Regional Perspectives Lavant Valley

The Austrian subsidiary of the Schwing-Stetter-Group was founded in 1970 in St. Stefan near Wolfsberg and is now the heart of the corporation.  For over forty decades assemblies and components for premium quality concrete pumps have been manufactured here. The high-tech products from the Lavant Valley location are in use worldwide and guarantee safety, profitability and reliability. Sophisticated, practice-oriented engineering services are the basis of Schwing products. Around 4,000 tons of pipes and piston rods are processed into 22,000 cylinders in St. Stefan every year. The Schwing-Stetter-Group is the world's leading systems-trader for the entire concrete technology process - from production and transport to placement and residual concrete processing. As the main production plant within the Schwing-Stetter-Group, the location in St. Stefan also offers the know-how of Schwing contract manufacturing.

As a Carinthian family business with 70 years of history, the Knusperstube bakery places great importance on the traditional production of freshly baked goods using regional and natural raw ingredients. Around 100 employees supply the population of southern Austria daily with healthy fresh bread and pastries. In addition to its main purpose, which is the bakery, the company is also active in the sectors catering, goods transport and electrical engineering. Competencies have been developed in adjacent sectors in recent years in order to efficiently support the bakery. Around 18 tons of Austrian flour are processed every day and the annual turnover is almost 8 million euros. Core delivery regions are Carinthia and Styria, but markets in south-eastern Austria are also supplied. In the past, the Knusperstube bakery also supplied some special products to Italy and Hungary.

PMS Elektro- und Automationstechnik GmbH is the competent partner for partial and complete solutions in the electrical and automation technology field and the company services industrial customers in Austria and the international market. As one of the leading companies in the industry, PMS offers engineering, automation, project planning, switchgear production, industrial mounting, energy technology and maintenance as well as engineering in mechanical and plant manufacturing at the highest technical level and from a single source. Operating performance in 2020 was 63.3 million euros. The company currently has 380 employees. In addition, between 50 and 100 leasing employees are also continuously employed. This makes PMS one of the largest employers in the Lavant Valley. PMS has branches in Vienna, Linz, Kapfenberg and Kundl. Cooperation with the Carinthian University of Applied Sciences enables the completion of extra occupational studies with an academic degree at PMS Technikum LAVANTTAL. For this reason, PMS was awarded the TRIGOS Carinthia Prize in Austria.

Mondi Frantschach GmbH based in Frantschach-St. Gertraud is a paper and pulp supplier for numerous packaging manufacturers and processing plants around the world. The consequent implementation of an innovative corporate policy and extensive investments in recent years, have enabled this branch to develop into one of the most modern factories for Kraft paper worldwide. Highly qualified and committed employees with experience and an innovative spirit are an important key to the continued successful implementation of corporate goals. Around 450 employees ensure a global export share of around 90% to more than 60 countries. Approximately 1.4 million m³ of wood – predominantly from Austrian forests – are processed and utilised. By supporting social projects and promoting sports and cultural events, the plant contributes actively both to community life and the entire region.

TUBEX Aluminium Tubes is considered the leading manufacturer of aluminium tubes. With over 70 years of experience, the company supplies customers in the cosmetics, food, pharmaceutical and technical industries with sustainable packaging solutions that have received multiple awards. Among other things, TUBEX is the inventor of the world's first 100% recyclable aluminium tube - and its commitment to innovations that are in tune with the environment forms the basis for the continuous development of new pioneering packaging solutions that protect the product just as well as they protect the planet. TUBEX Aluminium Tubes employs 1,000 employees at seven locations and supplies 650 customers in 76 markets worldwide. The Wolfsberg branch currently employs 225 employees.

Kohlbach is a family business with a long tradition in the Lavant Valley, which has dedicated itself entirely to the manufacture of systems for the energy-related utilisation of biomass for the international market. In the last few years alone, well over 1,500 Kohlbach systems have been put into operation in 30 countries. These include heat supply systems for rural schools in Scotland as well as a sawmill in Siberia, combined heat and power systems for tourist facilities in the Dolomites or for timber industries in the Eifel region. Since 2016 Kohlbach has been represented on all continents of the world. The company has also been a partner to well-known research institutes in Austria and abroad for decades and has set up a number of well-respected EU demonstration plants for high-tech.

The Lavanttaler Tischlergemeinschaft (i.e. Lavant Valley Joinery Association or LTG) is a group of five independent joineries in the Lavant Valley that have been working together for over 25 years. The construction of a joint wood-processing centre in the year 2000 further strengthened this cooperation. LTG is the recipient of the State Prize for Marketing as well as the Carinthian state coat of arms and the Wolfsberg city coat of arms.

The Verein Lavanttaler Wirtschaft (i.e. Business Association Lavant Valley or VLW) was founded in 1996 as a non-partisan and institutional platform with the aim of improving the economic framework conditions in the Lavant Valley region and thus strengthening the business location in the long term. The VLW is and still sees itself today as a non-partisan and non-institutional platform, an ideas provider, initiator and groundbreaker for innovative projects and the local economy in the Lavant Valley.

Thanks to a unique cooperation between PMS Elektro- und Automationstechnik GmbH and the Carinthian University of Applied Sciences, a degree in the field "Engineering & IT" can be completed in the form of extra occupational studies. In 2019, the bachelor's degree program "Systems Engineering" commenced and in the winter semester 2020/21 two further courses "Mechanical Engineering" and "Industrial Engineering" were added.