About DVS

DVS

DVS Media is the specialist publishing house of the DVS – Deutscher Verband für Schweißen und verwandte Verfahren e.V. (German Welding Society), based in Düsseldorf. As a wholly owned subsidiary of the association, it publishes the trade journals of the joining-technology world — led by the monthly SCHWEISSEN UND SCHNEIDEN, the official organ of the DVS now in its eighth decade — alongside books, teaching media, technical rules, and the B2B platform Home of Welding. Its publications serve welding engineers, production managers, and researchers in steel, plant, apparatus, vehicle, and mechanical engineering across German- and English-speaking markets.

Overview

DVS Media GmbH, headquartered at Aachener Straße 172 in Düsseldorf, is a publisher devoted entirely to joining, cutting, and coating technology. Its journal portfolio covers the field in German and English: SCHWEISSEN UND SCHNEIDEN (monthly, the flagship), DER PRAKTIKER (the practitioner's magazine), DER SCHWEISSER, Welding & Cutting (the English-language edition), Joining Plastics – Fügen von Kunststoffen (bilingual), Thermal Spray Bulletin (bilingual), and the DVS Magazin, complemented by the annual Jahrbuch Schweisstechnik (Welding Technology Yearbook) and the ABC of Joining international industry guide.

The flagship, SCHWEISSEN UND SCHNEIDEN, is a technical-scientific journal for welding, cutting, and brazing technology including its many peripheral fields. Its editorial scope spans research and development, training and continuing education, exchange of experience, materials questions (ferrous and non-ferrous metals, plastics, filler materials), design and fabrication in steel, vessel, apparatus, vehicle, and mechanical engineering, welding machines including robots and controls, materials testing (destructive and non-destructive), and occupational health and safety. The 2024 media data records a print run of 3,317 copies per issue with 2,961 copies actually distributed — 2,544 sold, including 1,544 member copies — and notes the 76th volume year in 2024, placing the journal's founding in 1949.

Beyond print, DVS Media operates the B2B platform Home of Welding, which offers digitally prepared information on welding processes and gives companies the opportunity to highlight topics through individualized newsletters, advertisements, and entries in product and company directories. A dedicated JobPortal serves the joining-technology labor market, and banner advertising extends the media offering online. The publishing revenues — from advertising, book sales, events, subscriptions, and organizational support — flow back into the association's non-profit mission.

History

DVS Media's history is inseparable from that of its parent association and its flagship journal. SCHWEISSEN UND SCHNEIDEN was founded in 1949, in the early years of the Federal Republic, as the publishing organ of the German welding community — the same year that saw the founding of numerous West German technical institutions. The journal has appeared continuously ever since, documenting three-quarters of a century of welding technology: from manual arc welding through the rise of gas-shielded processes to laser-beam, friction-stir, and robotic welding.

The DVS – Deutscher Verband für Schweißen und verwandte Verfahren e.V. grew into a comprehensive technical-scientific association that, by its own account, trains around 100,000 people per year through its network of welding training institutes (Schweißtechnische Lehr- und Versuchsanstalten). To professionalize its publishing activities, the association established DVS Media GmbH as a wholly owned subsidiary, consolidating its journals, books, teaching media, technical rules, and electronic media under one roof. The managing director is Dirk Sieben.

The association is also the organizer of the SCHWEISSEN & SCHNEIDEN trade fair, held at Messe Essen since 1952 — the oldest regularly held fair at that venue — normally every four years (with an exceptional 2017 edition in Düsseldorf during the Essen fairground renovation and a pandemic-related postponement from 2021 to 2023). DVS Media serves as the fair's media partner: a partnership between Messe Essen GmbH and DVS Media GmbH for the 2029 edition was signed and announced via the fair's LinkedIn channel, which counts over 5,500 followers, with DVS Media providing communication support targeting exhibitors and visitors through its trade media, digital platforms, and magazines.

Coverage and Content

DVS Media's journals address distinct segments of the joining-technology audience. SCHWEISSEN UND SCHNEIDEN targets engineers, researchers, and technical managers with peer-level technical content: research results, process developments, materials science, design and fabrication practice, testing methods, and safety. DER PRAKTIKER ("The Practitioner") speaks to the hands-on readership — welders, foremen, and workshop managers — with application-oriented guidance. DER SCHWEISSER serves the broader welding community, while Welding & Cutting carries the field's developments to the international English-speaking audience.

Joining Plastics – Fügen von Kunststoffen covers the growing field of plastics joining in German and English, and the Thermal Spray Bulletin serves the thermal-spray coating community bilingually. The DVS Magazin reports on association life — committee work, training, certification, and events — while the Jahrbuch Schweisstechnik compiles the year's essential technical contributions in book form. The ABC of Joining functions as an international industry guide and buyer's directory, organized into topical groups with hundreds of keywords linking to company homepages.

Across the portfolio, the editorial standard is technical-scientific: articles undergo expert review within the association's committee structure, and the journals serve as the archival record of German welding research. The editorial team of the flagship journal is led by Sarah Gottschalk, with editors including Anja Labussek and Dipl.-Ing. Viktor Travkin. Digital extensions — the Home of Welding platform, newsletters, and the JobPortal — translate this content into formats suited to practicing engineers and purchasing decision-makers.

Organization and Ownership

DVS Media GmbH (Aachener Straße 172, 40223 Düsseldorf; P.O. Box 101965, 40010 Düsseldorf; telephone 0211 1591-0) is a 100-percent subsidiary of the DVS – Deutscher Verband für Schweißen und verwandte Verfahren e.V. The association is the publisher (Herausgeber) of SCHWEISSEN UND SCHNEIDEN, which is designated the official organ of the DVS; DVS Media GmbH is the publishing house (Verlag) responsible for production, distribution, and advertising. The managing director is Dirk Sieben.

The DVS association itself is the center of a group of operating subsidiaries — the DVS Group — that includes DVS Media GmbH, the GSI – Gesellschaft für Schweisstechnik International GmbH, the SLV welding training institutes in Halle and Mannheim, the IFW institute in Jena, DVS ZERT GmbH, and regional welding course centers. This structure channels the association's publishing, training, research, and certification activities through dedicated companies while keeping them aligned with the association's technical-scientific mission.

Publishing revenues are generated through advertising, book sales, events, subscription fees, and other organizational support — a diversified B2B media business model typical of association publishers. No further financial details are publicly confirmed.

Digital Presence

DVS Media's digital flagship is dvs-media.eu, the portal for its journals, books, and media services, complemented by schweissenundschneiden.de, the website of the flagship journal. The B2B platform Home of Welding (homeofwelding) offers digitally prepared information on welding processes and provides companies with individualized newsletters, advertising formats, and directory entries — effectively the digital extension of the print journals' marketplace function. The JobPortal of joining technology addresses recruitment in the sector, and banner advertising on the platforms extends the advertising offering.

The SCHWEISSEN & SCHNEIDEN trade fair maintains an active LinkedIn presence with over 5,500 followers, where DVS Media's role as media partner for the 2029 edition is communicated. Individual journals are presented with media kits and subscription information as downloadable PDFs, and the ABC of Joining directory is available online in German and English. For a specialist B2B publisher, this digital ecosystem — journals online, B2B platform, job portal, directories, and fair partnership — represents a comprehensive digitization of the traditional association-publishing model, serving an international professional audience that increasingly researches and purchases online.