In the autumn of 2014, the company VBN Components, located in Uppsala, Sweden, issued new
shares and received a large investment. The investment has now resulted in that VBN, in a very
short time, has established a top modern steel plant in Uppsala where very wear resistant steel
components are formed by 3D-printing, additive manufacturing, branded Vibenite. The new facility
makes it possible for manufacturing industries to improve their profitability by better material and
shorter lead times. VBN is now growing and is looking for personnel, mainly within production.
The new VBN Components production facility for free formed materials is now launched and the company
is now ready to meet the large interest in the first material Vibenite60, that together with advanced 3Dprinting
technique is used for all types of components with wear resistance demands. Volvo is one of the
customers that successfully are testing gear hobs produced by VBN.
– We are happy to be able to put one of Sweden’s most modern steel plants in Uppsala. VBN is first to
market with this type of material directly adapted to 3D-printing. What is unique is to combine an extreme
wear resistance with advanced product shapes through 3D-printing. To be able to meet the market
inquiries we need to increase our personnel within production, says Martin Nilsson, CEO at VBN
Components.
The response for VBN’s technique has been significant and mainly the customer benefits are put in focus,
where the 3D-printing of Vibenite® results in high component performance, short delivery times and a
heavily reduced environmental impact. By using additive manufacturing technique, almost no material
needs to be cut away to obtain a certain component shape, and hence leads to less scrap-metal.
– During a customer visit last week, we discussed the 3D-printing of a component where the customer had
bought big metal bars for the manufacturing of a tool and needed to remove 80 percent of the material by
machining. We could show that VBN can manufacture the same component with as low as 0,5 percent
scrap-metal. Of course, these substantial improvements are very positive, but we find the biggest gain to
be that our material will last much longer than traditional components, says Martin Nilsson.
This particular day, VBN is producing gear hobs, a production tool for gear wheel manufacturing, with
heavily reduced weight and higher performance than traditional hobs. VBN’s gear hobs do not only result
in shorter lead times and less material waste, the tool weight has also been reduced by 40 percent down
to 9 kilos. This means that the staff can lift the hob without risk.
Martin Nilsson, co-founder of VBN Components, is the new CEO since November 2014. The former CEO
and co-founder Ulrik Beste is now CTO and is responsible for the production technique and the R&D.
For more information, please contact:
Martin Nilsson, CEO, PhD
VBN Components AB
Phone (PBX): +46 (0)18-24 07 60
Email: martin.nilsson@vbncomponents.com
www.vbncomponents.com
Vibenite® is a registered trade mark.
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150126 PRESS RELEASE Most Modern Steel Plant in Sweden
