Strong entries for the Swedish Steel Prize finals
– the prestigious prize will be handed over by Europe’s speediest woman
Italy, Canada and Spain – two continents and three countries are represented by the finalists who have been nominated for the Swedish Steel Prize 2006. The prize is awarded to the company that puts high strength steel to best use in the design of its product. The winner will be declared on 29 November in ceremonial form at the Berns Salonger conference centre in Stockholm, and the Prize will be handed over by Susanna Kallur, the European Champion in 100 metre hurdles. A series of inspiration seminars on the theme Strong will also be held during the Swedish Steel Prize day. The speakers will include Pierluigi Collina, the Italian who has been acclaimed as the world’s foremost football referee and who puts the concept of strength into a different perspective.
Italian door beams, Canadian bus seats and Spanish lifts (elevators) – these products include this year’s foremost design for which high strength steel is used. They are all competing for the Swedish Steel Prize - the prestigious international design prize founded by SSAB Tunnplåt.
“We want to inspire a new design approach worldwide,” explains Göran Carlsson, Head of Division at SSAB Tunnplåt in the SSAB Group and also Chairman of the jury. “Reduced weight, higher strength, better profitability and totally new product properties are the benefits offered by high strength steels. Strength is the special characteristic of the steels, and this is why we have chosen the concept Strong as the theme for this year’s Swedish Steel Prize.”
The need for better properties and performance, combined with reduced environmental impact, lower production costs and improved profitability are the factors behind the successes of high strength steels.
“Consumers make demands and companies must find ways of meeting them,” continues Göran Carlsson. “High strength steels, particularly the advanced high strength steels, represent one way of meeting the demands of consumers, companies and society at large.”
The three companies nominated for the 2006 Swedish Steel Prize are:
Fiat Auto and Wagon Automotive of Italy. The companies have designed and realized a roll-formed profile of galvanized ultra-high strength steel for the upper door beam. The optimized form and a production technique that puts the properties of ultra-high strength steel to optimum use have enabled the companies to develop a safety beam of low weight but with high energy absorption capacity. The design contributes to improved safety in cars in the place where the demand for passenger safety must be met within a very limited space available in today’s car doors.
Multina Inc of Canada. Multina has taken an important development step in a field in which high strength steels are already well established. The decision of the company to use steels of the highest strength classes has resulted in bus seats that are now even safer and lighter. This has demonstrated that even highly refined products made of aluminium, magnesium or high strength steels of lower hardness can be developed further to yield better product properties.
IMEM Ascensores of Spain. IMEM Ascensores is a leading lift (elevator) manufacturer who is at the leading edge in its line of business and is breaking new ground by using advanced high strength steels. The company has developed a lift that is both lightweight and economical on space. By switching from mild steel, the company has halved the weight of its lifts and also reduced the space needed in the building.
In addition to the three entries nominated for the Prize, the jury decided to award a runner-up title to the Brazilian company Industria Metalurgica Pastre LTDA. The company has taken a major step forward by changing over from mild steel to advanced high strength steel for its new trailer for sugar cane transport. The major weight saving has increased the payload and improved transport economy, which has put Pastre in a pioneering position on the trailer market in South America.
