Groundbreaking drilling system wins Haglund Medal award
The team behind a next-generation rock drilling system that has set a new industry benchmark has received this year’s Wilhelm Haglund Medal for Product Developer of the Year.
Sandvik Alpha® 340 is a thread system optimized for drilling 43−45 mm diameter holes in rock. It replaces Sandvik Alpha 330, a flagship product widely used by major underground mining customers worldwide for drilling blast, rock bolt, and rock bolt holes.
Developed ahead of the Sandvik Alpha 330 patent expiry and the associated threat of low-cost competitors offering similar solutions, the new asymmetric Sandvik Alpha 340 thread platform represents a fundamental leap in top hammer drilling performance. In 2016, a dedicated development program was initiated to create a successor. After years of difficulties developing a worthy sequel, a breakthrough came in 2020.
“After a sleepless night thinking about the relationship between thread pitch, flank angles and profile, I came up with the idea of Sandvik Alpha 340,” says John Hammargren, Principal Engineer, who, together with Andreas Norman, Senior R&D Professional, and Stefan Karlsson, Production Engineer, developed the solution that was awarded the Wilhelm Haglund Medal at the 2026 Annual General Meeting.
“The challenge is to optimize fatigue strength. This engineered asymmetrical thread profile allows us to move the stress concentration away from the tightening flank where most failures start, and it has also prolonged thread wear life.”
Performance gains
The Sandvik Alpha 340 system enables performance gains previously considered impossible within standard hole sizes and delivers measurable customer value, including 40–100 percent better performance compared to competitor systems.
“Customers experience benefits in hole straightness, service life and lower drilling costs,” says Hammargren.
“Winning the Haglund Medal has always been a personal goal for me,” adds Hammargren. “It's the finest award you can receive if you work in product development at Sandvik.”
It's the finest award you can receive if you work in product development at Sandvik.
Customers have embraced the new system, which has become the new industry benchmark, with sales increasing by 700 percent since launch. The platform is also scalable and has already enabled the launch of Sandvik Alpha 360 for 48–51 mm holes.