Sandvik Process Systems Is Now IPCO

IPCO is the new name for one of the world’s leading suppliers of steel press belts to the wood-based panel industry.

Previously operating as Sandvik Process Systems, the company is now an independent company within the Wallenberg group and has 600 employees, more than 35 sales and service offices and annual sales in excess of €200 million. In joining the Wallenberg group, IPCO has gained the stability of being part of a business with approximately 600,000 employees and more than €140 billion in total annual sales of holdings.

The company’s network of regional offices will enable it to continue to provide local, on-the-ground expertise backed up by a service organization with the ability to support OEMs and end users in any location around the world.

Jörg Kaufmann, Global Product Manager for the WBP industry at IPCO, comments, “We have played a central role in supporting this industry’s development and growth over many decades, and our position of independence—within a group that has a 160-year history of supporting enterprise and research—strengthens our ability to meet the future needs of our WBP customers.”

IPCO supplies belts in three main steel grades to suit different requirements—1100C, 1500SM and 1650SM—and can produce belts in thicknesses from 1.2 to 3.5 mm, and in widths of up to 4,620 mm. Belts are ground to a thickness tolerance of just 50 microns (0.05 mm) over the entire belt. For press belts wider than 1,500 mm, two or even three single belts are welded together longitudinally to create a belt of the required width.