History Special: “Innovation”

In this second part of our Holiday Special we will talk about what is probably the most important innovation in the history of Sandvik. Carina Dahlberg, our cicerone and Sandvik employee for many years, takes us back to what became the starting point for the modern steel industry.

Carina DahlbergWhen the Sandvik founder Göran Fredrik Göransson travelled to England in 1857, he heard about an amazing innovation. Henry Bessemer had invented a method that would make it possible to mass-produce steel in an inexpensive way. Unfortunately, Bessemer could only make it work in experiments and not in practice.

Göransson bought one fifth of the patent for 2000 GBP, which corresponds to 1.5 million SEK today, and then started experimenting and refining the method at Högbo outside of Sandviken, Sweden.

“He was very courageous and had a vision,” says Dahlberg. “In 1858 he finally succeeded in making it work and then he had created the ground for all steel production in an industrial scale. The cradle of the modern steel industry is actually in Högbo.”

The innovation became a success factor for Sandvik, that has since then developed into a global company.

If you want to listen to more about the history of Sandvik, you can also listen to Sandvik Materials Pod. It can be find where you find other podcasts.