Tomorrow’s dwellings are already here today. A residential district is now in the course of construction outside the city of Malmö in southern Sweden, where the entire production is industrialized and prefabricated modules are delivered directly to site. Steel is the staple material used for load-bearing elements and also for parts of the interior, frontages and roofs.

This is a good example of how the building industry can develop,” says Thomas Andersson, Managing Director of Lindab Steel, which is one of the companies in the large Lindab Group. “Rational industrial production offers benefits in terms of both quality and economy.”

Thomas Andersson is firm in his conviction that this is a natural step in the development that Lindab has actively pursued since the company was founded in 1959. Lindab was then a small sheet steel working company in southern Sweden and its ambition was to grow. The company is now a leading manufacturer and supplier of sheet steel products to the building industry. The company basically operates in all European countries and also in other parts of the world, has billions of kronor in turnover and has employees in their thousands.

Broad coverage

 Ventilation systems and profiled sheet steel are the two main sectors that give Lindab broad coverage of most of the sheet steel products delivered to the building industry.

“The company was early to make its strategic decision to focus entirely on products with a steel core,” says Thomas Andersson. “At that stage, other materials were beginning to compete in roof drainage systems – gutters and downpipes that were an important part of our production during the 1960s and 1970s.”

Thomas Andersson describes this as a very important decision.

“It involved much more than merely the material. When we decided instead to develop roof drainage systems by using prepainted sheet steel, we linked ourselves to the sheet metal working industry. That was when we began building up the relations that are so important to us today.”

Courses for sheet metal workers

Lindab runs continual training courses for sheet metal workers. These courses include information on new materials, products and methods of working. But between courses, Lindab also has the resources to deal with questions and any problems customers may experience. 

He describes how Lindab acted after introducing products made of Prelaq Nova almost six years ago.“Since the product was entirely new, we cooperated with our customers in evaluating all of the opportunities offered by the new coating,” explains Thomas Andersson.

Nova has a polyester coating as a base, but the paint is reinforced with polymer grains to build up a stronger coat. While being more durable, the surface also has a more attractive structure.

Cautious industry

“But the building industry is generally cautious,”reveals Thomas. “Not many are prepared to test new materials and products. In addition, national building standards or requirements in the industry sometimes dictate that the quality of the material must be proven before it can ever be put to use.”

But Prelaq Nova already had a head start. The paint system had been used for decades with excellent results. The polymer grains used to increase the paint coat thickness do not affect the colour or gloss of the paint, but they do improve the formability and increase the durability. This was found out by many manufacturers of sheet steel roof tiles.

Business is brisk

When Thomas Andersson takes us for a guided tour of Lindab Steel, which is something of a steel service centre for Lindab Ventilation and Lindab Profile, we note that many 250 kg coils of Prelaq Nova are ready for delivery. The address labels show that the recipients are sheet metal working companies all around Europe. All of the material was to be dispatched on the following day. Production at Lindab Steel is on twoshift operation in order to keep up with the demand. Business is brisk in the building industry, and since the winter was so mild, sheet steel workers could devote their time to installation work rather than to shovelling snow.

Sheet steel for long-strip roofing is mainly black, but the adjacent storage hall has coils of sheet steel of all colours of the rainbow.

“And if that’s not enough, we can often help customers by producing exactly the colour they need,” says Thomas Andersson. “If Ikea, for instance, wants a specific shade for the cladding sheet for its new ware houses, we will obviously supply it.”

Lindab is almost 50 years old and Thomas Andersson has been working in the company for more than 30 years. During that period, production has developed dramatically from manufacture of roof drainage systems and profiling of roofing sheet to more advanced forming and the development of entire system solutions for customers.

“We can deliver, for example, increasingly complete elements for a given application,” he explains. “But in my opinion, this development has only just begun. When the market has realized the reliability of the new paint systems, it will recognize that there are many products for which prepainted sheet steel strip can offer major benefits.”

He likes sheet steel

He casts an eye around the room and then points to windows, doors, ceiling, light fittings and radiators.

“All of these items could be made of prepainted sheet steel,” he says, obviously delighted at the thought. “Compared with the corresponding windows made of aluminum, sheet steel can undoubtedly offer major gains to all parties. For other parts, the gain may instead be lower weight, more efficient production or improved fire safety.”

Thomas Andersson is originally an economist, but his relationship with sheet steel involves much more than figures and efficiency. He likes sheet steel!

An entirely new scale of colours was introduced on Prelaq Nova and the polyester paints. There are intense colours, metallic paints, shades, grey scales....

“Architects, designers and stylists now have the means to realize their dreams without limitations,” declares Thomas Andersson. “This is important, since sheet steel must never be dull.”

Text: Håkan Johansson News Magazine No 1 2006
Photo: PÄR K OLSSON and HÅKAN JOHANSSON