Sustainability, customers and employees

Sustainability shift

Our main value proposition as a leading tool supplier is productivity and quality, which also contribute to energy and raw material savings at the customer. We continuously invest in R&D to make our tools more efficient and to reduce the environmental impact of producing and distributing them.

As an example, our new solution for machining ball valves combines Silent Tools® tool holders from Sandvik Coromant and our newly acquired Mastercam Dynamic Motion® toolpath optimization to reduce cutting hours in half, increase productivity by a factor of 3 and improve tool life over 20 percent.

We buy back used tools from our customers and recycle them to make new tools. We also help our customers by taking care of tool materials that have specific disposal routines. In 2022 we introduced the new Bergla® grade of metallic powder for our tools, made entirely of recycled material.

Customer’s first choice

Our decentralized business model helps us stay close to the customer. All of our divisions measure customer satisfaction and we take pride in understanding our customers better than our competition does. Part of this work involves shortening the feedback loops, so that we can quickly provide solutions to changes in customer demands and operating models, or take onboard feedback for new digital product features.

We also recognize that small and medium-sized enterprises, who make up the largest share of metal component manufacturers, need support in connecting equipment and step by step create a more efficient process. We are helping this customer group by being a partner in their digital journey, offering the solutions and expertise to support them.

This year saw the return of our Tech Days, for the first time since the COVID–19 pandemic, at the Sandvik Coromant Center in Sandviken, Sweden, where we met more than 600 customers and discussed requirements in digitalization, sustainability and future manufacturing.

Agile through cycle

We are continuously reviewing our operations and our cost structure in order to be more flexible in both market downturns and upturns. One result of this is a workforce structure change with an increased share of flexible time workers.

We constantly plan ahead, so that all units have a plan that can be triggered swiftly and to an appropriate degree in case demand or cost deviates from expectations, be it up or down. These actions meant we were able to continue to perform in the changing external conditions throughout the year.

We are also taking measures to build more resilient supply chains and to ensure that we have secondary sources of supplies, transportation and logistics routes. We have contingency plans in case we have a shortfall of personnel due to illness, lockdowns or other reasons.

Sandvik announced long-term structural measures that will include consolidation of production units, site closures and an optimized sales organization structure. The initiatives will generate annual business area savings of about SEK 520 million with a full run-rate in 2025.

Employer of choice

The employee engagement rate remained high during the year. We invited acquired companies to participate in our employee survey, with very high engagement as a result.

We place a lot of focus on onboarding employees. In 2022, we emphasized communication and support to make our new colleagues feel part of Sandvik.

We invest in mentoring programs and offer training and awareness building on all levels. We track related metrics to ensure we deliver tangible measurable change.

We aim for a diverse workforce and culture to bring in new perspectives. This is reflected in our recruiting and people development and we are working on several initiatives to increase the share of female employees and managers in the organization. This year we launched a female talent program that was very well received.