Company
Helti Metal and Trade Ltd has been manufacturing wear parts for ploughs, tillers and cultivators, as well as complete agricultural machinery for 14 years. Helti Ltd was founded in 1996 and it is a 100% privately-owned Hungarian company, whose main activities are manufacturing agricultural machinery and parts. Most of their production is exported.
- Industry: Manufacturing agriculture machinery and parts
- Employees: Approximately 24
- Website: www.helti.hu
Challenge
Quantity and quality
Agricultural machinery is exposed to continuous wear, which means it is necessary to use proper quality abrasion-resistant materials. For Helti, both high quality and adequate transport conditions were equally important when delivering consignments of wear-resistant steel.
Helti was looking for a reliable partner that could make quality deliveries of quality materials for its existing plough and cultivator portfolio. In Hungary, there was no suitable manufacturing partner capable of supplying such material in the right quantities. Hungarian suppliers were shipping materials in too large quantities and deliveries were not cost effective.
Solution
The appropriate material – strength and weldability
Ruukki’s wear-resistant Raex® steel plates have high strength and hardness, as well as excellent weldability and formability properties. This is exactly why they are used for manufacturing agricultural machinery.
Wear-resistant Raex steel is mainly used for tiller devices support. Helti uses these materials mainly on their ploughs after shaping them at their factory. Due to the excellent properties of Raex steel plates, it could be used successfully in Helti tool manufacturing.
Suitable material – cost-efficiency
In agricultural machinery, high surface pressure and friction results in metal fatigue. Consequently, it is significantly more economical to use wear-resistant hardened steel than to replace structural components. Therefore, hardenable B27 boron steel was also selected as material for manufacturing the cultivator and plough hoes.
Additionally, since ploughs and cultivators are exposed to stress, their wearing parts are made from boron steel, which is more resistant to high surface pressure and wear. Furthermore, boron steel is important in the construction of agricultural machinery as it not only prolongs the life of structures, but is also highly cost-effective.
In Hungary, there was no suitable manufacturer who could supply Helti with this type of high-quality material in the right quantities. Both wear-resistant Raex steel and hardenable B27 boron steel have high quality and are excellent materials for Helti’s purposes. The steels were delivered in plate form and processed at Helti’s premises.
Fulfilling the service – key to a good partnership
Excellent knowledge of metals, excellent service and a customer-driven approach is delivering results. József Garami of Helti clearly states: “Working with Ruukki has been an excellent partnership. Ruukki provides high-quality materials, offers a good, specialised service and has a competent sales team to help customers.”
Helti also emphasises in their advertisements and at trade fairs that their products are extremely wear-resistant and durable because they work with a professional workforce and use high-quality raw materials.
Nothing demonstrates this better than the fact that the company has sales not only in the Hungarian market, but also in Romania, Slovakia, Ukraine, Austria and Serbia. Ruukki met all of Helti’s conditions for high-quality and adequate transport conditions.
Cooperation continues
Further cooperation between Ruukki and Helti can be expected, since both parties were satisfied with business developments. According to Krisztián Madai, Sales Manager at Ruukki, “Helti matches Ruukki’s expectations as a good customer technically, strategically and in terms of reliability.”
Not only did the smooth cooperation please Helti, but also the quality products Ruukki delivered. The properties and durability of Ruukki’s Raex and boron plates surpassed expectations.