Verco’s extreme equipment digs for productivity and profitability

Verco’s customers operate under some extreme conditions. The harder the abrasive material the equipment has to deal with, the more important it is to choose the steel carefully. In severe-duty applications, buckets made of milder steels like S355 are going to wear faster – meaning shorter service lives and higher costs related to repair and downtime.

These are some of the reasons why Verco uses Hardox^® wear plate in practically every bucket component: shell, rolled formed bottom, cutting edge, side cutters, cheek plates, wear bars and plates. They use Hardox^® 450, Hardox^® 500 and Hardox^® HiTuf in most of their buckets. For its hot slag buckets for steelworks, Verco is testing Hardox^® HiTemp. Unlike traditional quenched and tempered AR steels, which experience a loss of hardness at higher temperatures in the 300-500°C (570-930°F) range, Hardox^® HiTemp is specially designed to withstand abrasive conditions in high heat environments.

The company also produces demolition shears, pulverizers and rail cutters in Hardox^® 450 and Hardox^® 500.

According to Marco Bianchi, export sales manager at Verco, minimizing maintenance costs in these industries poses a huge challenge.

“We offer durable wear parts with low maintenance requirements, which reduces the number of stoppages and cuts costs,” Bianchi says. “Our customers are buying equipment from us that can be mounted on excavators with up to 400 tonnes of operating weight. Such machine stoppages are extremely expensive. With our help and our products that are made in high-strength, highly abrasion-resistant steel from SSAB, they can improve the reliability and cost efficiency of their enormous equipment.”

Verco’s customers depend on them to deliver not only superior products, but even technical expertise. As a member of the Hardox^® In My Body program and the global Hardox Wearparts Center network, Verco gets access to SSAB’s technical expertise and can thus offer customers the latest applications for Hardox^® and Strenx^® steels.

“We have a strong, long-term relationship with SSAB representatives and can always rely on technical support from them whenever we need it,” Bianchi says. “When customers face problems in their plants, we visit them together with an SSAB engineer who can offer advice on site, assess their technical requirements and assist in solving the problem – often by specifying a stronger steel. This type of cooperation benefits all parties.”

Verco says it will continue to use SSAB’s high-strength steels as it expands into new markets and segments. And Bianchi maintains a positive outlook for the business: “Our objective for the future is to introduce Verco’s SSAB-certified Hardox^® In My Body products to as many companies as possible.”