Swedish farm machinery company Väderstad has opened a new high technology material lab for producing wear parts for its agricultural machinery range at its facility in Överum, Sweden.
The new lab facility will operate alongside the company’s existing components factory that currently employees 50 skilled personnel and 40 robots. As a result of this investment Väderstad claims that it will be able to perform unique tests in search of the best mechanical properties of materials used in making its own wear parts.
The new lab will be run by the metallurgist and materials scientist Anders Petersson, who explains that wearing parts must be made of a hardness that is also durable.
“If it’s too hard it becomes easily brittle and can crack when used in our machines,” he says.
“It’s a balance between hardness and elasticity. Since Väderstad’s products are used all over the world, we also have to take into account the composition of the soils – that differ around the world – and produce a wear part in a material that works as well as possible in different conditions.”
CEO of Väderstad Components Dan Smolin adds: “We are very proud of this investment. To have a development laboratory alongside our production in Överum will in the long run generate even better production, which in turn will create growth and new jobs.”
