“Seeing our customers smile makes us happy,” says Mehmet Baypınar, who is responsible for domestic sales at Fesan. “We’ve made a name for ourselves in Turkey and we now want to be a big name in the rest of the world, and we do that with the help of Hardox and Strenx steels.”
The Turkish company constructs tipper trailers, container carriers and low-bed products in its vast facilities in the booming city of Konya. Being part of the continuously growing market, Fesan also looks for contracts outside the country. To reach its export goals, Fesan turned to SSAB for new solutions. The implementation of Hardox® wear plate and Strenx® performance steel met the company’s expectations and more.
Flagship lightweight tipper model
“We have a product called Dangal, which is used for multipurpose loads, such as bulk cargo, pallet loads and scraps,” Baypınar explains. “It withstands harsh conditions, and by introducing Strenx 700 and Strenx 960 instead of the previous thick mild steel we have shaved off about 800 kilos in the chassis. Fesan was the first company to use Hardox steel in the side and rear doors of the containers, and the change to 1.5-millimeter Hardox 450 from 3-millimeter thickness in the doors has made the vehicle another 600 kilos lighter just from the doors.”
The new design including only three side doors has been revolutionary. First, it offers flexibility as customers can transport logs in one direction and, thanks to the automated top cover, carry chipboards or sawdust on the way back. Second, it saves time when opening the doors. Before, users had to open a total of 12 covers using hammer and pins, and the process of opening and closing took 90 minutes. The new design’s easy grip-open system takes only five minutes, which also improves safety. Third, Dangal was designed for easy and fast on- and off-loading, and it loads twice or three times as fast.
In an ordinary month, the factory produces around 80 different trailers and tippers. For Dangal, the new lightweight flagship model, Fesan uses 100 percent Strenx® steel in the production of the structural parts, and the company is also using Hardox® wear plate in the tipper bodies. But Fesan also prefers Hardox® wear sheet whenever possible for less material waste thanks to suitable dimensions for tipper body production.
Extensive steel material knowledge
Selim Selvi, the company’s founder, is active as a production manager. With 34 years of experience in the superstructure sector, he has extensive knowledge of steel materials.
“The reason why we use sheet material is that it leads to less scrap, which is beneficial from both cost-conscious and sustainable viewpoints,” Selvi says. “We can get SSAB to produce sheets in whatever size we need, and this helps us produce without waste. We use 1.5-millimeter and 1.6-millimeter Hardox wear sheet and then design our products from these parameters. Hardox wear sheet materials are just as strong and durable as plates, so we prefer sheet material. It’s cheaper for us due to less material waste, and the workshop behavior is consistent. We save 150 to 250 kilos of steel waste per tipper depending on the tipper model, which is a very important cost saving.”
Selvi is also happy with the functioning of the Strenx® performance steel. “It doesn’t break during cutting and bending,” he says. “This of course makes production easier for us.”