SSAB has been in the global steel business for more than 140 years.
With a strong end-user focus backed by a powerful product brand strategy, SSAB possesses a series of durable product lines consisting of high-strength steels that are also bolstered by its dominant international presence.
Establishing its business in Australia at the turn of the century, SSAB was guided by a resolute mission statement which is still at the forefront of its operations today, according to SSAB Regional Sales Manager, Ryan Sanders.
“Our company vision revolves around a stronger, lighter and more sustainable world,” he says. “It’s about making our customers’ products last longer through extended wear life and making them more sustainable through lighter structures.”
SSAB’s brand promise has always been evident in the material it produces. The company famously creates two primary types of steel, Strenx performance steel and Hardox wear plate, which both serve as a testament to the innovative and sustainable spirit behind the brand.
The integration of Strenx steel makes equipment lighter and stronger while Hardox steel makes equipment more durable, providing it with extended wearability.
According to Ryan, the presence of these qualities largely contributes to sustainable production as well, as they allow equipment to perform better and last longer – increasing their reusability while greatly reducing the amount of production required and eliminating unnecessary emissions related to the process.
“We’re committed to our product quality and enhancing and improving what our customers ultimately produce,” he says.
In application, SSAB’s steel mainly caters towards the broad transport and mining sectors, with each industry warranting a multitude of sub-uses. These include heavy and light transport, lifting and handling equipment, mineral processing, quarrying and much more.
The applications expand quite rapidly, Ryan says, and have aligned it with many reputable trailer builders such as Kennedy Trailers.
During SSAB’s early Australian operations, it attracted the attention of Kennedy Trailers through its efficient servicing and commitment to innovation and sustainability.
Founded in Bairnsdale, Victoria, in 1980 by Garry and Debbie Kennedy, the trailer builder has been similarly driven by growth, new ideas and sustainable production – aligning the two companies together extremely well according to Kenney Trailers Head of Sales and Design, Rhys Robinson.
Kennedy Trailers has since developed massively, currently offering a wide variety of specialty vehicles such as logging trailers, earth and mining movers, side tippers, platformers and heavy haulage equipment, all of which have relied on the integration of SSAB’s Strenx and Hardox steel types and have thus become much more sustainable as a result.
“We use Strenx 700 for all structural beams and chassis, and we mainly use Hardox 450 for the wear plates in our tipping bins,” Rhys says. “Strenx 700 provides extremely high tensile strength, allowing us to build stronger chassis and fabrications while reducing weights.”
A low loader combination. Image: Kennedy Trailers.Over time Kennedy Trailers has demonstrated its true loyalty to SSAB, utilising its steel so extensively that it has also been certified as an official brand ambassador as a My Inner Strenx member as well as a Hardox In My Body member.
These brand programs provide recognition for OEMs like Kennedy Trailers, as the signs confirm that the product has been manufactured using SSAB high-strength steel and as a result promises quality, performance, reliability and productivity.
According to SSAB, only equipment that has been certified to meet the strictest standards of quality in design and fabrication may display the signs.
As Kennedy Trailers diversifies its production portfolio and looks towards supporting more clean energy endeavours with specific transport builds, the company is also aligning itself even further with SSAB’s sustainability commitments which are constantly being revisited.
“SSAB is currently moving more to green steel and fossil-free production, removing and reducing our carbon footprint,” Ryan says. “We aim to achieve this through our manufacturing but also through our creation of more sustainable products for our customers.
“We help them reduce their carbon footprint, too, and we aim to use less fuel when carting material. So, we take many ecological factors into consideration.”
In this area, Kennedy Trailers is using SSAB Zero steel for projects which serve other ecological purposes. It’s being seen particularly in the trailer builder’s line of heavy haulage and platform trailers.
“Our main focus now is on the heavy haulage sector,” Rhys says. “We are also working to service the renewable sector by building bigger platformers that can move sustainable infrastructure like wind turbines, blades and tower sections.”
The constant innovative spirit present in both companies speaks to the heart of their partnership. Together, SSAB and Kennedy Trailers share the same passion for leading progress in their respective fields while aiming to create both efficient and clean products.
“Our companies partnered because Kennedy Trailers wanted to innovate,” Ryan says. “They wanted to make lighter structures, make their trailers more sustainable and improve on their products overall.
“It was just a right fit. We had the material for what they needed, and it was of a high quality, too. The innovation was driven from them as much as it was driven from SSAB.”
Overall, Kennedy Trailers cites SSAB’s consistent quality as a major factor contributing to the partnership’s success.
“We hugely benefit from SSAB’s service standards and ability to provide products on time at a reasonable price,” Rhys says. “In return, we provide ongoing work for them and are committed to their products. Our workshop is always set up to weld, fabricate and bend Strenx and Hardox materials, and SSAB has got all the steel we need.”
Mutually ambitious, the companies seek to continue working to the symbiotic rhythm they have created.
Equally motivated by their products, consumers and sustainability, the partnership between SSAB and Kennedy Trailers has clearly been built to last.
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