Swedish specialty steel producer SSAB has announced that it has signed a three-year contract for deliveries of 5,000 mt of tailored blanks (cut-to-length sheets) and prefabricated details to the French company Manitou for production of telescopic booms. Manitou Group designs, manufactures, distributes and services equipment for the construction and agriculture industries.
“From the beginning, our cooperation with Manitou has been based not just on providing high-quality steels, but commitment and support in developing the end products together with the customer via value-added services. We started discussing a new generation telescopic boom already ten years ago, and a new design was achieved at the end of 2006. Design work involved investigating a new shape for Manitou - octagonal instead of rectangular. In 2006-2008, we established the processing method with Manitou and supported the building of a new production line by providing advice and samples for the automatic lines,” stated Emmanuel Chevet, marketing manager and responsible for SSAB’s contacts with Manitou.