Sandvik Coromant history

Cemented-carbide metalworking tools were slower to achieve popularity, but development after 1956 was rapid.

From 1967 more products, particularly cemented-carbide products, were manufactured by the company's overseas subsidiaries.

In 1968 a joint venture, the Saeger Carbide Corporation, was set up in the United States with the Greenleaf Corporation.

Also in 1969, the first International Metal Cutting Days takes place in Sandviken.

1971: Sales of cemented-carbide products exceed those of steel products for the first time.

In 1972 this was acknowledged by a change in the company's name from Sandvikens Jernwerks Aktiebolag to Sandvik AB.

In 1983 the company's profits were reduced by Skr 219 million (US$30 million) owing to an exchange rate loss brought about by unauthorized foreign-exchange speculation by an employee.

In 1984 Per-Olof Eriksson was appointed president.

Despite declining sales, the company remained profitable thanks to management's heeding signs of the downturn as early as mid-1989.

Eriksson began cutting staff around the world, reducing the workforce by 20 percent by the end of 1992.

In 1993 Sandvik formed a subsidiary in China, Sandvik China Ltd., which began construction of a cemented-carbide tools factory in Langfang City.

1997: Sandvik takes full control of Tamrock, Kanthal, and Precision Twist Drill; Skanska sells the bulk of its stake in Sandvik, with large portion sold to AB Industrivärden.

In April 1999 Sandvik announced that it would sell Sandvik Saws and Tools to Kenosha, Wisconsin-based Snap-On Incorporated.