The Goldschmidt Thermit Group based in Leipzig continues to pursue its expansion strategy and has further extended its product range through acquisitions.

The global leader in the area of rail joining and maintenance of railway systems has acquired the measurement technology specialist P.U.T. GRAW based in Gliwice, Poland. In February 2016 the Goldschmidt Thermit Group had already founded a subsidiary, Goldschmidt Thermit Polska, in the Polish city of Toruń to strengthen its business operations in Poland.

"GRAW excellently complements the Goldschmidt Thermit Group with regard to the expansion of our digital and measurement strategy," explains Dr Hans-Jürgen Mundinger, CEO at Goldschmidt Thermit Group.

"We will benefit enormously from the development and production expertise in the area of measurement technology and especially in track geometry. Particularly in view of the increasing digitalisation of the railways GRAW is an important addition to the group and a further important step towards the digital construction site."

At last year’s InnoTrans the Goldschmidt Thermit Group presented the digitalisation and networking of all procedures and activities for the rail welding process.

P.U.T. GRAW Sp. z o.o. was founded in 1991 and is specialised in the development and production of intelligent, computer-controlled geometry measurement devices and systems for rails, switches, tracks and train wheels. GRAW also develops real-time track condition evaluation systems for track geometry vehicles, stationary wheel geometry control systems and diagnostic systems for predictive maintenance for track and for rolling stock wheels. Furthermore, GRAW has extensive experience in the development of software for the collection, processing, analysis and storage of measurement data.

"In the Goldschmidt Thermit Group we will be able to further grow and benefit from the excellent international network of the group in the global railway infrastructure market. Our products perfectly complement the product range of the Goldschmidt Thermit Group", emphasises Juliusz Grabczyk, former owner and President of GRAW.

"We have consciously decided in favour of the Goldschmidt Thermit Group because the company is setting standards in the field of digitalisation and attaches great importance to the research and development of new tools and technical innovation. With our high-tech range of products, we fit perfectly within the group."

"The worldwide growth in passenger rail transportation requires increasingly smarter solutions, not just for travellers, but especially for the maintainers of infrastructure in order to guarantee highest availability", says Stefan Damm, Vice President Business Unit Rail Solutions at the Goldschmidt Thermit Group.

"The integration of GRAW into our portfolio allows us to offer both: stand-alone devices as well as train-based controls that provide digital information to the asset management systems of network operators in Europe and Asia already today."