Gräbener is moving from Netphen to Göppingen
This is really just a brief announcement, which we are reproducing here verbatim: “Due to persistently challenging economic conditions, ANDRITZ Schuler is discontinuing the production of coin and medal minting presses at the site of its subsidiary ANDRITZ Gräbener in Netphen, Germany. In the future, these products will be manufactured alongside ANDRITZ Schuler’s systems at its headquarters in Göppingen. The relocation and the associated transfer of know-how are already underway. The Netphen site will remain in operation as a service hub.” This announcement is akin to a minor earthquake, given that virtually all coin presses for circulation coins and government commemorative coins worldwide are supplied by either Schuler or Gräbener.
A Look at the Market
Today, there are essentially three suppliers of coin minting presses. Schuler is the undisputed leader when it comes to producing large quantities of circulation coins—including bimetallic coins and those with a polymer ring.
Gräbener has developed versatile coin presses that are perfectly suited for smaller quantities of circulation coins and larger editions of commemorative coins.
Then there is a third, independent supplier whose coin presses are primarily used for die production and for small runs of commemorative coins that are complex to produce: Sack & Kiesselbach.
Schuler has been part of the Andritz Group de facto since 2013 and fully since 2020; the group describes itself as the “world’s leading provider of process technologies.” This means that Andritz is not only the owner of the coining press division of the machine manufacturer Schuler, but also of Gräbener. This is because Gräbener Press Systems was spun off from the original company as early as 1985 and acquired by Schuler in 1988.
Production Running at Full Speed
Schuler had a good nose for this, because the fall of the Iron Curtain fundamentally changed the landscape for the supplier industry. First, the Soviet Union collapsed in December 1991, giving rise to many new states. Some of them wanted to mint their own coins domestically. These were golden times for Schuler: in collaboration with other suppliers, the company offered the young nations turnkey solutions.
Business grew once again with the introduction of the euro. Starting in 1998, European mints began preparing to replace all circulation coins in some of Europe’s most populous countries. To do so, they had to completely renew their machinery. Demand for faster, ever-faster, and even faster minting presses rose. Schuler developed high-performance automatic machines. Gräbener supplied the presses on which the commemorative coins were produced.
The Collapse
After the introduction of the euro, demand collapsed. Only the smallest coins had to be minted in large quantities every year because they were constantly disappearing from circulation. This meant a lot of spare capacity, since the high-speed coin presses could produce an entire country’s supply of coins in just a few weeks or months.
This sparked a global price war over the production of circulation and commemorative coins for third countries without their own mints. Anyone who wanted to keep up needed the latest, fastest machines and sometimes still produced just enough to break even in order to fill spare capacity.
Globally, the British Royal Mint and the Mint of Finland emerged as the most important players in the circulation sector. But many smaller mints were also in the mix. Let’s just mention the Royal Dutch Mint here, which saw its existence cost by a miscalculation regarding such an order.
But even the big players were not spared in the long run. In 2024, the Royal Mint completely ceased the production of circulation coins for third countries; and the Mint of Finland searched desperately for a buyer for a long time before ceasing operations in the spring of 2025.
Crisis in the Coin Industry
Today, the market for circulation coins looks bleak. That is why so many mints are focusing on the collector’s market. But the collector’s market demands very small runs produced using sophisticated technology. And when it comes to the machinery required for this, Sack & Kiesselbach is more of a specialist than companies like Schuler or Gräbener.
This explains the rationale behind the strategic pooling of expertise and the concentration of skilled designers and technicians in Göppingen.
Ammunition as an Alternative?
Even though the coin-striking press manufacturing industry is currently in crisis, engineers need not fear for their jobs. This is because the machines used for coin production can be adapted with only minor modifications to produce ammunition.
Russia as a Model
To see how this works, we don’t need to look to the past. (Although we could. Many mints used to manufacture ammunition.) We simply need to look to Russia.
Four key techniques used in the striking of circulation coins are also required in the manufacture of ammunition:
1. Stamping
2. Cold forming—for coins, this involves embossing the design; for cartridges, it involves deep drawing
3. Surface treatment such as electroplating
4. Quality control
We need not specifically mention that mints already have the security structures that an ammunition factory also requires.
In the Klimovsk district of Podolsk, Russia, the Klimovsk Cartridge Plant—which has recently come under the control of Russia’s state-owned defense conglomerate—and the blank manufacturer GURT have shared a site for many years. To what extent orders are exchanged when capacity is available is, of course, not transparent, but it is likely that this occurs.
From Coin Presses to Ammunition Presses
In other words: Metal stamping and deep-drawing or cold-forming presses can be converted with little effort into machines capable of manufacturing ammunition. And this gives Schuler and Gräbener access to a lucrative market that is expected to grow dramatically in the coming years. Unfortunately.
Text by Ursula Kampmann
