Customer case

ABL powers progress with Hardox® 500 Tuf

January 31, 2024 6 min read

Interior photo from ABL’s workshop where welding is performed on a bucket in Hardox® 500 Tuf.

Case details

Product Hardox® 500 Tuf

Country Sweden

Company ABL Construction Equipment AB

Industry Raw material handling

Brand program Hardox^® In My Body

When ABL Construction Equipment in Sweden stepped up to Hardox® 500 Tuf from a 450 HBW steel in their line of front loader and excavator buckets, customers got a quantum leap in service life: up to 40% longer.

Case details

Product Hardox® 500 Tuf

Country Sweden

Company ABL Construction Equipment AB

Industry Raw material handling

Brand program Hardox^® In My Body

“Hardox^® 500 Tuf can deliver up to 40% longer service life.” Anders Björk, ABL CEO.

“New and improved is not a cliché with our buckets in Hardox^® 500 Tuf.” Magnus Klintenberg, Design Engineer.

“With Hardox^® 500 Tuf it’s business as usual in the workshop.” Jimmy Classon, Production Manager.

A photo of ABL’s CEO standing in the workshop.

A quantum leap in service life, direct cost benefits

With an additional 40% wear resistance compared to a 450 HBW steel, ABL’s buckets in Hardox^® 500 Tuf immediately caught the attention of its customers. The potential for extended service life and longer maintenance intervals has direct cost benefits in their operations.

“There is a clear trend among customers to ask for reduced cost of operation through lighter and more effective equipment that uses less fuel. Hardox^® 500 Tuf allows us to meet those requirements. We can reduce weight through thinner plates, giving the customers more capacity while maintaining the high durability they are looking for,” says Anders Björk, ABL CEO.

Customized for optimal performance

ABL is in the process of switching to Hardox^® 500 Tuf in all of its front loader and excavator buckets. Its OPTI-Line series of front loader buckets is the first to go all-in with Hardox^® 500 Tuf.

“Most of our buckets are made to customer specifications. With the software tools I use as a designer, I can present the customers with optimized weight and payload data based on using Hardox^® 500 Tuf. Sliding wear is the most important parameter for a bucket. For this, Hardox^® WearCalc comes in handy. I regularly use this app together with the customer to show how much longer service life they can expect with Hardox^® 500 Tuf,” says Magnus Klintenberg, Design Engineer at ABL.

ABL’s design engineer sitting in front of two computer screens showing CAD models of a bucket.

A bent piece of Hardox® 500 Tuf being worked on in ABL’s new roll bending machine from Swebend.

The workshop verdict: hassle-free

“It’s business as usual,” says ABL Production Engineer Jimmy Classon. “Upgrading to Hardox^®500 Tuf has gone smoothly. Welding is my main responsibility and I’m really satisfied with the welding performance. When bending and machining it also performs well. We can use the same tools for Hardox^® 500 Tuf. I can also say that SSAB has managed to improve the steel’s consistency even further when it comes to thickness and yield strength. This is of course particularly important when bending to get repeatable results.”

ABL has recently invested in a high-powered roll bending machine from Swebend with capacity for larger plates of Hardox^® 500 Tuf. This steel needs higher bending force due to its higher yield strength when bending plates of similar thickness as Hardox^® 450. Now ABL can produce continuously curved sweeps for even its biggest buckets.

Certified Hardox^® In My Body for peace of mind

ABL is a Swedish company dating back to the 1960s, and is renowned for its dedication to product development and equipment performance. ABL has been a member of SSAB’s quality program Hardox^® In My Body since 2012. It gains the dual benefit of receiving technical support from SSAB and giving its customers additional confirmation of design and manufacturing excellence.