Customer case

Truck bodies in Hardox® 450 help RMB Sateci drive more efficient mining operations

December 28, 2020 6 min read

Case details

Product Hardox® 450

Country Peru

Company RMB Sateci

Industry Trailers and body builders

Brand Program Hardox^® In My Body

Thanks to a new design using a configuration of both Hardox® 450 and Strenx® 700MC, not only do RMB Sateci trucks carry double the load but they are lighter and more resistant to impact and abrasion.

Case details

Product Hardox® 450

Country Peru

Company RMB Sateci

Industry Trailers and body builders

Brand Program Hardox^® In My Body

“This design, a combination of Hardox® 450 in the floor and side walls and Strenx® 700MC in the top rails, results in a lightweight product resistant to impacts and abrasion from rocks.”

Jose M. Saldaña Lacunza, Assistant Project Manager, RMB Sateci

Double the payload and lower vehicle weight. To meet their customers’ demands for transporting more payload, at a lower cost and more efficiently, RMB Sateci, a body builder based in Peru, developed a 22 m³ (777 cu. ft.) truck dump body and a 20 m³ (706 cu ft.) body for trailers using Hardox^® 450 and Strenx^® 700MC steels in a joint project with SSAB.

The result? The company doubled the current transported load from 40 to 80 tons of payload, using a single truck for one of the largest underground mines in Peru. This was possible thanks to a project where the company upgraded from commercial mild steels, such as A36 and A572, to Hardox^® 450.

“This design, a combination of Hardox^® 450 in the body and Strenx^®700MC in the top rails in both tippers, results in a lightweight product that is resistant to impacts and abrasion from rocks,” says Jose M. Saldaña Lacunza, assistant project manager of RMB Sateci. The joint project with SSAB also resulted in a weight reduction of the structure by 10 percent.

New, lighter design brings a wide range of benefits

RMB Sateci used high-strength steels to improve their designs and provide more payload to their customers. “Daily use of this material has been much better implemented and we want to continue to grow as strategic partners of SSAB, which is not only a company that sells high-strength steels, but a total solution,” he says.

For the manufacturer, working with high-strength steel like Hardox^® steel brings certain benefits: the drop-bottom tipper bodies are lightweight and their designs innovative. And the benefits of the vehicles for the end user include fuel savings, less pollution, lower maintenance costs and increased profitability in the business, as well as increased transport efficiency.

Two steely gray bottom dump bodies on a truck produced by RMB Sateci.

Lightweight, innovative body designs bring both transport and cost efficiencies.

Close-up of two gray dump truck bodies made in Hardox® steel, with their bottoms open.

RMB Sateci’s dump bodies use Hardox^® 450 in the floor and sides and Strenx^® 700MC in the top rails.

Truck bodies that drive future efficiencies

RMB Sateci has a strong focus on engineering, research and product development and builds truck bodies for the demanding mining, construction and agriculture industries. Major customers include San Martin General Contractors, Stracon and Coansa del Peru. The company currently has a 54 percent market share in truck bodies and 3 percent in semi-trailers. A new 40,000 square meter (431,000 sq. ft.) production facility is located about an hour’s drive from Lima, Peru’s capital.

Saldaña says that the project with SSAB is a prototype for field testing and quantifying savings. “We are convinced that our customers will recover their investment in the short term by the increased efficiency that the project represents,” he says. “We are projecting a future purchase of 15-20 complete drop-bottom tipper bodies and trailer units.”

Dump truck and body with the Hardox® In My Body quality sign.

The Hardox^® In My Body decal on the truck bodies is a market differentiator for the company.

Hardox® In My Body a market differentiator

By fabricating in Hardox^® 450 and Strenx^® 700MC high-strength steels, José M. Saldaña Lacunza says that they get all the technical and marketing support SSAB has to offer. “All SSAB’s recommended procedures have been followed for cutting, machining and welding these materials, and mainly additional controls for welding Strenx^® 700MC."

The company was one of the first in Peru to use Hardox^® 450 steel more than 15 years ago. RMB Sateci got its first tipper body qualified under the Hardox^® in My Body program seven years ago, enabling it to use the Hardox^® In My Body decal on its certified products made with Hardox^® wear plate.

“Being part of the program has helped us to fully enter the market and differentiate our products from other tippers that are made from low-quality materials. The decal shows that we are using steel with great technical and commercial support, resulting in unparalleled quality.”

He continues: “The Hardox^® in My Body sign of quality represents first-class equipment that delivers unmatched wear resistance and impact toughness.”