For components like telescopic boom sections, very high strengths of steel are needed, and must be processed into very thin plates. Achieving the balance of strength, flexibility and weight needed to takes considerable expertise and investment.
Tata explains that the difficult-to-make material, used in some of the most challenging environments around the world, is produced by heating steel to 1,000°C before quenching and/or tempering to alter its microstructure to improve strength.
Specialist steel use in the crane industry is (at least as far as is normally publicly acknowledged) dominated by two suppliers. SSAB in Sweden’s Weldox products have become largely synonymous with the type of steel used in modern all terrain cranes. In the knuckleboom sector in particular, Ruukki in Finland has made a name for itself. The Finnish company also came to prominence in the lifting industry for its role in producing the steel needed for the telescopic tower sections of Manitowoc’s unique GTK 1100.
Tata Steel has announced it will invest £8m in its specialist steels Clydebridge plant in Cambuslang, Glasgow, increasing the plant’s capacity to produce the premium quality high-strength steel plate, essential for a wide variety of crane applications, by up to 50%.
Announcing the investment, Tata said that the company has recently introduced a sector-focused approach with specialist knowledge of the industries they serve and the different products required by them. The crane industry is served by the Lifting & Excavating sector, which also spans the related product requirements of the construction and earth moving equipment, mining equipment, and fork lift truck markets.
“Tata Steel is committed to providing the best possible quality, expertise and service support across a uniquely broad product range,” said director of sales and marketing, lifting and excavating, Gareth Beese. “While our structure ensures we can offer industry-specific expertise across any of the specialist steel markets, our ‘One Company’ philosophy gives us an holistic approach to our customers’ needs. That makes Tata Steel uniquely placed as a steel supplier in offering a ‘one-stop-shop’ solution.”
The steel processed at Clydebridge is manufactured in Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, before being rolled at one of Tata Steel’s two UK plate mills at Scunthorpe or Dalzell. The recruitment at Clydebridge will start next spring prior to the expanded capacity coming on line in summer 2012. About 100 people are currently employed in Clydebridge, with a further 230 in Dalzell.
