For Swedish company Sandvik, which supplies equipment to the quarrying industry, 2012 is a year of celebrations
A series of events are being arranged by
Already the anniversary flag has been hoisted over the Sandviken, Sweden headquarters and a firework display held; an anniversary issue of group magazine Meet Sandvik has been published in 14 languages and a book, The Sandvik Journey – The first 150 years, written by Swedish journalist, author and industrial historian Ronald Fagerfjäll, has been published.
Sandvik has made an exciting journey in all respects, as is fully revealed in this book, says CEO Olof Faxander in the foreword.
Coincidentally, since 1 January 2012, a restructuring programme at the group has seen five business areas introduced: Sandvik Mining, Sandvik Machining Solutions, Sandvik Materials Technology, Sandvik Construction and Sandvik Venture.
Sandvik Construction provides solutions for construction industry applications encompassing such diverse businesses as surface rock quarrying, tunnelling, excavation, demolition, road building, recycling and civil engineering. The range of products includes rock tools, drilling rigs, breakers, bulk-materials handling and crushing and screening machinery.
It all started on 31 January, 1862, when Göran Fredrik Göransson’s new company was formed in Sandviken, Sweden, where Sandvik was the first in the world to use the Bessemer process, which would revolutionise steel manufacturing. It was the first inexpensive industrial process for the mass-production of steel from molten pig iron and the company quickly became one of the world’s leaders in its industry. The process was not discontinued until 1947.
Today, the Sandvik Group currently has 47,000 employees with operations in 130 countries and annual sales of approximately SEK 83 billion (€9.3 billion).
At an early stage, the company’s operations focused on high quality and added value, investments in R&D, close contact with customers, and exports, “a strategy that has remained unchanged through the years.”
As early as the 1860s, the product range included drill steel for rock-drilling, and its listing on the Stockholm Stock Exchange took place in 1901.
The manufacturing of stainless steel began in 1921 and cemented carbide in 1942. Production of cemented-carbide tools was started in the 1950s in Gimo, Sweden.
During the 1960s, a comprehensive investment programme was carried out at the main plant in Sandviken, and in 1972 the company name was changed to Sandvik AB, and in 1984 a decentralised organisation was introduced, with a parent company, separate business areas, regional companies and service companies.
In addition to organic growth, Sandvik’s expansion has also involved a series of company acquisitions over the years.
Recent examples include Kanthal, which manufactures metallic and ceramic resistance materials, and Tamrock, the Finnish manufacturer of rock excavation machinery, both of which were acquired in 1997.
In 1999, the saws and tools business area was divested and Sandvik’s operations were concentrated on three core areas: tooling, mining and construction and specialty steels. This again changed in 2012.
Sandvik Construction.
The group opened plants in India and Mexico in 1961, and in 1962 it opened a plant in Brazil and celebrated its 100th anniversary.
Among its many acquisitions have been the crushing and screening operations from Svedala Industri in 2001, and in 2003 in Pune, India, a plant for the assembly of crushers, feeders and screens was inaugurated while in Stockholm a research centre for materials development was opened.
A further major acquisition in 2007 was that of the UK-based companies
At the upcoming Intermat 2012 exhibition in Paris, France, Sandvik Construction will be exhibiting some of its latest developments including the QI 240 mobile impactor; BR 3288 breaker; DP 1500i drill rig and “some new, and exciting, products and services for the quarrying, demolition, road building, civil engineering, recycling, aggregates and tunnelling industries.”
“The Sandvik Construction range of equipment enables our customers to process materials from virgin rock right through to demolition materials that can be then be recycled for continued use,” says Satu Ramo, marketing communications manager
