SSAB’s technical seminars receive great response in many areas. “The advanced high strength steels, consisting of extra-high and ultra-high strength steels, are used to manufacture lighter, stronger and safer products in all kinds of areas,” says Anke Meyer, Vice Manager Marketing Communications, SSAB Swedish Steel.
“We have numerous examples from products where the advanced high strength steel saves energy and fuel and gives additional advantages such as increased safety in cars or more payload on trailers. In addition to these facts, advanced high strength steels can reduce the overall cost.”
SSAB Swedish Steel has developed and manufactured these steel grades for nearly 30 years.
“Now we make that knowledge available to our customers and other groups in a series of seminars pinpointing the use of advanced high strength steels in different industrial segments such as automotive, trailers, tipper bodies, waste containers and other areas,” explains Anke Meyer. The seminar campaign’s logotype is a brain made of steel.
2000 participants
“Since the start of the Advanced High Strength Steel Seminar campaign focusing on the automotive industry, more than 2,000 participants from the automotive world have attended the technical expert seminar,” says Anke Meyer. She adds: “We have been back to the UK where the automotive seminar campaign started two years ago. Due to a huge interest in the market, we held seminars there in the middle of May 2008.
The tailor-made automotive seminars have been given to designers, engineers, purchasers and other specialists involved in the production of cars. The participants came from all areas of this business and the response to the subject has exceeded all expectations, according to Anke Meyer.
Participant feedback
The focus of these seminars is to spread knowledge about the advanced high strength steels and their properties. The speakers at the seminars are technical specialists at SSAB who are responsible for product development, material testing and customer support. “I liked the highly technical presentations very much. They provided me with new information what will become up-to-date in the future,” says Viktor Kalous, from Benteler in the Czech Republic after participating at one of the seminars last year. Jan Sláma, Škoda Auto, adds: “The presentations focusing on weight reduction were most interesting to me.´These gave an overview about construction principles, possibilities of material choice in comparison to other materials such as aluminium.”
The Advanced High Strength Steel Seminars have been developed to give a wide perspective on the use of these steel grades. Therefore the speakers describe in detail all the manufacturing stages of these products. The information about designing, cutting, punching, shaping and joining are greatly appreciated parts of the seminars: “All the presentations were of a very high standard with extremely valuable information. The presentations in direct connection to processing and production technology of pressing and joining were of most interest to me,” says Štefan Matuška, Matador Automotive. “The seminar highlighted the current trend and status in the automotive industry. Advanced high strength steels will be used more and more to improve safety and to save the environment,” states Soon-woo Kwon, Hyundai Motor.
Trailers, tipper bodies and containers
In the near future SSAB will launch the Advanced High Strength Steel Seminars focusing on trailers, tipper bodies and waste-containers. The first seminar for these industrial segments will be held in Zaragoza, Spain on 12 June 2008 and will then be taken to worldwide markets. “But we will also continue with the seminars for the automotive industry. There is a huge demand for these seminars,” says Anke Meyer. “We plan to give seminars in China, Canada, the USA, Germany, Russia, Turkey, South Africa and other markets within the next year. The more seminars we do, the greater becomes the demand. Everybody wants to know more about advanced high strength steel.”