How it all started...

AB Smederna started up in Huddinge in spring of this year with six blacksmiths and one employee in the office. Our first job was railings at Söderberga Gård. We celebrated with a wonderful evening at Lena PH’s Krogshow 007. In the years leading up to 1994, the basis was laid for the company policy that today ensures that all employees are strongly committed to the company through training, activities involving the personnel and good working conditions. Some blacksmiths travelled around Sweden and assembled satellite stands, whereas others built the Skarpnäck and Bagarmossen underground railway stations.

The guidelines for a three-year training programme to enhance skills beginning in spring 1996 were laid down in the autumn.

A three-year training programme – “Bästa Smederna” [The Best Smiths] – to enhance skills was started and was followed by TR-stål N, K [technical rules for steel construction] courses and crane operator training. Our fifteen smiths worked at places such as Sollentuna Centrum and AstraZeneca in Södertälje.

The foundations for the type of working team that today serves as a tightly-knit, knowledgeable crew with tremendous expertise were laid during the autumn. During the year, our twenty smiths worked places such as the Alvik transport hub, rebuilding the tram depot.

We worked at DN-Huset, among other places, and recruited another employee in the office and seven new colleagues in production.
We visited Rome and had a great time.

We expanded our work teams with a Service Department consisting of seven people, focusing on small-scale, fast-paced work. There were now six works teams, one of which was a Service Department, with a total of around thirty smiths in production. The “ordinary” jobs that year included building the only diffusers in Sweden for Electrolux.

This was an eventful year. The biggest event/change was when we moved from our old premises in Huddinge in the autumn to newly built, modern premises in Tumba. The blacksmith squad was strengthened with around ten people. One of the most exciting, unusual jobs during the year was the new control tower at Arlanda, where our smiths worked at a height of 85 metres.
Sweden’s fastest blacksmith, the personnel’s racing greyhound named Smeden, made his debut on the Riksspel racing tracks and won and won and won…

It was time for our “Bästa Smederna” internal training course once again. This time the guys provided both practical and theoretical training in collaboration with our supplier of electrodes and welding equipment, Allkommers Randback AB. We began to take care of many of the heavy transports ourselves after we purchased a lorry and sent our driver to driving school to add a few letters to his license.
Work carried out during the year included Kv Bommen and Berzelii Park.
Sweden’s fastest blacksmith continued to be successful.

After continued expansion, our new premises were already crowded after only two years. The plans to expand, with additional production space to accommodate the growing Service Department, were born and the first spade went into the ground at the end of the year. “Bästa Smederna” continued with welding training, training of “right hands” and a steel construction course for work supervisors. Projects during the year including Astra B212 on 800-900 tonnes of steel.

The year’s major event was of course the expansion of the workshop that provided the Service Department with its own production premises.
Our “Bästa Smederna” internal training continued with training for all personnel in drawings at 3 levels.
We invested in another lorry since we needed something larger than the previous one.

The worst year for Smederna. The market was still reeling and at the same time a major project in Uppsala with Von Roll ended in a way that was anything but satisfactory.

Like the market, Smederna experienced an upturn, but we were cautious about major investments.
One of the major projects during the year was at Scania in Södertälje.
Total annual sales rose by 7 million compared to 2004 and thus ended up at 68 million.

Total sales rose by an additional 7 million in 2006. Changes were made to the work in the workshop and we invested in a cleaner environment and more efficient and more rational sheet metal handling. We also invested in a new cutting table.

Smederna was expanding and we decided to increase our workforce by five blacksmiths.

Kenneth Ahnelöv was appointed Botkyrka Entrepreneur of the Year for 2008.
Smederna invested in a new welding line for mechanised welding of girders.
Total sales rose by a full 14% to SEK 138 million.

Smederna was named one of Sweden’s Gazelle Companies in 2009.
We continued with our activities to enhance skills. Both Malte Andersson and Björne Rosbusk went on TR-Stål/K courses that provided the skills for steel constructions of a complex nature. Our total sales amounted to 91 million. One of our major projects was Citybanan, with an order for 25 million.

One of the major projects was Kv Fräsaren 10 in Solna. The project included a total office rebuild on two floors over 6300 m2. A portal cutting machine MultiTherm ECO 3100 equipped with CNC control and a LIMA-type roller were two of our major machine investments during the year.
Bahman Norozkhani and Björne Rosbusk attended an IWS training course for 6 weeks in Eksjö. (International welding specialist)

Smederna invested in a new sawing and drilling system from Kaltenbach. We also formed a Tekla/CNC team.
Smederna was the winner of the ROT Prize for 2011. Our projects included the rebuilding of Rådhuset in Uppsala and the new building of the Vendelsöskola and Mölnboskola schools and the Grantomta gymnastics hall in collaboration with NCC.
We celebrated our 20th anniversary in a big way with an open house and Shan The Man Acti and the covers band “Smalare än Thord”.

We changed our name from Smederna i Huddinge AB to Smederna Sverige AB. In the process, we also made a film that was prominently shown on Tekla Day and Stålbyggnadsdagen [Steel Construction Day] among other occasions. We were certified according to EN 1090-1, EN 1090-2 for EXC 1, 2, 3 and 4 and EN ISO 3834-2, 3 and 4. The certification meant that we are permitted to CE mark our products.   Our projects included Nya Lindgården “ABBA The Museum” and Swedish Music Hall of Fame, the stringer for the Tele2 Arena and Signalfabriken in Sundbyberg.

The largest investment in 2013 was the expansion of production areas. We purchased the premises at Skyttbrinksvägen 11 and almost doubled the production area, as well as adapting it to maintain and improve the rational production flow. The Logistics Department was expanded with a tractor unit and trailer and another driver was employed. We invested in a new portal cutting machine/Omnimat L4600 for 3.8 million. Our projects during the year included a box girder for Odenplan station, an art project in Norra Länken and the construction of Ikanohuset in Kungens Kurva.

Smederna won the the Tekla BIM Awards for the modelling of the box beam for Odenplan station. We built stairs at the National Museum of Science and Technology and extended the Swedish Museum of Natural History and dressed the façade of ICA Barkarby with twisted panels. But the biggest project during the year was the suspended ceiling in the Norrström tunnel for NCC.

We expanded the Transport Department and we now have two drivers and a transport manager. We invested in a new tractor unit and several trailers. We extended the output of our CNC-controlled sawing and drilling system to enable us to further automate the workshop. Our assembly managers are trained according to EKS 9 and the regulations for steel construction SS-EN 1090-2. The projects during the year included collision guards, stairs and signs for Mall of Scandinavia, 344 new apartments with PEAB in Rosendal Uppsala, with 200 metres of running track, a basketball court and sun steps on the roof as well as shop premises, a gym and a restaurant on the ground floor. A Digiplex data centre of 20 000 m² in Upplands Väsby and extension of Torgvågen ”PUB huset”.

Smederna was 25 this year. We would soon be certified according to the environmental standard ISO 14001. Smederna would endeavour to minimise its own and its customers’ environmental impact as far as was economically justified and technically feasible. We purchased the plot behind Skyttbrink and would build new premises planned for completion by the end of the year. The projects during the year included a multi-storey car park in Malmö, a new construction in the Barkarby shopping area, rebuilding of Sjövillan on Djurgården and the new state-of-the-art Glömstaskolan school in Huddinge.

We were now certified according to the environmental standard ISO 14001. Some of the projects that year included Gasklockan in Västerås and new building 150 on Scania in Södertälje. Frame reinforcement and extension of Nacka Strand for Oscar Properties and Skanska, frame reinforcement on Kv Blästern in Hagastaden and a stainless mezzanine for Toppfrys in Brålanda.

We renovated our personnel facilities and offices at Skyttbrinksvägen 12. See more images here!

Storskogen 3 Invest purchased most of the shares in Smederna. Kenneth continued as CEO and the company carried on operating as usual. You can read our policy regarding the Data Protection Regulation GDPR here. Projects included the new Molnby depot (a depot for Roslagsbanan vehicles) and Östersjön on Skansen.

On 14 August 2000, we moved to newly built, state-of-the-art premises in Tumba after many years at our old address in Huddinge. In 2003, we extended the premises to accommodate a Service Department.

In 2013, we expanded by purchasing the property at Skyttbrinksvägen 11 and in 2016 we purchased the plot behind Skyttbrinksvägen 11, where we would build another property.

In 2017 we renovated the offices and personnel facilities at Skyttbrinksvägen 12.