The very first time, some 10 years ago, that I met Dr Karl Schäfer, I was impressed with his technical knowledge about the welding of stainless steel tubes. The meeting was at Butting in Knesebeck, Germany, where we discussed the ins and outs of the Alaska pipeline projects for which Butting supplied great amounts of duplex stainless steel tubes. It is fair to state that Karl as the Managing Director of Butting Edelstahlrohre was the driving force behind the successful application of corrosion-resistant alloys in this and many other prestigious pipeline projects all over the world. The Alaskan projects were not the first and definitely not the last to come, as you can read in the Cover Story on Butting (Stainless Steel World magazine, April/ p. 00). Now Karl is retiring, and he can certainly look back at a very successful career. After his graduation in metallurgy at the University of Clausthal in 1963, he continued his postgraduate studies until attaining his doctorate in 1966. After some years in the material departments of Messerschmitt-Bölkow and VDEh he started working at Stahlwerke Südwestfalen (now KTN), finally as group leader responsible for development and marketing of hot-rolled stainless steel plates.
In 1978 he joined Butting, where he became the Managing Director responsible for technical and market development and built up a world-wide reputation as a very knowledgeable and widely recognised welding expert, in particular with regard to stainless steel tubing. Also, he has always had a keen eye for new technical developments and market opportunities, and had been very supportive of any new initiative. And so he became a member of the Steering Committee of the Duplex Stainless Steel World Conference in 1997 and has served in all committees that have followed since then. He has been active in many different associations and task groups, such as the International Institute of Welding.
On behalf of the Stainless Steel World community and all business friends I would like to thank Karl for his long-lasting commitment, and we all hope that even after his retirement he will keep in touch with both solicited and unsolicited advice and support.
By Sjef Roymans, Stainless Steel World
