Today’s tour and presentation was definitely one of the more thorough ones we have been to. They tried to touch on every aspect of their business and did not hold anything back about how their business is run. I personally thought their business structure, strategy and ideas were some of the best we have seen so far. Sandvik has been a successful company and have been strategically expanding as their success continues. The amount of industries that they have their hands in is amazing. They even went down to the very minimal uses of steel such as the razor blades used in men’s shaving razors.
The mission statement of Sandvik is to manufacture advanced special alloys and ceramic materials, industrial tools, and mining equipment. There was a secondary comment to this mission that I was unable to write down and find online, but they also stressed the importance of their customers. They are constantly looking for new ways to meet the needs of customers demands and it is impressive to see the amount of thought that goes into their business strategy and product development. They have been decreasing the amount of space that their robots and machinery takes up in order to save space and diminish the amount of material that the robots are made of.
The customer of Sandvik is overbearingly in the mining industries; 40% of their customers are from mining. They also supply products to mining, construction, bender and venture. All of these are their divisional areas and each of these divisions has specific brands that they make steel and metal parts for. Mebane is one of the main brands within each of these divisions. Sandvik is always looking for new customers because they had a slight dip in their production and profit during the recession in 2008, so new customers and new opportunities is always on the minds of their management. A perfect example is the men’s shaving razors that I previously talked about. Their highest earning profit ratio is the machining, venture, and mining divisions of Sandvik.
What customers value from Sandvik is their quality of products. This was the immediate answer when someone in our class asked this of the presenters. Also the efficiency of Sandvik’s production is what customers value. But, the major thing that Sandvik values in their product and what their customers share mutual respect and value for is the quality assurance of their products. If there is anything wrong with the product that they provide, they will make sure that they will make a product that meets exactly what the customer is asking for.
The results of Sandvik is producing the best world-leading equipment and high quality customer assurance. They also are number one in areas of technology speed and focusing on technology areas with growth potential. They are continuing to be a worldwide leader in engineering and machinery production and are looking for expansion. A lot of their company is based in Europe, as that is where it was founded (Sweden), and the main management is always looking for new ways to improve and expand upon what they have already done.
The plan for Sandvik is to continue to produce the best quality steel and metal products that they can possibly make, continue to find innovative engineering ideas, target the emerging markets and to renovate their industries and industrial equipment. They also plan for expansion in the East and West from their main headquarters in Sweden. They have a few in other areas of the globe, but they are looking for new factories to build in order to increase production and save time throughout the vertically integrated business worldwide.
Follow
