UFOs from now on made of green steel

It is manufacturer ThyssenKrupp in Duisburg that has developed Bluemint® steel. The steel is produced using a combination of iron ore and highly processed scrap steel. Clever use of materials in blast furnaces thus creates a product that consumes less coal. The spent scrap only needs to be melted which directly reduces CO₂ emissions.

Innovative choice of materials

Rutger Werkhoven, Group Manager Sustainability at Kooi, is pleased with this new step: ‘In 2030 we want to have 0% CO2 emissions. So we are constantly looking to increase sustainability: in our fleet, our buildings but also in our systems. The biggest challenge was to be innovative in our choice of materials as well. Well, we are now taking a big step towards that with the Bluemint steel.’

Working method

For the new generations of UFOs, Oreel has purchased dozens of tonnes of Bluemint steel. Sytse Oreel on the method: ‘Bluemint is the same steel but made in a sustainable way. Thyssen collects the steel scrap and processes it into new steel. It then cuts the steel sheets to size and ships them to us. We then process the steel, which has to be tensile and wear-resistant, back into the customized frames for Kooi's cameras.’

Collaboration

Oreel has been on board as a regular supplier from the very beginning of Kooi Camera Surveillance in 2010. Working away, the perfect customized camera frame-box was developed. While the frames initially involved hand welding, the entire Kooi production line has now been robotized. Sytse: ‘Robotization ensures an efficient production process, guaranteeing quality and cost price control; a condition for meeting Kooi's high demands.’

Sustainable ambitions

Where Kooi and Oreel also find each other are shared sustainability ambitions. ‘It is one of our pillars and common thread in our 170-year existence,’ Sytse explains. ‘Anno 2025, we have 3,000 solar panels providing 70% of our energy supply and we are completely gas-free. We also save in our waste stream with steel scrap being recycled.’

Savings opportunity

In recent years, Kooi has already taken significant steps to further green its products. Last year, for instance, the Green Energy Box saw the light of day and HVO100 replaced diesel in the generators as a clean fuel. A recent product analysis shows that in addition to green energy supplies, the biggest gains can be made in the extraction of raw materials for the camera systems. Rutger: ‘Both constitute 33% of the entire CO2 emissions of the life cycle of our camera systems. So in heavy steel lay the biggest savings opportunity. And now we can already take a giant step towards further sustainability in this!’ 

No whining but the same ambition

Although the production costs of UFO Prime will be slightly higher for Kooi, this does not stand in the way of further sustainable growth plans. ‘As an industry, you want to go in a certain direction, and then it's nice to have a partner you don't have to haggle with but who shares the same ambition,’ Sytse begins. Rutger complements him: ‘Oreel is very important to us. We want to grow together. Kooi recently won a tender in which we scored maximum on sustainability and promised this step towards green steel. Nice that it has already reached this point.’

Pioneering role

Meanwhile, at Oreel's hall in Hallum, the Kooi production line is fully equipped to produce the new steel and separated from the other lines with the ‘old’ steel. The first Bluemint frames of the UFO Primes have just rolled off the line. Worth a photo opportunity. Sytse: ‘For SMEs and mechanical engineering in the Netherlands, this is a new step. People are always just focused on cutting costs, and then you see less urgency for sustainable, slightly more expensive applications. That's just the way it is. Fortunately, Kooi likes to fulfil a pioneering role and so do we.’

Patience…

By sourcing the steel larger, Sytse is trying to get other customers besides Kooi excited about choosing Bluemint. But as the saying goes, ‘All good things come slowly.’ So patience is called for. Meanwhile, that does give both men time to think about the next step: producing frames that no longer require CO2 at all.