittelfeld in 1998 for delivery of the 400 to 500 masts required per year. IAB drew attention from outside of the region in 1999 when it planned and developed a mobile phone mast shaped like an artificial tree.
The increasing production volume was managed by the introduction of two-shift operation since 1997. In order to develop competitiveness, large annual investments in machinery have been made since then. This also included employee training, and in particular training of committed young people into steel construction technicians and welding specialists. Approx. 100 very well-trained employees are now employed by IAB on average.
In 2000 and 2001, an investment effort of about 365,000 € was made for a new social and common area for the company’s employees and new rooms for the planning office. Over time, other business fields were developed, including the construction of cableway supports, and in particular the production of large transformer builders and container construction. Another new addition was the construction of traffic sign bridges for traffic guidance systems.
In addition to the domestic market of Austria, IAB was also increasingly active in Western Europe. Today, a considerable share of the turnover is acquired in Germany, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Switzerland.
Find out more about IAB as an employer and our vacancies.
Quality Management & Certification
uality assurance and customer satisfaction are important to IAB. All production processes are subject to strict quality controls – to the benefit of our customers. The quality of IAB provides safety, documented safety: