On a roll Åkers

ON A ROLL

The world’s leading roll manufacturer Åkers takes a truly global approach to ensuring that it delivers high quality products to its customers wherever they are in the world, with its latest innovation, Invicta, continuing the promise. Emma-Jane Batey spoke to global sales director Geert van der Linden and marketing manager Lorna Payne to find out more.

Lorna Payne

One of Sweden’s oldest companies, Åkers can trace its roots back to 1580. Its modern history essentially began in 1985 when its concerted focus on global expansion saw the considerable development of its multinational presence, including the launch of a number of new products and complementary services.

Today, the Åkers Group employs almost 2000 people worldwide, generating an annual turnover, of on average, €320 million from its 10 factories in six countries across three continents. Global sales director Geert van der Linden told Industry Europe how the company’s wide-reaching facilities allow it to meet its promise of exceeding customer expectations wherever they are in the world. Mr van der Linden explained, “We certainly take a global approach to each of our product sectors so that the type of customers that value our high quality rolls can enjoy the same promise across the world. Our target market is global, as we want to work with any mill that is interested in improved performance and environmental awareness.”

Manufacturing 70,000 tonnes of cast rolls each year, 29,000 tonnes of forged rolls and 45,000 tonnes of bars and ingots, Åkers Rolls is strategically divided into four key divisions, with Cast Rolls America, Cast Rolls Europe and Asia, Forged Rolls and Speciality Rolls all sharing the capabilities of the company’s headquarters in Åkers Styckebruk, Sweden.

Leading the way

As a pioneer in the rolling industry, Åkers invests heavily in research and development. According to Mr van der Linden, “We are always looking to bring new innovations to our product portfolio so research and development is paramount to our continued success.”

It is thanks to the R&D team that Åkers has recently launched its most innovative product to date. Invicta represents the cold rolling industry’s biggest breakthrough for many years and, in what is a relatively conservative industry, highlights how committed Åkers is to bringing fresh ideas and solutions to market.

A new line of rolls for cold rolling mills, Invicta is a forged high-speed steel work roll. Ms Payne commented, “Åkers Invicta is a brand new forged HSS roll for cold rolling mills, with vastly superior performance to all other rolls available on the market. This roll brings significant added value to our customers and to Åkers.”

A greener roll

The environmental advantages of Invicta centre round the fact that it does not require the standard chrome plating associated with traditional rolls, with this toxic hexavalent chrome product causing issues when released into the environment in an uncontrolled manner. Invicta’s performance benefits are highlighted by its ability to last up to five times longer than a standard roll, which represents a considerable cost saving in terms of both replacement and maintenance as they need to be changed less frequently so the uptime is much greater.

Ms Payne pointed out, “Rolls are like customised tools. Our customers need to know that the rolls they use are efficient, effective and totally reliable. Åkers certainly

Long-standing cooperation with CERATIZIT

Akers has been relying on the tools and inserts from CERATIZIT for many years. CERATIZIT not only offers a wide range of heavy duty tools made of carbide, ceramics and CBN cutting materials, but also possesses decade-long experience in this field. The aim of the carbide expert when cooperating with customers is the optimization of the manufacturing process, the joint development of individual customer specific solutions and innovative products. One example is the HX parting and grooving program which Akers has been in use for years. During tests with this year‘s further development of the program, Akers has been able to achieve a considerably higher productivity in the processing of their rolls. When dealing with tool and OEM equipment the carbide specialist is also seen as a competent partner when seeking efficient solutions.

CERATIZIT considers itself a full-range supplier who covers all the fields of the entire value chain: from the processing of the raw material, to a multiplicity of cutting materials and finally to coating. The global placement of the CERATIZIT Group guarantees all Akers plants competent service on-site and the availability of the complete product portfolio.

offers that across our product portfolio, and with Invicta we are even more able to deliver on our promise. We like to show how the total cost of ownership of Invicta is a positive investment for our customers when they evaluate the cost savings potential in the roll shop as well as in the mill. We are not the cheapest, but we are certainly the best at what we do and our rolls offer fantastic value for money.”

Many of Åkers’ customers have a broad global presence, with the majority most active in the steel industry such as Tata Steel, the company’s appreciation of promoting Invicta on a global scale makes perfect sense. The product launch took place at a Formula 1 racetrack to illustrate its advantages as a ‘highspeed’ steel roll, with Tata Steel also sharing centre stage with a presentation.

Even though Mr van der Linden acknowledges that the majority of companies connected to the steel industry had a tough time during the global recession, he is aware that its traditional markets are returning to form as well as seeing strong potential in many emerging markets. He concluded, “Our future will be cooperating with steel companies and mills that want to improve environmental behaviour while guaranteeing strong performance, and we expect this to be particularly positive in Latin America, Russia and India. We have a strong intention to grow with our existing portfolio, our latest Invicta brand and our future developments that may include products outside cold mill rolls and could perhaps revolutionise back-up rolls.” n