A Brief History of VS GUSS

VS Guss AG produces the highest quality of small malleable and gray iron castings.  This, according to many of our customers (including some that produce malleabe iron themselves), is the reason why VS has such a significant market share in North America and Europe.

VS Guss AG was formerly known as "Vereinigte Schlusselfabriken GmbH", which translates as "United Key Factories". This name was established from a merger of two independent, privately held malleable iron foundries around the turn of the twentieth century. VS was originally the market leader for skeleton keys and fine lock components for door hardware and fine furniture. "VS" was an industry standard from the late eighteen hundreds throughout much of the last century.

The key ingredient in VS' recipe is the use of the finest natural bonded sand, harvested at VS-owned dried up river bed sections of the Rhine river. This sand allows VS to produce castings with exceptional detail and a smooth surface, for which we are universally known.

The introduction of vertical molding equipment lead to the capacity to produce several million keys daily, allowing "VS" to virtually cover the entire world market for its complete demand of skeleton keys.

With the introduction and popularization of zinc die castings, VS had to establish additional industrial sectors and found its market in the hardware and machine industries. This includes a significant percentage of the commercially available malleable iron demand in North America. By continuing its determination for the highest in quality standards, service and productivity at fair pricing, VS is now one of the three largest independent suppliers of malleable iron castings in North America.