Investment in new heat treatment facilities and finishing line equipment at its manufacturing plant in Sandviken, Sweden has enabled Sandvik Steel to increase production capacity and output of carbon and stainless steel strip for use, particularly, in the automotive industry. The investment, worth about USD 6.5 million, has been made primarily in a new hardening and tempering furnace and on-line equipment for automatic inspection of surface quality. As a result, production capacity has been increased for strip steel for automotive applications such as compressor valves for air conditioning systems and high-performance valves and disks for use in shock absorbers. Compressor valve applications can be found in the automotive industry, refrigeration equipment, heat pumps, gas processing and transportation, industrial compressors and valves in two stroke engines.
