Gulf Construction Online - Sandvik launches a unified brand

Drilling & Quarrying

Equipment from several Sandvik group brands, such as Tamrock, can be seen throughout the Gulf.

Sandvik launches a unified brand

A number of brands under the Sandvik umbrella will now be merged into one unified brand, in a bid to reinforce the diversity of the company’s portfolio.

01 October 2008

Sandvik, which has grown rapidly over the past decade acquiring a large number of companies over the period, has decided to merge all the product brands under its portfolio into one single brand – Sandvik.

This measure has been taken to spell out the full scope of what Sandvik offers today, states Jukka Naapuri, a spokesman for Sandvik.
In less than 10 years, Sandvik has grown from being a supplier of high-quality rock tools to become the world’s most complete supplier of equipment and solutions to the mining and construction industries. This has been achieved through acquisitions of a large number of strong brands – Tamrock, Toro, EJC, EIMCO, Voest-Alpine Bergtechnik, Driltech, Rammer, Mission, Sandvik Rock Processing and Roxon, to name a few.
“By the end of 2008, all the existing product brand names will progressively be replaced with the Sandvik brand. From then on, whatever the needs of end-users are, they just need to think ‘Sandvik’,” Naapuri says.
“Sandvik will stand for everything that their previous brands stood for. It will continue to offer world-class products; there will even be more dedication to investing in research and development (R&D), and will increase the efforts to provide the service customers demand,” he adds.
The new strategy focuses on understanding the customers’ processes even better. “The obvious reason behind this is that Sandvik is dedicated to support the customers even better and more professionally with the products, services, solutions and knowledge – so that customers in turn can improve their productivity and exceed their performance targets,” he comments.
Among its vast array of products are DTH drills. Sandvik has made a considerable investment into developing DTH drills in the past years. The Sandvik DI-series of down-the hole drills, for instance, are designed for drilling 85 to 178 mm diameter holes in construction, quarrying and mining industries.
These medium-heavy to heavy self-contained DTH drills are equipped with FOPS/ROPS (falling objects protection system/ roll over protection system) operator's cabins, advanced drilling control systems, automatic pipe changers and rugged telescopic or single-section booms for maximum performance. Onboard air compressors, a low centre of gravity and powerful oscillating crawler undercarriages ensure maximum onsite mobility, he says.
Sandvik drills are fitted with silenced power packs comprising of diesel engine, hydraulic pumps and air compressor. They are known for their rugged designs and are particularly suited for drilling difficult rock formations, for precision drilling and toe holes, he says.
Sandvik is also the world’s leading supplier of surface drilling rigs. However, besides providing the best drilling equipment in the industry, the company focuses on developing its unique rock excavation knowledge and superior drilling expertise for the customer’s benefit.
“Its extensive knowledge of the quarrying process allows the firm to assist its customers in the most efficient choice and application of the drilling equipment. Sandvik can provide accurate equipment performance analyses and cost estimates that help the customer to plan his operation for optimum productivity,” Naapuri comments.
While drilling represents approximately 10 to 15 per cent of total excavation costs, it also affects the cost of every subsequent stage in the process. Sandvik has developed new and innovative methods for helping the drilling professionals to drill holes even more exactly so that blasting can be done more efficiently and shot rock size optimised for each specific application. This, in turn, minimises secondary breaking and simplifies hauling.

Quarry academy
To show its dedication to the industry, Sandvik also conducts a training programme, known as Quarry Academy, which focuses on the excavation process and the mutual interdependencies of its various sub processes.
Commenting on the role of the academy, he says: “It emphasises optimisation of the entire excavation process, not simply patchwork measures aimed at individual areas of operation.
“Besides sharing knowledge about quarrying for the production of crushed stone products, the lessons Quarry Academy teaches can also be applied to a wide range of excavation operations used in other types of construction projects such as building roads, railways, and electric power plants. To date, nearly 1,000 people representing excavation companies from around the world have participated in this unique and useful training programme.”
Sandvik is a global industrial group with advanced products and world-leading positions in selected areas – tools for metal cutting, machinery and tools for rock excavation, stainless materials, special alloys, metallic and ceramic resistance materials as well as process and sorting systems. At the end of last year, the group had about 47,000 employees and representation in 130 countries.
Sandvik Mining and Construction is a business area within the Sandvik Group and a leading global supplier of machinery, cemented-carbide tools, service and technical solutions for the excavation and sizing of rock and minerals in the mining and construction industries.