2.

08

IMPROVE PRODUCTIVITY page 4 | CRANE MAKERS PRUNE AWAY KILOS page 6

RIGHT PLATE MAKES MONEY FOR MINES page 9 | GOOD BENDABILITY SAVES TIME page 16
FOCUS ON THE ENVIRONMENT: hardox lasts longer…21 | THE WORLD AROUND US: China after the Olympics …23

SSAB is working on contributing

towards better productivity of its
customers - by improving its plate and
also by developing calculation tools
for simplifying the choice of wear
plate. WearCalc is just such a tool.

Plate208 eng.indd 1 08-12-10 11.46.52

 Focus on the business of customers
AT SSAB, WE FOCUS our attention on the development is to focus on developing and manufactur-
business of our customers. We take active ing products that are designed for rational handling in
interest in a customer’s business and develop the workshop. Close tolerances on thickness and accurate
long-term relations. We create value together processing ensure consistent properties within one plate
by exchanging knowledge. and from one plate to the next. All plates behave in the
When we present our total product range, we dis- same way. Good weldability, easy machinability and good
tinguish between the basic properties of the plate and formability are other examples of properties to which we
the added values that are a part of our offer to give high priority.
the customer. The basic properties are hardness, Productivity is a main theme in this issue of Plate.
strength, toughness and other physical properties Our niche products contribute towards improved pro-
that determine how and where the products can be ductivity and thus also reduced environmental impact
used in various applications and segments. Another at all stages of the value chain. This extends all the
very important part of the basic properties are the way from steelmaking, where every tonne of hardened
workshop attributes of the plate, where we focus and tempered steel replaces around two tonnes
on optimizing properties such as weldability, of ordinary steel, right up to transport to the
bendability and machinability. customer’s plant, where only half the weight
In addition to the basic properties, our needs to be transported for a given duty. Thin-
product range includes added values ner plate requires less workshop time, while
that reflect our collective knowledge and higher hardness or strength offers a longer
experience of everything related to how useful life or a higher lifting capacity.
our products perform in various situ- Development is forging ahead. We con-
ations. This applies to the entire chain tinue our product development work in
from the production of a component in close cooperation with our customers. We
a workshop to how the finished prod- gain greatest satisfaction from developing
uct performs in operation at our cus- products for a given segment and applica-
tomer’s customer. The strong brand names tion, thus making our customers stronger
of our products that basically guarantee and more competitive.
AH L

high quality and that can also support the

KD

marketing work of our customers represent P-O STARK

BO BJ ÖR

another added value. Vice President Marketing,

An important guiding light in our product Sales and Product Development

Plate 2 2008
SSAB Oxelösund, which is a member of the SSAB Swedish Steel Group, is a world leader in the specialist field
of quenched and tempered steels and produces well-known brand names such as HARDOX wear plate and
WELDOX structural steel. Typical applications include excavator buckets, tipper truck bodies and mobile cranes.
PLATE is a publication destined for our customers, prospective customers and other interested parties.

EDITOR: Åke Jerräng, tel +46 155 25 47 73, e-mail: [email protected]

PUBLISHER RESPONSIBLE UNDER SWEDISH LAW: Per-Olof Stark, tel +46 155 25 40 00
ADDRESS: SSAB Oxelösund, SE-613 80 Oxelösund, Sweden
PRODUCTION: Citat Journalistgruppen AB, tel +46 8 610 20 00
PROJECT LEADER: Maria Nilsson
GRAPHIC DESIGN: Citat Journalistgruppen
REPRO AND PRINTING: Österbergs & Sörmlandstryck
COVER: Jenny Jansrudvangen, photo, Åke Jerräng, AD.

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 CONTENTS

Improve productivity 4

GERMANY: Use less to make more 8

CHILE: Copper mine

specifies HARDOX 10
SWEDEN

TURKEY: Özünlü cuts

18
the weight of trucks 12
BELGIUM GERMANY
16 7, 8,
14
BELGIUM: Saves time in bending 16 17 12
23
ITALY: Technical support ITALY TURKEY
strengthens Zendrini 17 CHINA

SWEDEN: Nothing can beat TOOLOX 18

CHILE
Focus on the environment 21
10 13

Research and Development 22 SOUTH AFRICA

THE WORLD AROUND US:

China after the Olympics 23

FAIRS IN 2009

SSAB Singapore in new premises

FEBRUARY:
• 26-28 ACE Construction, Melbourne,
Australia
MARCH:
Since it was founded in 1994, SSAB Singapore extended rails, and also a new high-definition
• 4-6 NTEA Truck, Chicago, USA
has developed from purely a plate sales company plasma system, so that the overall length is
• 19-21 Mid America Truck, Louisville, USA
to a development centre for HARDOX wear plate. now 21 metres. The new system ensures higher
• 20-23 Metec Construction, Athens,
The new premises are almost three times big- quality with closer tolerances.
Greece
ger than the original ones and are better suited The operations in Singapore also serve as
for the operations. The premises offer better a distribution centre for Indonesia, Malaysia, APRIL:
opportunities for effective plate handling. More Thailand and the Philippines. • 20-24 Intermat, Paris, France
space, with separate bays for incoming and out-
MAY:
going goods, have long been sorely needed and
• 14-17 Brisbane Truck Show, Brisbane,
are also a condition for being able to handle the
Australia
growing volumes of products. Since plates are
• 26-29 Tokyo Truck Show, Tokyo, Japan
becoming thinner, increasing numbers of plates
• 29-31 Vintec Mining, Melbourne, Australia
are loaded onto and off the trucks, and into and
• 29-31 Tip-Ex Transport, Great Britain
out of containers.
The existing cutting machine has been JUNE:
equipped with a new 12-metre water table and • 23-25 Hillhead Mining, Great Britain

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 PRODUCTIVITY
TEXT: Claes Löwgren

HARDOX WEAR PLATE AND SYSTEMATIZED EVALUATION OF THE

WEAR CONDITIONS ENABLE MANY MINES TO IMPROVE PRODUC-
TIVITY IN TERMS OF ”COST PER TONNE OF ORE PRODUCED”. THIS
QUICKLY COMPENSATES FOR THE HIGHER COST OF WEAR PARTS.

SMALL INPUT FOR

GREAT RESULTS
T
he unparalleled growth in demand for raw materials when selecting wear plate. This in itself is a productivity
in recent years has forced the mining industry to improvement.
increase its production rate. Increased production The process of redesigning a wear part and selecting a
capacity and general productivity improvements often more durable steel grade usually leads to a more expen-
demand significant investments and take time to imple- sive wear part. However, this additional cost should be re-
ment. However, certain improvements can be achieved garded as an “investment”, since the benefit is yielded later,
with minor “investments” and in a much shorter time, such when fewer stoppages provide additional production time
as by design changes and better wear plate. for handling and processing the ore.
In the past three decades, ssab Oxelösund has been
actively engaged on extending the useful life of wear THE PRODUCTIVITY CAN BE
parts, increasing the efficiency of buckets and rais-
ing the payload of mine tipper trucks. New, harder IMPROVED BY SWITCHING TO
hardox grades have been developed and improved.
In parallel with this, calculation tools for selecting
MORE WEAR-RESISTANT PLATE.
wear plate materials have been developed and continu-
ally upgraded. The calculation tools are based on experi- WHAT IS THE collective value of more production time and
ence gained from joint testing by ssab Oxelösund and higher ore tonnage due to fewer maintenance stoppages?
users of hardox plate. The results have then been gener- The answer to this question depends on local circumstanc-
alized and adapted to calculation models for selecting wear es and conditions. In the example shown here, the invest-
plate for abrasive applications. The program, code-named ments in more wear-resistant material contributes towards
WearCalc, contributes to shortening the evaluation process eliminating at least one or perhaps two stoppages, or at

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 PRODUCTIVITY

Would you be interested in receiving the

WearCalc calculation program?
If so, get in touch with Lena Olofsson at
[email protected]

percent. Although the initial plate costs were 2 500 and

15 000 dollars respectively higher than standard plate, they
yielded cost reductions per tonne of 0.6 and 1.5 percent
least towards shorter stoppages and savings in mainte- respectively.
nance resources. These seemingly small improvements jointly yielded a
Newer and more durable hardox grades, such as total annual cost reduction of 280 000 and 680 000 dollars
hardox 600 and hardox Extreme, make it increasing- respectively for the whole of the transport operations.
ly important to take up and discuss material and applica- The combination of wear resistance, toughness and im-
tion matters between mining companies and the Technical pact resistance properties of hardox steels has continu-
Support Team at ssab Oxelösund. The initially higher cost ally been improved. Systematized mineral analysis and the
of the more wear-resistant material can often be recovered WearCalc software have made it easier to estimate the use-
fairly quickly by savings in the number of maintenance ful life of wear parts. In total, this gives better grounds for
hours or by fewer maintenance stoppages. But some ques- ssab and mining companies to jointly find ways of lower-
tions regarding other material properties and special appli- ing further the “production cost per tonne of ore”.
cation conditions may sometimes have to be sorted out.
Certain wear parts require properties beyond merely a
long useful life. Wear plate for large mining trucks, for ex- Relative useful life
ample, must be not only wear resistant, but must also be
able to withstand heavy blows and shocks, and have the
ability to deform elastically. Useful lives of two wear plates
The productivity in ore and waste rock transport can
often be improved by switching to a more wear-resistant
plate and a modified design. The choice lies either in us-
ing thinner and more wear-resistant plate to achieve higher
payload capacity, or using better steel grades of unchanged
thickness for extending the operating periods.
Relative expected useful
life of a HARDOX 550
A STUDY OF wear plate in Canadian mining trucks with (3.2) wear plate compa-
capacities of around 240 tonnes revealed significant dif- red to a 400 HB wear
ferences in terms of volumes transported and the cost of plate (1.0). Copper mine
with seven different rock
body maintenance. Two new alternative wear plate solu-
types. Source: Petro-
tions with different weights and useful lives were com- 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500 550 600 graphic investigation and
pared with wear plate of standard type. The two new wear Brinell hardness WearCalc calculation.
plate alternatives yielded a payload increase of 0.8 and 2.7

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 Half of the large
Liebherr mobile
cranes are used
for erection work
in wind farms.

6 | Plate 2–08

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 TEXT: Alexander Farnsworth

A MOBILE CRANE CAN HARDLY BE REGARDED AS A LIGHT-

WEIGHT MACHINE. FOR A LEADING CRANE MANUFACTURER,
SUCH AS THE GERMAN LIEBHERR GROUP, SEVERAL YEARS
OF IMPROVED PERFORMANCE AND REDUCED WEIGHT HAVE
LED TO SUCCESS.

LIEBHERR CHASES
EVERY KILO
W
e try to prune away a kilo wherever we can, says “This is an excellent way of cooperating. We need a
Wolfgang Beringer, Marketing Manager at the good and stable high quality steel with superior properties
Liebherr factory in Ehingen, Germany. in terms of weldability and bendability. One reason is that
Laws in most of the world's countries specify that mo- all of our machines, such as laser cutting machines, are set
bile cranes, i.e. those that are allowed to travel on public for standard steel grades. An even more important reason
roads, must not have a higher axle load than 12 tonnes is that safety considerations make it impossible for us to
per axle. accept any variations.”
This means that mobile cranes have a predetermined Liebherr currently uses weldox 700, 960 and 1100
highest permissible weight that depends on the number of steels from ssab Oxelösund.
axles that carry the crane. At the same time, cranes have
increasing capacities and longer outreach. EXPLOSIVE GROWTH in the wind power industry in recent
In September 2008, Liebherr launched its ltm 11200- years has been good news for Liebherr. According to Wolf-
9.1 mobile crane that holds the world record for its 100 gang Beringer, half of his company's larger mobile cranes
metre long boom. are used for erection work in wind farms, where they lift
“We have achieved this by using the new high quality gigantic turbines and propeller blades up to 80 metres in
steel grades available on the market today. It is diameter into their intended place.
vital for us to use steels that can withstand higher Although cranes have undergone dynamic de-
loads without affecting the total crane weight,” velopment in the past 20 years, developments in
says Wolfgang Beringer. design, manufacture and materials used are un-
likely to level off.
SSAB OXELÖSUND HAS served as an important “The industry is toying with thoughts of using
partner to Liebherr for over 20 years. Wolfgang materials other than steel for the crane booms.
Beringer and his colleagues appreciate the pro- But in my personal opinion, steel will dominate
active way in which ssab Oxelösund introduces in the immediate future. Above all, the more re-
new products and how it follows up Liebherr cent steels."
tests of its products. Wolfgang Beringer.

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 TEXT: Alexander Farnsworth

Manitowoc does more with less

Just like most other crane the margins to the legally specified weldox 1100 in the crane chassis.
axle load of 12 tonnes,” says Michael Michael Hünecke is particularly ap-
manufacturers, Manitowoc is Hünecke, head of design and produc- preciative of the high quality of steels
building cranes of increasing tion at the Manitowoc factory in Wil- from ssab.
capacity and decreasing helmshaven, Germany. “Viewed globally, ssab Oxelösund
Manitowoc uses weldox 1100 is an excellent plate supplier. The
weight. steel for the crane booms and flatness and the consistent finish are
weldox 960 steel for the frames, very important to us when we cut
THE DEVELOPMENT OF high strength crane booms and fifth wheels. the plates by laser and when we bend
steels now enables Manitowoc to use them. We work to very close toler-
thinner plate in the design of mobile BUT THE WEIGHTS of the crane booms ances.
cranes than it did 20 years ago. must be reduced further. According “We also receive excellent support
“We do more with less. The thin- to Michael Hünecke, a possible de- from ssab if and when we need
ner plates also enable us to increase velopment is to increase the use of it.”

MANITOWOC

Manitowoc was founded in the port city

of Manitowoc in Wisconsin in 1902 as a
shipbuilding and shipyard company.
In 1925, the company built its first
latticework crane (on rails). After this, the
company came to symbolize crawler
cranes, and the company’s machines
are now in service in all corners of the
world.
In addition to crawler cranes, the
company also manufactures tower
cranes and mobile cranes with capaci-
ties between 45 and 907 tonnes.
National Crane and Potain are two
other crane brands in the Manitowoc
portfolio.
Michael Hünecke at Manitowoc is pleased with the support he receives from SSAB Oxelösund.

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 PRODUCTION ECONOMY
TEXT: Michael Masoliver

SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/IBL

Mining companies around the world have long
been using HARDOX for the wear parts of machines
and components that must be capable of with-
standing the extreme stresses imposed by opera-
tion in mines. A recent study of platinum mines in
South Africa now confirms the considerable gains
attainable.

Platinum mines benefit

from using the right plate
I
t is well known that hardox 550 WearCalc calculation software de- predicting wear. They also show the
is usually much more wear resis- veloped by ssab Oxelösund. The useful life improvements that can
tant than conventional steels such result? Theory and prac- be achieved by using the
as ar 500. This fact is already put to tice agreed very well in en- newer and more advanced
JOHAN DALHÄLL

use around the world for mining gineering terms, according wear plate grades such as
equipment and contracting machines. to Claes Löwgren, Market hardox 550.
Last year, the ssab Oxelösund Development Engineer at This is valuable infor-
Wear Technology Group participated ssab Oxelösund. mation for customers who
in a test in which hardox 550 and “The WearCalc model want to take active mea-
ar 500 were compared in one of the could predict, for example, sures to avoid major rev-
toughest conceivable mining environ- that hardox 550 could be enue losses caused by the
ments – that at the Impala Platinum serviceable three times lon- need for equipment repairs.
mine in Rustenburg, South Africa. ger than ar 500. In actual Claes Löwgren. Customers who specify
fact, the improvement was hardox 550, for example,
THE TEST INVOLVED comparing the 2.6 times. This is a valuable result for can often plan one less costly stop-
useful life of hardox 550 and ar 500 Impala Platinum and enables them to page, declares Claes Löwgren.
that were subjected to sliding wear save on maintenance time and possi- “We can talk as much as we like
by ore lumps in a transport chute. In bly skip one repair stoppage.” about hardness and wear resistance,
order to find out the mineral compo- but this must be put into the context
sition of the rocks, which is an impor- THE BENEFIT OF a harder hardox of production economy, since it is
tant factor in this context, samples of varies with the mineral content or ultimately money that is involved.
the rock were sent to the Geological hardness of the abrasive bulk mate- WearCalc provides us with a calcula-
Survey of Sweden (sgu). rial. The results of the experiment at ting tool that can assist us in assessing
The results of the experiment were Impala Platinum demonstrate the op- the scope available for better produc-
compared with the results from the portunities offered by WearCalc for tion economy for customers.”

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 TEXT: David Francisco

PRODUCTIVITY IN CHILEAN COPPER MINES INVOLVES

FINDING THE CORRECT BALANCE BETWEEN WEIGHT AND
USEFUL LIFE. A MIXTURE OF DIFFERENT HARDOX GRADES
HAS HELPED MINETEC TO FIND THE RIGHT MIX.

STEELS FOR EXTREME

ENVIRONMENTS
T
he copper mines in the Atacama Desert in Chile are about their operations and how materials can be used in
in some of the world's most extreme environments. the best possible way,” says Magnus Hasselgren.
At ground surface, it is 50 times drier than in Death According to him, it is important to understand the
Valley in California, and equipment here is put to a truly extreme conditions to which Minetec buckets and tipper
tough test. The weight of the equipment is the key to suc- trucks are subjected in mining, crushing and transporting
cessful mining operations. hard minerals. This is why the choice of material is such
The Santiago-based Minetec, which is a member of the an important issue for companies that work with mining
Tehmcorp Group, is one of the leading suppliers of mining equipment. More durable equipment cuts the time needed
equipment in South America. The company manufactures for welding and repairs, which leaves more time over for
truck bodies, excavator buckets, liner plates and scrapers actual mining operations.
for mining operations. The products are used in the Es- “The machines must be able to withstand heavy wear.”
condida and Chuquicamata mines in the Atacama Desert,
which are among the world's biggest copper mines. IN ADDITION TO being durable, mining buckets must also
weigh as little as possible. Minetec specified ssab Oxelösund
MINETEC – WHICH has around 300 employees in Chile and steels, since ssab has a comprehensive product range, but
Brazil - has been using hardox wear plate since 2007 for also because the company works in close contact with cus-
improving the useful life and efficiency of its mining ma- tomers and assists them in finding the optimum balance
chinery. between useful life and weight.
Magnus Hasselgren, Area Sales Manager for South Minetec uses a mixture of hardox grades, such as
America at ssab Oxelösund in Chile, says that he and his hardox 400, 450, 500 and 550, and is now testing
colleagues know which hardox grades are best suited hardox 600, which is one of the hardest wear plates
for the Minetec operations, because of their close contacts available on the market.
with the people working in the mines. “If the same thickness of steel is used for the whole of
“It is a competitive benefit for us to talk to customers the bucket, certain parts will wear out more quickly than

10 | Plate 2–08

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 Minetec has been
using HARDOX
wear plate since
2007 for improving
the useful life and
efficiency of its
mining machinery.

others. So it is sensible to use the right material for differ-

ent parts of the bucket,” says Magnus Hasselgren.
Alberto Opazo, Business and Project Leader at Minetec,
says that ssab Oxelösund products have helped his com-
pany to improve its productivity. ssab Oxelösund prod-
ucts are of very high quality and offer a durable solution,
being more resistant to impact and wear and being more
lightweight.

IT IS NO EASY matter to cut the weight of the buckets. Al-

though the trend is towards lighter buckets, mining ma-
chines must still be extremely durable.
“The harder the material, the more liable it is to crack-
ing, and the thicker the material, the higher the weight of
the bucket. So it is beneficial that we can offer a compre-
hensive product range and have a close dialogue about
how each of the materials should be used in the best pos-
sible way,” says Magnus Hasselgren.
At several plants, ssab Oxelösund has Area Technical
Managers who work on site with the customers’ engi-
neers.
Alberto Opazo says that teamwork and the use of the
very latest in technology are two of the most important
success factors for achieving high productivity. 

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 TEXT: Alexander Farnsworth

The name of the Istanbul-based company Özünlü Damper

Karoser is not exactly on everyone’s lips, unless you happen
to have a truck fleet with channel-shaped tipper bodies in
Turkey. That’s when the name is really well known.
”
We are now able to cut
the weights of trucks”
ÖZÜNLÜ TIPPER BODY, tanker and programme, and proudly displays the As a result, Özünlü is now building
trailer range with various hydraulic logotype on all of its bodies. This a new production plant with a total
accessories – especially built for new synergy with ssab Oxelösund has floor area of 26 500 square metres
trucks or retrofitted to existing trucks contributed to growth of the opera- adjacent to its Head Office. When the
– are synonymous with quality and tions in the past four years. plant has been completed, the com-
durability. “ssab Oxelösund personnel pay us pany will have a production capacity
During the past four years, regular visits and share with us their of 550 bodies monthly, compared to
Özünlü has been using exclusively in-depth knowledge of production 300 today.
hardox 450 steels, which has re- engineering and productivity-raising The Özünlü family has always fol-
sulted in low weight and extremely measures. This gives us better insight
high wear resistance. and assists us in solving production
problems,” says Ufuk Özünlü.
ÖZÜNLÜ HAS 165 employees at its “We have asked them for assistance
factory in the Habibler district of Is- four or five times, but I never expect-
tanbul, and is planning to double its ed to get such quick response. We are
workforce by 2010. very pleased to be working with a
“Our products are designed for company that is as customer-focused
transporting bulk materials - rock as ssab Oxelösund.”
and sand – and hardox 450 gives
us a longer useful life compared to or- THE ÖZÜNLÜ CUSTOMER portfolio in-
dinary steel. The special grades have cludes the country’s largest structural,
enabled us to cut the truck weights, mining and transport companies in
while also improving their durability both the private and the public sec-
and payload capacity. This is reflected tors. The company exports to eleven ”HARDOX gives us a longer useful life than ordinary
in the economic results of the opera- countries in cooperation with the steel,” says Ufuk Özünlü.
tors. hardox is the world’s foremost Ford-Otosan truck manufacturer. Fur-
wear-resistant steel,” says Managing ther proof of quality came in the sum- lowed the motto “If you want to be
Director Ufuk Özünlü who runs the mer of 2008 when Özünlü became an strong, be the strongest of them all...”.
family company that was founded in authorised subcontractor to Daimler They are living up to this motto
1977. (Mercedes-Benz). in their continued investment and
“We have now achieved good vol- growth strategy.
ÖZÜNLÜ DAMPER KAROSER IS A mem- umes in the Turkish market and are in
ber of hardox In My BodyTM brand a good position for further growth.”

12 | Plate 2–08

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 TEXT: David Callahan

Vibrating screen with side

plates of HARDOX 600.
HARDOX 550 is used for
other parts.

Platinum mines
specify HARDOX (ug2). According to Daniel Els, ug2
is also rich in chromium ore, which is
very abrasive.
Kroondal uses hardox 600 in its
Platinum mining in South Africa Africa’s most robustly growing towns. plant as liner in chutes that transport
This gives a clear indication of what 520 tonnes of ore per hour. hardox
is thriving – and HARDOX 600 we can expect in Steelpoort,” says plates have a useful life of six months,
plays a key role. Daniel Els. which is about three times longer
than the life of the material used in
THE KROONDAL PLATINUM mining HARDOX 600 IS widely used for scrap- the past.
company in South Africa has cut its er blades, coarse dressing grilles, silos
operating costs by increasing the effec- and chutes in mining, in a region that OTHER APPLICATIONS for hardox 600
tive production time by using hardox looks like a saucer-shaped indentation include 800-tonne silo chutes and 30
wear plate from ssab Oxelösund. Ac- in the earth’s surface, with the world’s mm thick scraper blades. hardox
cording to Daniel Els, Area biggest finds of metals in extends the useful life of the scrap-
Sales Manager at ssab in the platinum group. er blades by between five and six
South Africa, hardox has Kroondal Platinum is months, which halves the scheduled
proved to be the leading one of the largest mines in operating stoppages.
wear plate in an area where the region and a big user of “The hardox product range
the market is thriving. hardox 600. enables us to provide superior solu-
The discovery of plati- “We have very success- tions for all mining applications in
num five years ago in the fully run extensive tests on which the equipment is subjected to
Steelpoort region of the products and development anything from sliding wear to impact
Limpopo province will Daniel Els. at this mine.” loads,” says Daniel Els.
make South Africa experi- bic consists of a layer of “By specifying the right product for
ence yet another growth explosion. volcanic bedrock known as the Me- each application, we can always make
“We have seen Rustenburg grow rensky Reef and an underlying stra- cost-saving solutions available to our
from a small town to one of South tum known as Upper Group 2 Reef customers.”

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 TEXT: Jonas Rehnberg

FERRO UMFORMTECHNIK, THE GERMAN PLATE-FORMING

COMPANY, ENABLES MOBILE CRANES TO REACH NEW
HEIGHTS DUE TO THE QUALITY OF WELDOX.

FERRO TAKES
MOBILE CRANES
TO NEW HEIGHTS
C
ertain applications, such as mobile cranes, are more touch of ingenuity, Ferro Umformtechnik has been able to
demanding than others. Safety and precision are deliver booms that have taken cranes to staggering heights,
decisive, which is a reason why the Ferro without compromising on safety and performance.
Umformtechnik company based in North-Western Ger- “By applying forces of 4400 tonnes to plates up to 28.5
many, has become one of the world's leading plate-forming metres long, we can bend them in lengths that were ba-
companies, with customers among vehicle manufacturers sically inconceivable in the past,” says Heinz Dünne with
and other industries. Booms for mobile cranes are one of pride.
the products. In addition to bending, Ferro Umformtech- “The longer the components that can be bent, the fewer
nik also uses thermal cutting, laser cutting and fine laser- the welded joints, and therefore the lower the production
beam cutting. costs. Advanced precision bending enables thinner plate to
“Components for cranes and other construction and be used, which reduces the weight of the telescopic booms
plant vehicles demand precision to the nearest for the world's biggest mobile cranes, without
millimetre. Moreover, our customers demand compromising on strength.”
components with a long useful life and low Lighter booms of unchanged strength enable
costs, but without compromises on quality,” says the cranes to lift heavier loads without the risk
Heinz Dünne, Managing Director of Ferro Um- of tipping over. Heinz Dünne claims that this de-
formtechnik. velopment has been achieved by properties such
as close tolerances on thickness and the extreme-
THE HIGH DEGREE of specialization is achieved ly high yield strength of weldox 1100.
by having the right machine for every conceivable In addition, many specialized construction and
material length. Long lengths are in keen demand plant vehicles, such as gigantic mobile cranes, are
for mobile crane booms. By using weldox and a Heinz Dünne. transported over long distances between assign-

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 Ferro Umformtechnik undertakes bending, thermal cutting,
laser cutting and fine laser-beam cutting.

ments. Lighter vehicles result in improved fuel economy. extending the useful life of their end products. As a devel-
opment partner, Ferro Umformtechnik is in the middle of
FERRO UMFORMTECHNIK also processes plate for metal the processing chain between the steelmaker and the man-
scrap recovery machines - an application that causes heavy ufacturer of the end products,” explains Heinz Dünne.
wear for which the homogeneous properties of hardox In cooperation with ssab Oxelösund, Ferro Um-
are particularly well suited. Other applications for hardox formtechnik is also investigating possible applications for
include plate for truck bodies and high-performance con- toolox and provides ssab Oxelösund with test data re-
tainers. The properties of hardox eliminate the need for lated to the demands on bendability and thickness toler-
reinforcements, and the body can be bent directly to its fi- ances.
nal form. According to Heinz Dünne, this means that the “We are convinced that these joint efforts will open the
useful life of the end products can be extended by two to doors to other new markets.”
three times.
“Our customers are interested in lowering the costs and

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 TEXT: Jonas Rehnberg

WELDOX
simplifies bending
Ductility and the consistent quality of WELDOX files, which means that Vlassenroot bends and cuts 40 000
steel profiles annually. Every boom has between four and
make it simpler for Vlassenroot to bend boom six telescopic sections, and some cranes can reach heights
sections for mobile cranes. up to 90 metres.

S
pecialization is often said to be the key to success on WHEN THE MOBILE crane market took off in earnest in
today's competitive global market. Vlassenroot, the 2004, Vlassenroot decided to focus its Brussels plant ex-
Belgian metalworking company, represents an exam- clusively on bending. The bent boom profiles are then sent
ple of successful specialization. The company has grown to the company's plant in the Ruhr region of Germany for
quickly and has become one of the world's leading manu- welding and machining. The newly opened plant in Poland
facturers of all-welded telescopic booms and chassis for processes weldox 960 plates into crane chassis.
mobile cranes. Low weight and high strength are vital to end users.
The company has four state-of-the-art production plants “Cranes equipped with our boom sections can lift up to
in Europe, which specialize on a variety of metalworking 500 tonnes, and we are working on prototypes that will
methods for various crane components. Bending is a spe- be able to lift even more. In addition, the road transport
ciality at the Brussels plant, which is also the home to one of mobile cranes is simplified and uses less fuel if the crane
of the world's biggest edge-bending presses with capacity deadweight is minimized. The high yield strength and the
for bending sections up to 24 metres long with a force of close thickness tolerances of weldox 1100 have therefore
4000 tonnes. paved the way to thinner booms with lower weight, but
without compromising on the lifting capacity,” says Eddy
VLASSENROOT HAS BEEN in close cooperation with Buyst.
ssab Oxelösund since 1997. Eddy Buyst, Managing Di-
rector of Vlassenroot, explains why the company prefers TOMORROW’S WORLD market for mobile cranes is focused
weldox steel to any other plate on the market. on continued long-term growth, even though today's eco-
“The high quality and bendability of weldox 1100 is nomic turmoil and credit crisis have made the situation a
an obvious benefit to us, since the plates are flat and have little gloomier.
close tolerances, which other suppliers cannot “But investments are continuing even in credit
match. By using weldox, we save time, and our crisis situations,” says Chris Van Beurden, head
production is more efficient.” of the North and West European Business Area
The reason that weldox improves productiv- at ssab Oxelösund.
ity is that the edge-bending press need not be re- “The mobile crane market is very strong and
set. This is because the material is homogeneous the demand for cranes is growing, partially as
and behaves consistently from one plate to the a result of the increasing sizes of wind turbines
next. and the infrastructure expansion in parts of Asia
Vlassenroot currently produces booms for and in the Gulf states.”
4000 cranes annually. Every crane has an average
of five boom sections, each with two steel pro- Eddy Buyst.

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 TEXT: David Callahan

Cutting, bending and machining were major problems for Zendrini

Metaltecnica in the past. But since switching to HARDOX, the
Verona-based company has improved its productivity and is able
to deliver products of higher quality.

Technical support
strengthens Zendrini
ZENDRINI METALTECNICA uses bending, machining and welding, so resistance and abrasion resistance,
hardox wear plate in its production that we can achieve the best possible and also for various other structures.
of high-efficiency wear parts with a performance with hardox. We have The 108-year-old family company
long useful life for improved produc- improved our productivity, above serves a number of industries such as
tivity of the company’s customers in all in the sectors in which the added cement and concrete, stone quarries,
the mining, metallurgical and energy value is high,” says Manuel Zendrini, asphalt, demolition, power stations
sectors. Sales and Production Manager at the and coking mills. Zendrini Metaltec-
“The technical support offered by company. nica also has a division that produces
ssab Oxelösund has provided us with “As an example, due to the flat- crushers and mills for the recovery of
knowledge and competence in cutting, ness of hardox plates, our company metallic materials.
saves about 20 hours a month that
would otherwise have been used for THE QUALITY AND close tolerances of
levelling the plates.” hardox are decisive in the manufac-
turing process by having contributed
MANUEL ZENDRINI ALSO praises the to shortening the production times at
superior quality of hardox wear Zendrini Metaltecnica.
plate and weldox structural steel “As a result, we also contribute to-
plate. The company uses all hardox wards improving the productivity in
grades, and also weldox 700e and the systems and products of our cus-
900e. tomers,” says Manuel Zendrini.
“hardox is very well suited for all “Being a member of the hardox
applications requiring wear resistance, WearParts network, Zendrini Met-
impact strength and hardness, in com- altecnica benefits from the collective
bination with elasticity,” he says. image, brand name and credibility
Zendrini Metaltecnica is one of the of hardox, above all in industries
hardox pioneers in Italy and manu- in which advice and service are deci-
factures products for the industrial, sive,” he says.
engineering, building and plant sec- “Our customers are very satisfied.
tors. The company produces struc- hardox has enabled solutions to be
”We benefit from the collective image of HARDOX,
above all in industries in which advice and service tures of special steels and ordinary found whereby modern wear steels
are decisive,” says Manuel Zendrini. steels for applications requiring wear replace cast steel and other alloys.”

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 Moulded plastics
have many applications,
including the production
of beer glasses with
a TOOLOX mould.

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 PAGE SPECIFICS
TEXT: Michael Masoliver PHOTO: Bo Björkdahl

IN THE MIDST OF THE CURRENT BUSINESS DOWNTURN,

THE SWEDISH COMPANY TOBE TEKNIK IS EXPANDING ITS
PLASTICS PRODUCTION PLANT IN OXELÖSUND.

”
NOTHING CAN BEAT
TOOLOX FOR MOULDS”
O
nly two years after moving, ToBe Teknik has out consider it most beneficial in the production of reinforced
grown its premises in the Bara industrial estate in materials that cause heavier wear of the moulds than other
Oxelösund. But the company's turnover has also plastics,” says Tony Bäckman.
increased from sek 18 to sek 26 million, explains Tony
Bäckman, owner of the company, as he takes us on a guided THE USE OF toolox instead of conventional tool steel
tour of the extension, with assembly, goods delivery and initially involves higher costs. But it soon pays for itself,
finished products stores, and a hall with the 13 machines considers Tony Bäckman, who estimates that ToBe Teknik
that can produce up to 250 different plastic parts. can cut costs by 10 to 15 percent. Even higher savings can
Production is generally automated, and the plastic is in- be achieved on larger moulds.
jected into the moulds developed in cooperation with the “toolox is simple to use. You start by running a cou-
Swedish-owned Arc Tooling Technology Inc. in China. ple of test series with a prototype. If it all looks good, you
ToBe Teknik also undertakes marking or printing of the can immediately start production, or you can give the steel
plastic parts, as well as assembly of both sub-systems and an additional nitriding treatment. This will substantially
complete modules. extend the useful life, even when moulding plastics that
cause heavy wear of the mould. Hardening conventional
THE COMPANY HAS customers in Sweden, the usa, Thai- steel after the test runs is much more complicated and un-
land, Norway, Germany, Denmark, the Czech Republic, certain.
Hungary and Malaysia. Most of the ToBe Teknik custom- This is also the reason that Zlatko Visic, toolmaker at
ers develop products for other companies, particularly ToBe Teknik, prefers to replace worn out conventional
those in the electronics and automotive industries. steel with toolox.
In several applications, plastics are about to displace ma- “Nothing can beat toolox for moulds. This is obvious
terials such as aluminium. But this presupposes high qual- to anyone who has the least knowledge of materials. If a
ity of both the plastic and the inserts, which is one of the 5 millimetre drill is used to drill a hole, you can rely on the
reasons why ToBe Teknik began using toolox last year hole being exactly 5 millimetres. This is because the plate is
instead of conventional steel for one of its inserts. so pure and has no inclusions whatever, which gives me a
“toolox is actually well suited for everything, but we sense of security.”
▼

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 PHOTO: Bo Björkdahl
▼

Nothing can beat TOOLOX for

moulds. This is obvious to anyone
with the least knowledge of mate-
rials, says Zlatko Visic, toolmaker
at ToBe Teknik.

TOOLOX can reduce

production costs by up
to 15 percent, according
to Tony Bäckman, owner
of ToBe Teknik.

Therese Bergvall.

TOOLOX

TOOLOX tool plate is hardened and dimensionally

stable when it leaves SSAB Oxelösund, which
means that the useful life of the material is longer
than that of conventional steels. In addition, the
surface hardness of the plate can be increased
further by traditional gas nitriding. This extends
the useful life of the mould, says Tomas Berglund,
Area Manager, Tool Steel, SSAB Oxelösund.

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 FOCUS ON THE ENVIRONMENT
TEXT: Michael Masoliver

HARDOX is robust enough

– but choose the grade with care
An industrial plant that handles ing wear in crushers and shredding hardox Extreme with a hardness of
crushed glass, metal scrap and mills. hardox 400 or hardox 450 up to 700 hb is the ultimate material
is very well suited for equipment that for extreme wear. Typical applications
household waste certainly must be wear resistant, but is also include the knives of tools used for
appreciates machines that can tough enough to withstand high loads cutting reinforcing bars in the demoli-
and impact. These steel grades are tion of buildings.
withstand such a hard life. But used, for example, in recovery con- “There is a hardox grade for ev-
the form of HARDOX that is best tainers, buckets and scrap presses. ery operation in recycling. A good ap-
suited depends on both how the hardox 500 is better suited proach is to start from a lower hard-
for equipment that must be able to ness and then continue by trial and
equipment is loaded and what withstand harder wear, but is not error. But the best solution is to get
waste is being recovered. subjected to a great deal of bending. in touch with our wear experts at the
This steel is used, for ex- Wear Technology Group.
JOHAN DALHÄLL

IMAGINE MACHINERY that ample, for knives that shred

must withstand the rough- waste such as food resi- RECYCLING
est possible treatment, day dues, clothes, furniture and
in day out, by a never-end- household waste.
ing stream of metal scrap, The recycling industry accounts for a growing pro-
crushed glass, rubber tyres HARDOX 550 IS suitable for portion of the world’s production of materials such
and other waste. But this is hammers for the same type as metal, rubber and glass. This helps to reduce
just what faces the equip- of waste, and hardox 600 the consumption of natural resources.
ment of many companies is the best alternative for The consumption can be reduced even more
in the recycling industry, Hans Konradsson. surfaces on which crushed by using HARDOX, which is more durable than
which have learned to appreciate ma- glass and metal scrap will slide. conventional steel. Moreover, HARDOX reduces
terials that can withstand rough treat- the necessary quantities of plate. Lighter truck
bodies and containers enable them to carry a
ment.
higher payload, and fewer containers and truck
“hardox can withstand all con- bodies will then be needed for transporting a
ceivable conditions in a recycling given quantity of waste, which in itself reduces the
plant, and the broad product range environmental impact.
offers unique opportunities for opti- But according to Hans Konradsson, there are
mizing the choice of hardox grade,” naturally also strictly economic arguments for us-
says Hans Konradsson, head of Mar- ing more durable materials such as HARDOX.
ket Projects at ssab Oxelösund. “The equipment will last longer. So the produc-
The wear occurring in a recycling tion stoppages will be fewer and productivity will
plant includes sliding wear as the mate- improve.”
HARDOX is widely used in the recycling industry.
rial moves, and also impact and crush-

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 RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
TEXT: Michael Masoliver PHOTO: Göran Wink

After several years of capacity increase, SSAB Oxelösund is

entering the next stage of its extensive investment programme.
The aim is to raise both the capacity and the productivity,
thereby strengthening the company’s position as a world leader
in quenched and tempered steels.

” K-G Ramström:

Capacity is steadily
improving”
IN RECENT YEARS, ssab Oxelösund being raised to around 800 000 tonnes
has increased its annual capacity to annually, he considers that the lead
a total of 700 000 tonnes of plate, by times will be shorter and the reliabil-
means such as a new vacuum plant, ity of delivery will be improved. The
a new quenching line, and an entire- reasons include a thorough review of
ly new plant for blast cleaning and the logistics functions and improved
painting. coordination with production in Bor-
The equipment has hardly been tak- länge and North America.
en into service before the new invest-
K-G Ramström.
ment programme is launched, which “WE WILL BE better at putting to use
includes new diffusion furnaces, a our global production systems. Cus-
tempering furnace and new stores for tomers will realise that our delivery
handling plate. capacity is better, and particularly the “To an increasing extent, customers
capacity for high-quality quenched are demanding plate that can be used
DIVISIONAL MANAGER K-G Ramström and tempered steels such as hardox for manufacturing durable products
describes the venture as a continued and weldox.” that weigh less and can therefore car-
aggressive investment into quenched According to K-G Ramström, a ry more load. Our intensified efforts
and tempered steels, which will business downturn will not stop the focused on quenched and tempered
strengthen further the already leading planned investments. On the contrary, steels are therefore an investment into
position of ssab Oxelösund on the he considers that the increase in inter- the future. Not least because increas-
world market. national demand for quenched and ing importance is being assigned to
The total investments are in the bil- tempered steels will continue for ap- energy savings and environmental
lions of kronor class. But K-G Ram- plications in which higher strength, thinking.”
ström prefers to talk about what the in- wear resistance and toughness are The changes will be coming into
vestments will mean to ssab Oxelösund needed than those offered by stan- force in the second half of 2010. 
customers. In addition to the capacity dard steels.

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 THE WORLD AROUND US

China after the Olympics

ave you ever heard of pod? It ing of the Olympics on 08.08.08). materials in China originate largely

H stands for Post Olympic Depres-

sion and has been used for some
time in a variety of newspaper articles.
Nine million homes will be built with-
in three years in the region affected
by the earthquake. Moreover, people
from Australia and South-East Asia. In
Australia, we at ssab have noted this
by an increased demand for hardox.
Many have speculated on whether continue to migrate from the country Our sales have tripled in four years,
this would affect China after the to the cities. This human stream de- and it could have increased even more
Olympic Games. So did it? mands an infrastructure construction if we had had adequate production
The Olympic Village in Beijing is equivalent to one Chicago city every capacity. In Australia, it is the avail-
empty and deserted. Loudspeakers six months. ability of manpower that restricts the
on the streets still blare out “piped However, the Chinese authori- expansion of the mines. According
music”, which accentuates the deso- ties predict a cooling-down of the to forecasts, more than 80 000 addi-
lation. So it does feel as though this country’s economy, and the global tional workers will be needed in the
district at least is suffering from de- economic crisis is obviously reflected coming ten-year period.
pression. here too. The gnp growth is expected So it can be said in brief that, as
But how about the rest of China to drop from 11 percent down to a long as the Chinese locomotive steams
and the Chinese economy? The indus- still impressive 9 percent, compared on, Australia and South-East Asia will
tries that are important to us at ssab to Sweden’s 2–3 percent or around be riding on the wagons. And we at
have not yet been affected by any sig- 4–6 percent in Brazil, Russia and In- ssab have not yet noticed any dra-
nificant downturn. Even though the dia. The Chinese government recently matic downturn.
Olympics involved the whole of Chi- presented a support package for infra-
na, the activities were fairly localized structure construction amounting to
and confined to Beijing. Some of the the equivalent of sek 4650 billion to
projects that have followed the Olym- be invested in the coming two years.
pics are, for instance, the build-up on This is almost equivalent to the value Mats Haglund,
the eve of the World Exhibition in of the annual Swedish gnp. Business Area
2010 in Shanghai, and the reconstruc- The conclusion is that, as long as Manager,
tion work after the tragic earthquake growth continues in China, the need Asia and Oceania at
in Sichuan (88 days before the open- for raw materials will persist. The raw SSAB Oxelösund.

SSAB Johannesburg in new premises Correction

AS A RESULT of growing demand, ssab In the last issue of Plate, a mistake sneaked
in Johannesburg, South Africa, was into the article on FLSmidth Machinery
becoming increasingly overcrowded for Industry (Qingdao) Co., Ltd. in China.
some time. A new rental contract was Jan Geertsen, who was interviewed for
concluded last summer, and the 115 the article, is the General Manager at
employees in Johannesburg moved into FLSmidth Machinery Industry (Qingdao)
new premises with a floor are of 31 000 Co., Ltd. and nothing else. Our sincere
square metres. This will enable the ope- apologies.
rations to be developed at a livelier pace.
As a result, customers will enjoy quicker
deliveries and better service.

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 BRING IT ON
When you’re working your excavator you probably So accept no substitutes. The HARDOX In My Body
are a bit of a stickler. You don’t want the bucket to label on your equipment is your guarantee of genuine
give, and will accept no kind of bending or distortion HARDOX wear plate. Look for the sign that stands
even when charged with maximum force. What you for unbeatable value and lasting performance. And
demand is a material that wears slowly and resists bring it on!
deformation. And you hate dents.

SSAB Oxelösund AB, SE-613 80 Oxelösund, Sweden

+46 (0)155-25 40 00, www.ssabox.com, www.hardox.com

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