Swedish Blue Quality

Fri 10 Nov 2017

Swedish Blue Quality

The Swedish east coastal city of Hudiksvall is something of a hotbed for hydraulic technology and innovation. Not only is it home to specialist backhoe loader manufacturer Huddig and attachment & quick coupler maker Oil-Quick, but it is also home to the global giant in lorry mounted cranes Hiab. A short 17.4km car ride north is the town of Ilsbo which is home to the latest tilt-rotator manufacturer to enter the UK market SMP Parts AB. The abbreviation SMP in Swedish stands for “svets maskin produkter” which translates in English to “welding for machine products”. Like the other big three Swedish manufacturers of tilt-rotators the SMP business was founded in the early 1980’s primarily in those days as a bucket and attachment manufacturer. Bucket manufacturing is still a key part of the company’s business at its ever expanding factory in Ilsbo which alongside its other facilities in Norway, Finland and Germany, employs around 100 people. In addition to the buckets the company manufacture a whole range of quick couplers, ripper teeth, grading beams, tilt-rotators, tree cutter, fork carriages and a wide variety of bespoke one-off custom made units to meet customer’s specific needs.

The company patented is first quick hitch design as far back as 1983 and just two years later they developed their own tilt-rotator which carries the trade marked brand name Swingotilt. In 1987 the company was acquired by the Stockholm based Arema Group AB and in 1989 SMP began selling its products to the Norwegian market. Expansion has continued to this day and the business now has subsidiary companies in Norway and Germany and dealers throughout Europe and Canada. My guide for the day was a well-known figure on the UK tilt-rotator scene, Swedish entrepreneur Daniel Sjodin who along with his wife Caroline, has had many years of experience selling tilt-rotators, not only in the UK but in places as far away as Australia too. The couple assisted by their sales team are now selling SMP products in the UK through their company QCE (Quality Construction Equipment) and with an emphasis very much on quality Daniel was keen to show us the SMP manufacturing process at Ilsbo. There is something very satisfying about visiting a factory where raw sheets of steel greet you at the entrance and as you progress through the facility you witness it being cut, curved into shape, welded/fabricated and in the latter stages painted to whatever colour the customer wants it in.

The Hardox steel is cut to shape by one of two computer controlled Messer MultiTherm precision cutting machines before heading off to the next stage of the process. It was interesting to see a flat piece of Hardox 450 sheet cut to the shape of the back of the bucket go into the heavy duty press and come out with the curve formed.

The bucket fabrication section of the factory features a number of screened off bays where some of the region’s best welders and fabricators are busy at work putting together the pre-cut sections for whatever bucket they are building at the time. There are some robot welding machines in the facility with more predicted to be arriving in the future, but the vast majority of the buckets are essentially hand made. Typically from my Swedish experience the whole process appears to be as stress free as it can be and attention to detail is top notch, there appears to be no rushing as quality comes before anything else. I had heard it said before that SMP buckets are some of the finest available and from what I saw during the visit I can confirm that is a very true statement with the quality of the build and finish being second to none. As one might expect most of the digging buckets produced here are of the Scandinavian design with a very deep profile. Heavy duty rock buckets are also something of a speciality here largely due to the fact that Sweden is predominantly bedrock with clay soil on top, so the Swedes know a thing or two about hard digging and what is needed to make a bucket strong enough to endure the day to day toil in rock. I saw a number of these heavy duty rock buckets being assembled on my tour around the factory and they were something of a work of art!

On the bespoke side of things we were shown a large hydraulic tilting bucket to suit a 30 tonne class excavator, this bucket was part of a large order for a customer in the Netherlands that also included a custom designed deep dig style narrow trenching/cabling bucket with smooth bottom for a nice finish in the trench for a 20 tonne machine which uses the Bofors style quick hitch.

As we walked around the tilt-rotator assembly area, I was quick to notice that some of the units were not all sporting the blue and grey paintwork we usually associate with SMP products, there were yellow and red ones which were destined for customers in the rail industry and one was even sporting Caterpillar yellow as it was heading for a European Cat dealership. It was explained that this can cause some brand identity issues out in the field, with most tilt-rotator manufacturers having their own dedicated colours normally, but the customer must have what they want at the end of the day and they will paint them any colour the customer asks for.

There are 7 different SMP Generation 4 tilt-rotator models produced by the company ranging from the ST6 which can be mounted on machines from 3 to 6 tonnes up to the ST28 which is suitable for machines in the 22 to 30 tonne bracket. These tilt-rotators all feature grease filled gear housings, improved central lubrication, integrated tilt ram check valves, spring locks in the quick hitch for safety in the event of pressure loss and are capable of a tilting angle of 40^o. You can also specify the optional SMP Gripper module and to be honest, who would not want one, as once you have used one on a regular basis, you quickly realize what a valuable asset it is to any machine adding even more flexibility and versatility to your machine and the way you approach jobs.

For those who are still not ready to go the whole way of fitting a tilt-rotator then the company also produce a range of automatic quick hitches including the Two Way quick coupler and the Hard Lock. These solid looking couplers can also be used as a top hitch to be used in conjunction with a tilt-rotator below, an increasingly popular solution for end users enabling them to drop off the tilt-rotator when required to use attachments like a hammer for instance. At the end of the manufacturing process, items that are ready for despatch that day are stored in a purpose built holding shelter at the back of the building and it was here that we saw some of the buckets that were earlier being prepared in the factory for a customer in the Netherlands which was due to be shipped that day. Other items were stored in the extensive yard on what was a bitterly cold and snowy day.

With the tour complete it was time to head off and meet some SMP customers out on site. A short drive back to Hudiksvall and we arrived at the site of what will be a brand new dental clinic and training facility in the city.

The team from local contractor BMT Bygg & Montageteknik AB were performing the preliminary foundation works using a mobile tracked piling rig which was supported by two Doosan excavators in the form of a 7.5 tonne Solar 75V model and a 22 tonne class DX225LC-3 machine. As is the norm in Scandinavian territories both machines were fitted with tilt-rotators and it’s not hard to see why.

On this job there were only two individuals at work and everything is geared around the machines essentially cutting out the need for more labour. With the grippers mounted on the tilt-rotator the machine operator can pick things up and place them without the need to leave the cab which all makes so much sense in the sub artic conditions they experience during the long winter months.

This was a great trip, visiting Sweden in the winter time and seeing first hand how they cope with such extreme weather conditions and through advanced mechanisation just get on with the job and daily life in general was a real experience!

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