In 1928 the first industrial scale vacuum induction melting and casting furnace was engineered and manufactured by ALD’s parent company and then commissioned in Hanau, Germany near today’s ALD headquarters. Since that time, a variety of VIM furnaces with capacities from 1 up to 30 t have been designed, engineered and delivered to leading specialty steel and alloy producers throughout the world. ALD’s systems in the VIM 100 – VIM 4000 product line use a state-of-the-art, industry proven design. ALD offers a broad range of accessories to tailor the VIM process and controls to meet each customer’s individual production requirements. The designs have proven valuable for low-cost production of special steels and super- alloys.