Asian headquarters for construction division

Sandvik Mining and Construction is moving its construction businesses' headquarters to Singapore. The move is expected to be completed by September.

Speaking to iC, Anders Kjellberg, vice president of business development in the construction segment said, "We see Greater Asia as 50% of our market potential, so consequently we're moving our construction headquarters to Singapore.

"This is not to say that we're turning our back on our traditional markets, because Europe, the US, Australia, India, Latin America and South Africa are our bread and butter and we envisage those markets will continue, but by being in Singapore we can equally serve China and Asia, and we see them as the growth markets for us," he said.

The company has also rebranded its Extec and Fintec crushing and screening products following their acquisition in June 2007.

Duncan McGregor, vice president of the Construction Product Line said, "We'd hoped to rebrand in January but the global credit crisis and then the cancellation of the Hillhead exhibition hit our plans. As a result we organised the Mobile Technology in Action customer event here in the UK and the scale of attendance is testament to the wisdom of that decision."

The rebrand of Extec and Fintec sees all Sandvik equipment finished in orange with the carrier being grey and the operator areas in white. All equipment carries a new model nomenclature.

A new production line for heavy crushers is currently being constructed at the company's Swadlincote, UK factory, which will see the facility's capacity increased above the 35 machines/week level seen at present. "As a result of the downturn we are destocking at the moment, so we're producing only about ten machines each week," said Mr McGregor.

Sandvik has developed its sales, service and distribution network and merged many areas as well as investing heavily in the Swadlincote facility. "We've improved the manufacturing quality and the service and parts support," said Mr Kjellberg. "Sandvik now has a unique capability to offer equipment across the surface drilling, tunnelling, and fixed and mobile crushing and screening business areas.

"We also have a wheel mounted range of crushers being built in Pune, India for the local, African and Eastern European markets, while the development of our new flexifeed cone crusher is the biggest innovation in the sector over the past ten years." He said.