SSAB Special Steels

Global steel supplier and service partner in Quenched & Tempered Steels (Q&T) and Advanced High-Strength Steels (AHSS)

SSAB Special Steels’ wide product portfolio includes a number of unique steel grades. Hardox® - our global brand of wear steels - has the highest awareness of all brands in the steel market. Through close collaboration, we help our customers to utilize our high-strength steels to create new, innovative steel solutions and applications. 

Fast facts

Number of employees: Approximately 2,800
Sales in 2018: SEK 18,869 million
Share of SSAB Group's total sales: 23%
Share of SSAB Group's total EBITDA: 21%
Head of SSAB Special Steels: Johnny Sjöström, EVP
Steel Shipments 2018: 1.3 million tonnes

Market position

SSAB Special Steels is the global leader in high-strength steels and is represented in markets in Europe, the Americas, APAC, the Middle East and Africa. About 50% of sales are in Europe and 20% in North America. SSAB defines the special steel market as hot-rolled products with a yield strength of 690 MPa and above. The total market is estimated to be around 5 million tonnes and, since demand grows structurally, it therefore outperforms demand growth for standard steel. SSAB shipments of Q&T products have grown at an average rate of 7% a year between 2000 and 2018.

Market drivers

Requirements and demand for improved material and energy efficiency, as well as for productivity, are important drivers leading to the growing use of high-strength steels, which provide advantages in the form of stronger, lighter and more durable steel solutions. The penetration of high-strength steels is increasing in all markets, as customers upgrade their steel usage from standard to high-strength steels. In emerging markets, including Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and Asia, where the use of high-strength steels is still relatively low, the market potential for high-strength steels is even higher than in mature markets like Europe and North America.

Strengths

SSAB Special Steels is well positioned to take advantage of opportunities in the high-strength steels market due to our portfolio of well-known brands, specialized and wide product range, and our business model, which is built on fostering close, long-term customer relationships. 

• World's widest product portfolio
• Over 40 years of experience in Q&T and AHSS products has resulted in high quality and consistent product properties
• Close collaboration and joint projects with customers result in more highly paced development and increased competitiveness
• Well-known and highly-respected product brands
• Long-standing customer relations
• Flexible production system for high-strength steels
• Own stocks in approximately 80 locations serving more than 130 countries
• A unique combination of expertise in steel development, design and applications know-how

Strategy

SSAB Special Steels aims to strengthen its leading position in high-strength steels as well as in related value-added services. SSAB Special Steels’ strategic growth target is to grow shipments by 35% from 2016 to 1.35 million tonnes in 2020. Most of this growth is expected to come from upgrading, i.e. getting customers to switch from using standard grades to high-strength grades. SSAB Services aims to expand the Hardox® Wearparts network to more than 500 centers in 2020. SSAB’s strategy is based on a unique brand, product and service portfolio, as well as on close collaboration with customers.

Strategic priorities:

• Safety is always the top priority 
• Maintain position as innovation leader with a unique brand, product and service portfolio

o Work closely with potential and existing customers to upgrade to high-strength steels
o Accelerate growth by upgrading in new segments, applications and geographical markets 
o Develop SSAB Services; expand the Hardox® Wearparts network and SSAB Shape concept
o Develop further the global stock network and increase stock sales
o Continue to develop and expand Hardox® In My Body and My Inner Strenx® brand programs

• Continuously improve our delivery performance

Customer segments

SSAB Special Steels’ main end customer segments include manufacturers of heavy transport, construction machinery and material handling including mining and recycling. SSAB Special Steels works in close collaboration with large OEMs, as well as with smaller and mid-sized customers through a global organization. Examples of customer applications include booms and chassis for mobile cranes, tipper bodies for trailers, and buckets for construction and mining machinery. We share a goal with our customers to make lighter, stronger end-products with better lifting capacity, higher payloads, longer service life and lower fuel consumption and emissions.

Main customer segments and applications:

• Heavy transport, incl. trailers, trucks, railway transport, agriculture and forestry
• Construction machinery, incl. lifting (dumpers, loaders and cranes)
• Material handling, incl. mining and recycling (crushers, buckets and conveyors

Examples of applications for Special Steels products

High-strength structural steels:

• Mobile cranes (booms, chassis and support legs)
• Truck-mounted cranes
• Aerial work platforms
• Chassis for trailers and trucks
• Agricultural machinery
• Offshore (selected components such as jack-up rigs) 

Wear steels:

• Dumper bodies for both off-road and on-road use
• Buckets 
• Containers
• Stationary mining equipment such as crushers
• Recycling equipment
• Wear parts to several segments and applications 

Protection steels:

• Vehicles for safe transportation of people and valuables
• Protection for buildings and counters

Tool steels:

• Molds
• ool holders
• Axles

Products and services

SSAB Special Steels has the widest product portfolio on the market, combined with deep knowledge of steel properties and performance. SSAB Special Steels is responsible for all SSAB’s Q&T and hot-rolled AHSS with yield strengths of 690 MPa and above. These products can further be divided into structural high-strength steels, wear steels, protection steels and tool steels. SSAB Special Steels’ product portfolio includes a number of brands and product lines, each of which has its own unique characteristics and target applications, and comes in a range of grades and dimensions:

• Hardox® is the leading brand of wear steels. It offers a unique combination of hardness and toughness, which in turn enable lighter, more durable structures for higher payload and longer service life 
• Strenx® is SSAB’s high-strength structural steel product brand. Its high strength combined with good impact toughness and forming properties enable strong, light structures for higher payload
• Raex™ is a distributor brand for wear steel designed to meet standard demands on the market
• Toolox® is a pre-hardened tool steel with very good machinability and is available as plate and bars 
• Armox® and Ramor are protection plate with properties designed especially for the protection of life and property
  

• Hardox® Wearparts is a network of companies for the production of wear parts and just-in-time repair services to end-users in the local aftermarket in the mining, quarrying, recycling and construction sectors. The network is represented across more than 80 countries and consists of 483 companies (2018), 16 of which SSAB has an ownership interest in 
• SSAB Shape combines premium steel products with engineering and processing services offered through our own Shape Centers and a worldwide network of processing partners. The service includes customized product development and engineering, extensive design support and prefabrication services, as well as reliable, tailor-made logistics and stock services
  By providing technical support to customers at an early stage in the product development process, our technical experts contribute knowledge as to how the qualities of high-strength steels can be utilized to create new, innovative solutions and applications 
  

Production

SSAB’s flexible production system for high-strength steels is one of the prerequisites for achieving our strategic growth targets. SSAB Special Steels is responsible for steel production in Oxelösund (Sweden), which has an annual crude steel production capacity of 1.5 million tonnes, as well as for the sales of high-strength steels produced in Mobile, Alabama (USA), Raahe (Finland) and Borlänge (Sweden). SSAB Special Steels is working with continuous improvement to reduce CO₂ emissions and purchased energy. 

Our long-term aim is to stepwise move toward a fossil-free steelmaking process first by converting the blast furnaces in Oxelösund into electric arc furnaces by 2025 and later using iron created through HYBRIT technology. SSAB can cut its CO₂ emissions in Sweden by around 25% following conversion to electric arc furnace use in Oxelösund. Also smaller sources of CO₂ emissions, such as internal transport, are under evaluation along with testing a hydrogen-powered forklift in cooperation with an external partner. 

Competitors

SSAB’s main competitors for Q&T steels include international steelmakers such as Dillinger Hütte, NLMK Clabecq, Voestalpine, ArcelorMittal, ThyssenKrupp, Tata Steel Europe, JFE and Nucor.