Customer case

Bolognesi y Goren timber trailers in Strenx® 700MC steel are safer and 15% lighter

August 17, 2023 6 min read

Case details

Product Strenx® 700MC D/E

Country Chile

Company Bolognesi y Goren ltda

Industry Trailers and body builders

Brand program My Inner Strenx®

With Strenx® high-performance steel from SSAB, Bolognesi y Goren from Santiago, Chile, reduced the weight of its equipment by 15%, making it safer and more efficient to haul timber.

Case details

Product Strenx® 700MC D/E

Country Chile

Company Bolognesi y Goren ltda

Industry Trailers and body builders

Brand program My Inner Strenx®

In 2008, Bolognesi, a manufacturer and installer of pneumatic suspensions for trucks and trailers, joined forces with Goren, a Chilean equipment hauling company with five decades of experience on the road. Together, they develop and implement technology exclusively for the forestry market with advanced load transport equipment and timber trailers.

In response to industry concerns and since vehicles transporting logs must comply with a series of specific standards, Bolognesi y Goren incorporated an entire safety system for them to travel on streets and highways. The company developed a 12-meter (39-foot) timber trailer at 5,500 kilos (5.5 tons) and a load capacity of 33 tons, with the entire structure made of Strenx^® 700MC steel. The steel is known globally as a high-performance structural steel for lighter yet stronger applications.

"Since 2008, we have been meeting customer requirements for lighter equipment, with greater load capacity and higher safety through engineering design innovations. The forestry customer is very concerned about innovation, safety and economical transports"

Enzo Bolognesi, Bolognesi & Goren's CEO

By incorporating the Strenx^®-brand material into the equipment, it allowed for a 15% reduction in weight also making the transport and delivery of loaded material to market safer and more efficient. “In addition, this application is considered to feature high performance that meets the expectations of our customers,” Bolognesi says.

Customer and user benefits

15% lighter trailer achieved with design innovations
Meets customer and regulatory requirements for lighter equipment with higher load capacity
Helps to meet demands for lighter yet safer forestry equipment
Predictable, more rapid production in the workshop
The timber trailer user gains a 15% payload advantage while reducing fuel consumption by 15%

Higher payload, lower fuel use help drive profitability

By using Strenx^® steel, the company gets the most flexible and lightest equipment on the market. End users see gains of 15% in payloads, while reducing fuel consumption by 15%.

“We created this equipment, which is in its third generation and has been in operation for four years handling raw materials,” Bolognesi says.

Competitive advantages

The company developed the 12-meter (39-foot) semi-trailer to incorporate the Strenx^® brand material and close the market gap, since there was no previous equipment available that featured its benefits. In the new trailer, the engineering parameters and material characteristics proved very good in practice. According to Bolognesi, “The equipment we developed behaved in a manner very similar to what we had calculated.This is very good and allowed us to implement faster engineering processes, fixing small details. For us, it is a competitive advantage to use Strenx^® steel.”

The more Strenx® the better in timber trailers

Bolognesi and Goren chose to use SSAB's steel in the semi-trailer because they had excellent experience with manufacturing equipment previously, using 70% Strenx^® steel. “It has given us such good results in key parts that we thought, 'let's use Strenx^® to make a complete unit', and we did it,” the executive says.

They are the only company in Chile to develop a semi-trailer with 100% Strenx^® steel for the forestry industry. “We have sold out of the national market, and we manufacture this equipment to be able to meet the demand we have in the south,” Bolognesi says. “We are currently delivering 30 timber trailers built with Strenx^® 700MC steel to Arauco, in addition to what we sell directly to the customer.”

Strenx® steel easy to fabricate

In production, SSAB's high-performance structural steel proves beneficial to the company for workshop efficiency. “It is a material that delivers very good cutting and bending performance. We are working with the right welding process, as well as increasing our knowledge about how the welding joint is implemented with the right substance,” Enzo Bolognesi says. “We have never had any problems in manufacturing.”

Strenx® delivers high performance on the road

The steel's strength quality and flexibility allow for excellent performance so that trucks loaded with equipment do not lose traction on extremely unstable roads. “This equipment is subjected to a lot of punishment from poor road conditions, including muddy, uneven surfaces. That's why it has to be a heavily reinforced trailer to carry 33 tons of cargo.

"Strenx® performance steel offers a high-strength structural solution that ensures quality for lighter and safer equipment"

Enzo Bolognesi, Bolognesi & Goren's CEO

Partnering with SSAB means partnering for success

According to the company, it has a prestigious reputation in the market and SSAB is well-known for the quality of its materials. To use SSAB's steel is to be a market leader with equipment that is superior and better engineered. “We need to partner with the best,” Bolognesi says. “We have maintained a good relationship with SSAB over the years, and we want to keep it that way.”

Certified equipment paves the way for future growth

Bolognesi & Goren certified the development of this equipment through My Inner Strenx^®, SSAB's program for companies that want to manufacture the best products with high-quality Strenx^® steel, in order to enter the Chilean forestry industry, a sector that has experienced significant growth in recent decades. “We are one of the companies that supplies transportation equipment for the main companies in the forestry sector in Chile,” Bolognesi says. “Innovation is at the forefront of what our suppliers request every day.”

According to the company, participating in the My Inner Strenx^® program is an honor and demonstrates commitment to high quality standards and high performance. “This combination provides the perfect environment to make us stand out from our competitors,” Bolognesi adds. Bolognesi y Goren expects to achieve an annual growth rate of 15% in terms of plans and strategy.