Intro
As 2023 begins, we are looking back at a year of great challenges. Partly because of the uneasy situation in the world, which we had to adapt to along with everyone else. And partly because of the intense and challenging startup of our new business system (ERP), OneShare.
But 2022 also demonstrated that Suzuki Garphyttan remains a reliable, stable partner even when times are tough. Thanks to the tremendous dedication of our employees and the loyal support of our customers, we maintained our strong position in the market.
We are continuing our journey forward, a journey that includes diversification and sustainability. We are rethinking and approaching things in new ways. All in order to continue being a stable, futureproof partner to the automotive industry – even as we grow through innovative solutions and exciting partnerships in a variety of new areas.
Highlights
A lot happens over a year. We were finally able to meet up with our customers again, after the pandemic, at trade shows and events this year. We pressed on with sustainability efforts at all our sites. And we made several investments that will help us develop and manufacture new and improved products. All of which are essential for navigating our change journey and achieving our ambitious goals.
We care about one another. With the clearly defined goal of becoming an accident-free workplace, we carry out several safety activities. One example is our own Safety Week, which we held for the very first time April 25-29.
“Every year on April 28, the steel industry observes Steel Safety Day, but a single day didn’t seem like the best approach for us,” says Johan Marberg, Health, Safety and Environment & Facility Manager. “Instead, we opted to run activities for a whole week.”
“Scheduling several activities over the course of a week made it possible for more employees to take part. We had time to cover more topics, which made the content relevant to a wider range of employees.”
“That week, we dealt with the riskiest areas,” says Johan. “Among our topics was how to improve safety in manual wire handling.”
Safety Week was a success. Participants engaged with the activities and had a genuine desire to contribute. As a result, Safety Week is now a regular element of Suzuki Garphyttan’s safety agenda, not just once a year, but quarterly.
We are constantly striving to improve our workflows – with our employees, our customers and the planet in mind. We took an important step this year towards sustainable development from all of these perspectives at Site Suzhou in China, when we implemented a brand-new hardening technique.
We constantly strive to develop our workflows in order to contribute to improvements for our employees, our customers and the planet. At Site Suzhou in China, we took a major step in the right direction, implementing a new hardening technique.
Our Research & Development department has been working closely with our Chinese plant for several years. This project has moved from an idea through testing to production of high-quality, sustainably hardened wire, for which there is strong customer demand. Since the start of 2022, this new hardening technique, which replaced hazardous substances with safer water-based substances, is operating at full scale. It is an important step towards sustainable development.
The new process gives us better process control, enabling us to provide more customizable wire with higher quality. We plan to further increase our capacity to meet the increasing demand.
Implementing the new process has also greatly helped us reduce environmental impact, not only through improved resource utilization by eliminating substances with high environmental impact, but also by improving energy efficiency.
At Site Suzhou, there is a strong team spirit in everything we do – from production to management. Despite the challenge of shutdowns due to the pandemic, there were improvements in most key figures for Site Suzhou in 2022. Thanks to the stability of the team, we can always keep focused on moving ahead together.
“We have a strong core team that can keep day-to-day operations up and running,” says Erik Licht, Site Manager, Site Suzhou. “This enables us to allocate some of our resources to developing and further improving our operations. But our mindset is part of the answer, too. Because this kind of teamwork doesn’t just happen.”
Erik Licht – Site Manager, Site Suzhou
In June we participated in Wire Düsseldorf 2022, and in October we attended CASMI’s SpringWorld 2022 in Rosemont, Illinois, USA. It was so rewarding to finally be able to meet our customers again – and to establish new contacts.
Working with the theme of “Shaping the wire of tomorrow”, we met hundreds of visitors and had the opportunity to strengthen our relationships with various players in the market. We showed how we continue to develop the offer to the automotive industry while also turning to other industries. This gave rise to many exciting conversations.
These trade shows were golden opportunities to talk about innovative products, smart partnerships and how our high-quality wire provides strength, reliability and sustainability in a range of segments. Automotive & E-mobility, Energy & Environment, Bed & Seating, Medical & Aerospace, Food & Agriculture and Industrial & Construction are just a few examples.
Besides a great deal of knowledge and inspiration, Wire Düsseldorf provided us with many valuable contacts in business areas we still consider new. Fantastic!
SpringWorld 2022 was also a success, extending our networks of customers and colleagues. Over three days we held discussions with some thirty companies – and afterwards we provided tenders for almost 4,000 tonnes of wire for the coming year.
The year 2022 marked 25 years since the founding of our plant in South Bend, Indiana in the US. A lot has happened since 1997. The business’ income has grown from USD 5 to 60 million and the number of employees has increased from 15 to 85.
According to our employees, the recipe for 25 successful years is a tight-knit culture, teamwork and camaraderie.
“I truly value the opportunity to work with the best of the best of our industry,” says Danie Derbin, Head of Sales at Site South Bend. “We’re a fantastic team, and I think there are essentially no limits to our future prospects.”
Danie Derbin – Head of Sales, Site South Bend
As Danie says, there are great opportunities ahead. Things are going well for Suzuki Garphyttan in the US. Production volumes increased greatly this year, and the plan is to continue growing. This means there is a need for more employees – operators as well as office personnel. But the competition for expertise is tough, especially in the American market. To attract new employees, we need to both stand out and show what we have to offer. When a new employee gets to know Suzuki Garphyttan and our culture, they often choose to stay.
In addition to being a stable workplace that is constantly developing and progressing, our corporate culture ends up being a decisive factor for many. Working for a global company, that is surprisingly small and friendly, where we live according to the values Care, Dare and Share, means a lot. Especially in times when the world feels particularly unsettled.
25 years anniversary at Site South Bend
There are many reasons to invest in new machines. Sometimes to save energy, sometimes to create a safer, better workplace. It can also make a process more efficient, result in higher quality or enable us to produce brand new types of products.
There are many reasons to invest in new machines. Sometimes to save energy, sometimes to create a safer, better workplace. It can also make a process more efficient, result in higher quality or enable us to produce brand new types of products.
When Site San José Iturbide in Mexico updated its machinery in 2022, one improvement was the installation of equipment for eddy-current (EC) testing.
“EC testing uses electromagnetic induction to discover potential damage or defects in the surface of the wire,” says Maria Ehnberg, Site Manager at Site San José Iturbide. “We mark any defects with paint, enabling more efficient sorting.”
Maria Ehnberg – Site Manager, Site San José Iturbide
Another new process removes irregularities from the wire. We can now provide unshaved wire, which enables better yield from the material and is the right thing to do from the perspective of sustainability. Compared with the traditional shaving process, our new process enables even shorter production time.
The plant in Mexico is only six years old but has already outgrown its original configuration. In 2022, we built a new 1,500 square meter warehouse for storing wire rod, the raw material.
“Storing all the material inside the plant wasn’t a good solution, neither for our employees nor the building. The forklift traffic was causing a lot of wear and tear, and all those forklifts driving back and forth were a safety risk.”
Other advantages of the well-planned warehouse include better control and accounting, easier work routines and greater efficiency – all of which will benefit our customers.
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Sustainability
This is our vision, a short statement of why we do everything we do. It’s about creating conditions for a brighter future together. What we do today determines what our company, our employees and our world will look like tomorrow. We aim to continue being a strong and reliable partner for many years to come.
We have defined goals and activities in all three areas of sustainability: environmental, financial and social. Here we will touch on a few of our achievements in 2022. More information is available in our annual sustainability report, which you can find on our website.
When summer workers at Site Garphyttan worked with long visors, there was not a single facial injury. Now long visors are a natural part of the safety gear at the facility – and global standardization is on the way.
At our Swedish plant, Site Garphyttan, we placed an extra focus this year on preventing accidents that might lead to facial injury. To evaluate how long visors would affect our accident statistics, the site’s summer employees used a visor model that more fully covered their face.
The long visors turned out to work very well, and not a single facial injury was reported. Today a long visor is standard equipment for certain tasks – only at Site Garphyttan for now, but we are introducing the standard globally.
The long visor prevents facial injury
One of our high-priority sustainability goals is reducing the effects of our operations on the climate, our carbon footprint. Our first-stage goal is to at least halve the number of kilos of carbon dioxide per tonne of wire produced by 2030, compared with 2020. With a carbon footprint reduction thus far of 30 percent, we have come a long way towards achieving it.
Our products are made of 100 percent recyclable steel, which is good from a sustainability standpoint. However, we also want to reduce the environmental impact of our current production. An important part of this is reducing our carbon footprint.
In 2020, when we formulated our sustainability goals, our direct and indirect emissions resulted in a net carbon footprint of 1,300 kilos per tonne of wire produced. We decided to halve this by 2030, meaning achieving a carbon footprint of 650 kilos per tonne of wire produced. After reaching that goal, we will continue on the same path, establishing new goals and focusing on solutions that will further reduce our emissions.
At the end of 2022, our calculations showed that our carbon footprint had been reduced by over 30 percent compared with 2020. That means we are below 900 kilos per tonne of wire produced.
The single most important factor in reducing our carbon footprint has been increasing our use of fossil-free energy. We have switched to fossil free electricity at several facilities and installed solar cells in Suzhou. These efforts will continue in the years to come.
Another contributing factor is that we are gradually transitioning to production methods that use raw materials more efficiently.
We have come a long way, and we are continuing to press forward.
ISO certification is an important part of our business development. Today, all our sites are certified according to ISO 14001. Now we are heading towards ISO 45001 and ISO 50001 certification, which involve systematic working environment improvements and sound energy management. Some of our sites are already certified, and progress at other sites is underway.
The purpose of ISO certifications is to help organizations constantly develop in a positive direction. It’s a clearly defined assurance that we are working effectively and safely within certain areas. Clearly, this is something all of Suzuki Garphyttan wants to achieve as soon as possible – with respect to ISO 14001, ISO 45001 and ISO 50001.
Soon the entire company will be certified according to ISO 14001 and undergoes regular audits on an ongoing basis. Several of our sites have been approved for other certifications. Site Suzhou is at the forefront; besides ISO 45001, the international management system certification standard for occupational health and safety, it has also been certified according to ISO 50001. Site South Bend is certified according to ISO 45001. In 2022, Site San José Iturbide successfully carried out the recurring audit process for both ISO 45001 and ISO 14001.
ISO 14001 is the most widely recognized international standard for environmental management systems. It specifies the requirements for how an organization should proactively identify and understand the environmental aspects of its operations, its products and services and their associated environmental impact. Certification according to ISO 14001 demonstrates a heightened awareness of sustainable development.
ISO 45001 is an international management system standard for occupational health and safety. It helps organizations with systematic environmental management efforts, exacting requirements relating to safety, the psychosocial working environment, the commitment of management and the participation of employees.
ISO 50001 is a standard that provides a guarantee that an organization has a sound energy management system that reduces energy consumption and environmental impact, while contributing to improved profitability. ISO 50001 shows customers, employees and other stakeholders that efficient energy use is a priority and that energy is being managed systematically.
Step by step, changes are being made and measures taken that together contribute to a great leap towards a more sustainable future. We have switched to 100 percent fossil free electricity at several facilities and installed solar cells in Suzhou.
Safety is a top priority for all employees of Suzuki Garphyttan. Always. We have set a tough goal – zero accidents in 2025. There is much work to be done, but we are seeing clear improvements. This is in part because we switched our focus to working more with behaviors, attitudes and values.
For several years, safety efforts have been near the top of our agenda – for us, one accident is one too many. We have a long way to go before achieving an entirely accident-free workplace, but we are seeing clear improvements in the form of higher numbers of risk observations and a reduced number of accidents.
The path to an accident-free workplace starts with identifying risks and preventing accidents. We continually encourage our employees to report the risks they observe in their day-to-day work. We were pleased to note that twice as many risk reports were submitted in 2022 than in 2021. Now we have more information to work with in our quest for zero accidents.
Fundamentally, our improving statistics reflect an increased awareness. We are thinking twice and helping one another. When it comes to safety, a single person, department or management alone cannot do the job. Everyone has to take responsibility.
Johan Marberg is Health, Safety and Environment & Facility Manager at Suzuki Garphyttan – and has responsibility for the progress of our safety efforts. He reports that we are working differently from how we used to, with a different focus:
“We are working much more with behaviors, attitudes and values. In our safety orientation, we talk about roles – that you may have a different role at work than at home. But if you have an accident in your working role, it will also affect who you are outside work, at home and with your family. This provides a different perspective.”
Johan Marberg – Health, Safety and Environment & Facility Manager, Suzuki Garphyttan
Johan also notes the importance of transparency towards all employees, so that everyone understands the current situation and what future efforts will look like. It is especially important that risk observations are handled, and that changes are made in areas where risks are reported.
It may be a bit too early to draw conclusions, but we are seeing clear results. At Site Garphyttan, where we started providing a new safety orientation and using long visors, the number of reported accidents has been greatly reduced. The seriousness of these accidents has also been reduced.
These are exactly the kinds of changes we need to achieve our goal of an accident-free workplace.
We are constantly refining our processes and technology with the goal of eliminating hazardous substances from our production. One example is the new-generation hardening technology we introduced, which has helped us make great strides towards more sustainable operations.
We have also developed our processes so that some of our steel types can be produced more efficiently with less waste. This makes a significant difference in our efforts to reduce our carbon footprint.
People and skills
We believe in the power of people, and are convinced that the key to continued development and success is our employees – both those who already work here and those we need to attract in order to expand our expertise. During the year, we strengthened our expertise in technology, operational leadership, application management, sustainability and our own production chain.
Along the way to a more even distribution of products for the automotive industry and products in other areas, we are building up new product development teams. These will spend 100 percent of their time working with new segments and offerings, while existing teams retain their focus on customers in the automotive industry.
One of our most important goals is to expand our business into new areas. There for we have two dedicated teams; one that continue to strengthen our position in the automotive industry and one that focuses on business development and innovative solutions in new markets.
The Research & Development department are also building up teams that will spend their time on product development for new business areas. Here we are clearly seeing the value of trainees from our Global Trainee Program – stepping in and strengthening the teams with their expertise.
During 2022 our business in new areas increased significantly. Onward!
We need to recruit new employees with the right attitude and expertise. To do so, we have to be able to show what we have to offer. What is it that attracts people to work at Suzuki Garphyttan? We asked the people who know – and made our employer brand a lot clearer.
To strengthen the organization, we need to take care of and develop our employees but also attract new competence. Right now, we are searching for both experienced and newly graduated employees who can contribute to our teams with their spirit and right expertise. We are not the only company looking for the best employees. There’s a lot of competition. For this reason, we have worked hard to clarify our employer brand and offering during 2022, making it clear what kind of a company we are, what we stand for and what we can offer.
Employees from various countries with various roles and positions did solid work, spending several workshops figuring out exactly what it is that makes our employees like their jobs – and want to stay. Who knows better than the people who already work here?
The results indicate that it ranges from the long history, experience and expertise that run through the company, to the global familiar feeling and the constant drive to develop – both as individuals and as a company. Equally important is our sense of group cohesion. We are doing all this together, and we aim to create a better tomorrow, both for ourselves, our company and the planet.
You can expect to see much more of us in the recruiting sphere in the coming year. Right now we are looking for project managers, testing technicians and logistics developers. For currently available positions, you can always check our careers page.
As we grow, we need to recruit the right competence – especially when it comes to engineers and technicians. There for we put a lot of efforts in building knowledge, awareness and relationships with students and universities.
In the quest for expertise, we are increasing our presence for example at universities. At student fairs we can make use of the messaging we have arrived at in our work with our brand as an employer – and it works very well. Our booth attracts the students’ attention, and when they come over, they are welcomed by employees who themselves have recently been students. It’s an approach that creates fruitful ground for continued conversations.
At a fair arranged by Örebro University, about 20 kilometers from Suzuki Garphyttan’s main office and Site Garphyttan, we spoke with over a hundred students. It yielded results quickly:
“Almost all of them were interested in summer jobs, part-time jobs or continued contact,” says Rebecka Gising, HR specialist at Suzuki Garphyttan. Several are currently taking part in the recruiting process to work for us this summer.
Our stand at Örebro University’s fair
Our employees are the most important thing we have, and we want to give them every advantage they need to develop into their best working selves. To achieve this, we start with our managers, who are leaders and role models in the organization.
Our employees are the most important thing we have, and we want to give them every advantage they need to develop into their best working selves. To achieve this, we start with our managers, who are leaders and role models in the organization.
In 2022, we initiated our own Global Leadership Program – for all managers, at all facilities. The goal is to shape our common leadership culture, which we see as one of the foundations of the future for Suzuki Garphyttan. We want to have modern leaders who stand for transparency and open dialogue. Leaders who strengthen their employees so they will dare to take the initiative and say what they think, and who help create an organization we feel a sense of pride and belonging in.
The foundations of the leadership program are current research and our own leadership policy, which is intimately linked to our values of Care, Dare and Share.
Mixing managers from different countries and levels is good for group dynamics and for promoting encounters based on shared experiences and cross-cultural goals and challenges. It creates relationships, making it easier to contact one another later in the day-to-day operations of the company.
“We are building a strong leadership culture,” says Claes Unestål, Global Head of HR at Suzuki Garphyttan, and managers are given a chance to network with one another. We are already seeing that this provides a sense of solidarity around future visions and shared challenges.
Claes Unestål – Global Head of HR, Suzuki Garphyttan
During the training, managers learn more about being available, coaching and communicative leadership, group dynamics and much more. They also are provided with tools that they can implement and test in their day-to-day work, always with support from one another.
Through regular follow-ups on leadership culture, we come even nearer our end goal – an organization where every employee feels like we are growing together, and everyone has the opportunity to achieve their full potential.
During the training managers learn more about being available, coaching and communicative leadership
Despite difficult challenges, our Chinese facility, Site Suzhou, had a very good year. A key factor was the people behind the numbers, our employees. One of them is Simon Ning.
Simon has been working at Suzuki Garphyttan since Site Suzhou opened over 16 years ago.
“This was my first job after graduating from university,” says Simon. “Initially I worked on the heat treatment process, then I continued learning the rest of our process.”
During these years, both he and the company have constantly developed. Simon has worked with a variety of different tasks and served in several roles.
“I have had the opportunity to work both as an engineer and a manager, and now I am a production manager”.
According to Simon, Site Suzhou’s recipe for success has a lot to do with a good organization, a five-year plan with clearly expressed goals and strong local management working together.
Asked what makes him enjoy his job so much, Simon talks about Suzuki Garphyttan’s culture and all the skilled and experienced colleagues he works with.
“We care about one another. We share our knowledge and we aren’t afraid to test innovative solutions. And we’re all working towards a shared goal.”
An important and enjoyable part of our efforts to secure future expertise and employees is our global trainee program. For us, it is essential to come in contact with young, well-educated people with new and innovative ways of thinking – this is where we find the business and product developers of tomorrow. For trainees, the program provides access to valuable expertise from experienced colleagues and an opportunity to jump-start their careers. In other words, a true win–win.
In 2022 we had five participants in the ten-month-long program. Here, two of them – Ilaria Menti from Italy and Sakthivel Balaji from India – talk about their experiences and reveal what they are doing now…
Watch the video where Ilaria talks about her experiences in the trainee program, and also why she decided to come to us.
Watch the video to learn more about the best parts of our Global Trainee Program, according to Sakthivel.
Our journey towards new businesses, a broader offering and a better tomorrow has only just begun. We are constantly on the lookout for people with the right attitude and expertise. Curious about what that might mean? Follow us on LinkedIn. Keep an eye on our careers page. And don't hesitate to contact one of us directly!
For currently available positions and more on what we have to offer, please see our careers page >
Stronger together
There's no denying it – we are always stronger together. Together with our own team members and in close partnership with our customers and other stakeholders.
Being a global player with production on several continents is a fantastic advantage. We have access to all the knowledge and experience at our global facilities, so we can quickly and conveniently meet local customer demand. And because we produce the same wire at multiple sites, we can easily cover for one another if problems arise.
Together we make up a large global team that is constantly developing and maintaining a high pace of improvement. When one of our sites develops a new approach or process that works well, we share it with one another – and just like that, the whole company takes a big stride forward.
To achieve an even higher degree of digitalization, efficiency and standardization of our processes – and provide our customers with even better service – we are hard at work implementing our shared business system (ERP), OneShare. When we launched it at our Düsseldorf and Garphyttan facilities last year, it turned out to be the start of a challenging period, unfortunately affecting some of our customers. In order to capture their ideas about what we could be doing better, we carried out a qualitative customer survey that provided much valuable input.
In our work with OneShare, many of our employees have focused on solving problems in the best way possible. On the plus side, what we have learned has enabled us to develop the system to meet our particular needs more effectively. In the long run, this will provide major benefits both for us and for our customers.
Innovative solutions for new product areas and constant development of our processes and ways of thinking continue to be essential to achieving our goals. We are constantly developing our capacity, and are producing more products with increasingly customizable properties. We work with surfaces, shapes and formability, carrying out many tests and developing prototypes. Currently, for example, our focus is cold drawn wire products made of stainless and carbon steel, in a variety of shapes.
At the same time, we emphasize being able to provide the stability and service we are known for, and which our customers demand. We have therefore made organizational changes and added additional resources to both Sales and Research & Development. We now have dedicated teams focusing either on new business areas or on the automotive industry.
The journey continues
Two years have passed since 2020, when we embarked on our journey – our five-year plan. The plan includes continuing to be a strong player in the automotive industry and also expanding our product portfolio to serve more industries. How is the journey going so far? We’re on a roll.
We decided to meet market demands and diversify our operations. That's exactly what we have done. Now we are growing in new areas, even as we continue to develop in the automotive sector.
We decided to meet market demands and diversify our operations. That’s exactly what we have done. Now we are growing in new areas, even as we continue to develop in the automotive sector.
We are making major advances all the time. Our products are finding their way into new markets, and the Suzuki Garphyttan brand is growing increasingly well-known. Our goal is to even out the distribution between conventional products for the automotive industry and new areas – and we are well on our way to doing so. Today the ratio is 80/20. Soon it will be 50/50.
Every day offers new opportunities. Take our plant in England, Site Leeds, for example. Here in 2022, we carried out 45 different tests of 14 new applications in cooperation with some 20 new customers. These customers are just a few of the manufacturers who have discovered the benefits of reliable components made of 100 percent recyclable steel.
No matter where in the world they live, no car owner today wants to open their car's tailgate manually. Instead, they press a button and the gate opens automatically. Our wire is already playing a key role in this function.
No matter where in the world they live, no car owner today wants to open their car’s tailgate manually. Instead, they press a button and the gate opens automatically. Our wire is already playing a key role in this function.
The automatic tailgate is a prime example of the development of a new product for the auto industry that is not associated with the internal combustion engine. In the course of just a few years, we have reached a market-leading position, and are now producing important components for half of all electric tailgates manufactured.
Just press the button and the gate opens
Our wire is found in more places than you might imagine. It may be an incredibly strong spring in a car engine, for example, or an extremely durable part of a quality mattress. And we are constantly developing new types of wire with unique properties – so that our wire can provide strength and durability in even more application areas.
We have a long history in the automotive industry, where we have long been – and still are – a world leader among manufacturers. In one form or another, Suzuki Garphyttan steel wire goes into almost every car in the whole world. Kind of cool, isn’t it?
Now we are expanding our offering. We remain a stable, future-oriented partner for the automotive industry, but we are also making a major commitment to developing products and processes that will take us into new areas. We are moving into industries like medical technology, tools, energy, aircraft, agriculture and foodstuffs, beds, and seating furniture. The possibilities are essentially endless.
Many years of working with the automotive industry have given us expertise and experience that are hard to beat. We are the world leader in this segment and that's what we intend to remain. But we don't take it for granted, and we never stop giving our all.
Many years of working with the automotive industry have given us expertise and experience that are hard to beat. We are the world leader in this segment and intend to remain so. But we don’t take it for granted, and we never stop giving our all.
We should be the partner of choice both for conventional products for internal combustion engines and new products designed for the transition the automotive industry is currently undergoing. Use of electric vehicles is growing by the day, and we are providing solutions that offer both sustainability and quality.
We strive to have equally strong business in the automotive area as in new segments. And we didn’t get this far by reducing the product volume we provide to the automotive industry. On the contrary. We continue to develop our offering and expect to continue growing in this segment, too. A clear example of this approach is the automatic tailgate, where we have now achieved a market-leading position.
Jonas Bratt, Production Manager at DUX - a business partner to Suzuki Garphyttan since 1992
DUX manufactures premium beds with a high degree of comfort and a long life. The secret is their unique DUX spring, and the fact that each bed contains as many of them as can possibly fit. What many people don’t know is that all DUX springs are manufactured of wire from Suzuki Garphyttan.
The DUX story began nearly a hundred years ago, in 1924. The Swedish chocolatier Efraim Ljung went to the US on a business trip and stayed overnight in a Chicago hotel. The following morning he was amazed at how well he had slept. Efraim pulled out his pocketknife, made a careful cut in the mattress to examine the inside – and discovered a mass of coiled springs mounted in a flexible system.
Once back in Sweden, Efraim left his candy business and began instead to experiment with steel springs of different strengths and elasticity. In 1926 he founded DUX and started manufacturing mattresses.
Today the Ljung family still owns and operates the DUX firm. The company has grown, but through the years its mission has remained the same: increased comfort, improved performance and longer life span.
When home furnishings turned towards cheaper, mass-produced furniture in the 1970s and 80s, this family-operated company chose to go in the opposite direction and make its mark with quality. In 1986 they launched their retail chain, Duxiana, which now has 100 stores. The DUX exclusive line is also sold by more than 200 retailers around the world.
DUX manufactures about 25,000 beds a year. The majority of customers are private individuals who prioritize the best possible setting for a good night’s sleep. But many of the world’s foremost hotel chains as well as many large cruise ships provide their guests with DUX beds.
“Of course, it’s a matter of pride when you go to Manhattan and know that many of the 5-star hotels there have beds from little DUX,” says Jonas Bratt, DUX Production Manager.
The core is the unique DUX spring. The spring system has more – and thinner – bedsprings than other bed manufacturers. It’s a difference that delivers both a soft feeling and firm support.
“Our springs are comfortable and have a very long life, it’s well known,” says Bratt. “That’s why the Swedish Navy has been in touch and wants our beds on their ships. And that’s why we deliver springs in other products with high demands for quality and comfort, such as railway seating and office chairs.
For the last 30 years, all DUX bedsprings have been manufactured with wire from Suzuki Garphyttan. Their wire has a long life and much better relaxation resistance, which contributes to the spring system maintaining tension better than springs made of ordinary bedspring wire. And this is continually verified in the DUX laboratory.
“It’s the fantastic wire that enables us to be confident in what we claim about quality,” adds Bratt. “All the springs in the system are woven together, so a broken wire is the worst that can happen.”
The DUX spring system has more – and thinner – bedsprings than other bed manufacturers
Bratt describes the partnership with Suzuki Garphyttan as a long-term relation built on trust and security. He explains that it’s never a question of short-term fixes, and both parties have a long-range view of their cooperation.
“We’re important to each other. Suzuki Garphyttan is our only wire supplier, because quite simply no one else has the same quality. And for them we are an important partner outside of the automotive industry.
A shared focus in product development is naturally an essential part of our partnership. Bratt reveals that just now they are looking at a broader usage of springs, and testing different degrees of heat treatment of the wire.
“Suzuki Garphyttan is part of our product development. They provide prototypes of what we’re looking for and we test them together. They’re extremely knowledgeable and very quick about getting back to us with suggestions.”
Finally, Bratt mentions another feature of Suzuki Garphyttan – that the company, despite being a global company, feels so genuine.
“I’ve visited the Garphyttan site several times and met many staff there – in production, sales and management. Everyone, regardless of their role, is incredibly solid and fully engaged. It’s just incredible!”
Founded: 1926 in Malmö, Sweden.
Production: Beds at two wholly owned factories in Portugal. Furniture production on a smaller scale In Sweden.
Sales: 100 own Duxiana stores and over 200 retailers in more than 40 countries around the world (North America, Asia, the Middle East and Europe)
The world is changing and so are we, developing our wide range of products and services in various alloys. With our passion for engineering and innovation, always in close collaboration with customers, we are shaping the wire of tomorrow. The possibilities are basically unlimited.
Everyone who is part of this industry segment knows what it is all about: high-quality products with requirements for corrosion resistance in various environments, high strength, high fatigue strength, good surface control, excellent microstructure and inclusion cleanliness.
We offer a wide range of low-alloy steels, stainless steels (including duplex) and other alloys (such as Ni-Base) in round, flat and complex shapes to meet your specific demands.
Our wire undergoes extensive testing for geometrical shape, mechanical properties, surface conditions, material structure, etc. to ensure that it performs at its best in the application.
We are proud of our wires’ excellent formability and high geometrical accuracy to ensure perfect fit into assemblies.
What you need in a bedspring is long-term durability and a suspension that adapts itself in a sophisticated manner to your body – and there is no shortcut to get there.
The important thing about our process is that it gives the spring unbeatable sag resistance. As a result, the manufacturer can provide customers with a longer warranty while customers will feel that the bed stays the same year after year.
In this segment we offer customized solutions to suit your specific needs. Properties we can explore together include corrosion properties, surface cleanliness, fatigue, magnetic properties, temperature dependence, surface coatings and strength/ductility.
Our group can also offer different coatings to ensure suitable surface properties for your application. We have the utmost focus on product testing and ensuring product reliability in the application.
We provide wire with a wide range of geometries, from round to flat to complex shapes as needed for your application. In this area, the focus is on delivering wire with good relaxation properties, wear resistance, surface control and surface cleanliness.
Steel grades can be adapted to your needs and include low-alloy and stainless steels. We can adapt to your needs, ranging from soft wire for forming and subsequent processing to make the final product to high-strength variants for immediate use.
In some cases, we can also offer surface coatings for added customization of product properties.
Construction, tooling and industrial applications have various needs, such as high wear resistance, high strength, high fatigue strength and corrosion resistance. Together we can discuss which steel grade, geometrical shape and physical properties are relevant for you.
We can a supply a range of products, from soft to drawn or hardened, depending on your intended usage.
We can offer low-alloy, stainless steels (including duplex) and other alloys (such as Ni-Base) suitable for forming of finished parts or in high strength condition to give you the reliability you need.
We develop and produce spring wire to meet the high demands of the automotive industry where reliability means everything.
OTEVA is an oil tempered spring wire used for springs in combustion engines and transmissions that are subject to extreme fatigue demands. OTEVA wire has long been an integral, vital part of the new technical solutions of all leading vehicle brands in the world.
OTEVA grades cover all demands of high performance in tensile strength, fatigue life and coiling properties. The wire is manufactured in shaved and unshaved conditions in sizes from Ø 0.50 mm – all depending on grade.
The automotive industry is under constant development. Use of electric cars, as well as electric motorbikes, e-buses and e-trucks, is expanding day by day. We engineer solutions that strengthen e-mobility in every way possible.
Our durable, environmentally friendly manufactured wire makes a difference in components used in applications such as electric drives, windshield wipers, air suspensions, electric terminals, seat frames and door hinge springs.
Together with our Research & Development team, customers around the world have found new and innovative ways to improve their products. What are your challenges? Let us know – and you’ll get a glimpse of how a partnership with us would broaden your opportunities.
This is Suzuki Garphyttan
It all began more than a hundred years ago, in the little mill town of Garphyttan, Sweden. Over the years we have grown, developed, and expanded along with the world into what we are today: a global, world-leading producer of advanced steel wire for application areas in which quality and high performance are essential.
Together we stand, with some 640 employees around the world, as a strong, stable teammate for our partners and colleagues in the industry. We are creating new opportunities, dealing with difficulties together and taking one another to new heights. We are making steel wire for today and tomorrow, wherever and whenever it may be needed.
We take pride in our work. And in our company. We have come a long way – and yet the journey has only just begun. For if there is anything we have learned in the last hundred years, it is to keep moving ahead, together.
Suzuki Garphyttan is part of the Nippon Steel Corporation in Japan. We have production sites in Sweden, the US, the UK, Mexico, and China. We also have a sales office in Germany. With custom product solutions and a global presence, we stand for strength and reliability. Today and tomorrow.
In a stormy world, we are a reliable partner. We know that the future will continue to challenge us, and we have the greatest respect for that fact. But we also see the opportunities provided by working together through challenges – and thus becoming even stronger.
2022 was a challenging year. In February, world politics took a turn with the war between Russia and Ukraine. On top of that, shortages of materials as well as inflated prices for electricity, food, and fuel have created great uncertainty for many.
In a stormy world, we are a reliable partner. We know that the future will continue to challenge us, and we have the greatest respect for that fact. But we also see the opportunities provided by working together through challenges – and thus becoming even stronger.
We feel safe in the knowledge that we are contributing to making a better world. Our products are made of 100 percent recyclable steel to meet tomorrow’s needs. We are constantly developing our production methods in order to make them as sustainable as possible. For the planet. And for one another.
We have come a long way towards meeting our goals. Now we are shifting into higher gear and continuing down our path. We continue to work on developing an organization that has what it takes to ensure that Suzuki Garphyttan is sustainable in the future.
“2022 was a year of challenges. Yet together we succeeded in achieving results we can be proud of.” - Ad Raatgeep, CEO, Suzuki Garphyttan
2022 was a year of challenges. Yet together we succeeded in achieving results we can be proud of.
This past year, we continued our journey into new areas where our wire can make a difference. We continued to invest in new expertise and new equipment, meeting new customers and accruing more experience. And we have done a good job of it. Just a few years ago, 85 percent of our production was of conventional products for the automotive industry and 15 percent was in other areas. Now the ratio is 80/20 – and we are well on our way to an even 50/50.
Although we have been working very hard at establishing a presence in new markets, we have still maintained a strong result. I see this as clear proof of the strength, stability, and great commitment of Suzuki Garphyttan.
A major challenge in 2022 was unquestionably the implementation of our new enterprise resource system, OneShare. We faced quite a few difficult startup problems, but now we see the light at the end of the tunnel. Many of us are working hard to ensure that the system will soon be functioning at the level we envisioned from the start.
A big thank you to both our employees and our customers for a very good 2022. Now we have an exciting year of new opportunities before us.
– Ad Raatgeep, CEO, Suzuki Garphyttan