Bringing out the best in each other

Ovako is proud and pleased to have been a member of the Nippon Steel Group since 2018, and also since 2019 a subsidiary of Sanyo Special Steel. These three leading brands in specialty steel offer a unique platform that combines global strength and major customer benefits across a wide portfolio of services and products. We are still in the early years of realizing the full potential of the major synergies between the three brands, and with this issue of Strength of Steel we will outline where we think some of the best opportunities lie.
This collaboration is focused on bringing out the best in each other to help our customers be more successful than ever before. We plan to do this by combining our expertise, products and support in a leading global offering.

We believe that our three-company collaboration gives customers the added convenience of choosing from the world´s widest range of specialty steel products. Optimized global production and supply also ensures the reliable deliveries they need. And the joint strength of our R&D resources helps accelerate their innovation, boosting competitiveness. Finally, through our environmentally efficient production, strong industrial ownership, global supply and worldwide customer-support capacity, we have the foundation for a leading level of sustainability and availability. As many of you will know, it is not always easy to realize synergies between companies, especially across different languages, cultures and time-zones. But it is a path worth taking! With the support of recent advancements in video

Innovative products for today and tomorrow

Our customers increasingly demand an offering that is both complete and readily available anywhere they have their own operations. Furthermore, they expect us to push the boundaries of what specialty steel can do now as well as being a partner to help them create the next generation of products and clearly documented performance capabilities.

Together, we offer what is now the world´s widest range of specialty steel long products, providing our customers with the exact solution they need for their specific industrial applications. Our experience in meeting demands for product quality can earn us a position

The combination of global operations and sales channels means that we can provide better customer service. Combined sales organizations across the world, in combination with well-established trading channels and value-adding logistics, gives new advantages. In particular, we can provide technical support as well as tailored logistics for customers globally. A broad portfolio of steel metallurgies, rolling mills, and many complementary downstream operations also means that we can find several alternative global supply routes for customers.
Looking ahead, we believe that some of the most significant customer benefits will lie in product development. At each of our R&D locations, across the three brands, we have a proud history of developing advanced products for many types of highly demanding applications. By bringing together the combined experience of these centers of excellence, we are opening new doors for even better collaboration with customers seeking leadership in their specific markets. Opening those doors is an exciting journey and we are already seeing clear signs of the possibilities this can bring.

Sustainability - time to act

Together, we can make the world more sustainable. The collaboration between Nippon Steel, Sanyo Special Steel and Ovako brings together vastly different types of operations and challenges. At Ovako we have a particularly favorable position in climate-related matters. Especially considering our world-leading cradle-to-gate carbon footprint and a production that is more than 97% based on recycled content. Low carbon dioxide emissions and a high level of circularity is what the world needs. We aim to push ahead in these areas as fast as possible.
The message is made clear in the recent report by the IPCC intergovernmental panel on climate change: Recent changes in the climate are widespread, rapid, and intensifying, and unprecedented in thousands of years. Unless there are immediate, rapid, and large-scale reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, the target to limit warming to 1.5°C will be beyond our reach. Climate change is already affecting every region on Earth, in multiple ways. The changes we experience will increase with further warming. To limit global warming, strong, rapid, and sustained reductions in CO2 and other greenhouse gases are necessary.

possible since it is the first project of its kind in Sweden. We are now planning to build on this by adding an additional 5-6 times the initial capacity to cover all of Ovako’s needs, across all our sites. This will be by 2030 at the latest and hopefully much earlier. This undertaking is being followed carefully by our colleagues in Japan, and we also believe from other steelmakers around the world. If we can set an example for others to learn from our experience we will be very pleased. Because the global savings potential in carbon dioxide emissions is huge.
In addition, we also look at our customer relations from the long-term perspective. We want to establish robust and sustainable supply chains, with the aim to develop steel solutions that build a better future.