At Fabrinox, innovation begins with understanding the challenges our customers face and finding practical ways to address them.

The limited availability of high-yield-strength and wear-resistant steel in South Africa can lead to extended lead times, production delays and increased replacement costs for manufacturers that depend on these specialised materials.

In response, Fabrinox researched alternative products and suppliers that could offer improved availability, competitive pricing and reliable performance. This led us to Quard and Quend—two high-performance steel ranges produced by NLMK Clabecq in Belgium.

Through our collaboration with NLMK South Africa, Fabrinox is establishing itself as the manufacturing partner of choice for Quard wear-resistant steel and Quend high-yield-strength steel in the Western Cape.

This expansion reflects our commitment to customer-centric innovation: identifying a genuine customer need, evaluating the available solutions and developing the practical manufacturing experience required to introduce these materials with confidence.

Improved Access to Specialised Steel

Quard and Quend are supplied locally by NLMK South Africa through stockholding in Johannesburg, providing our customers with a more reliable supply route and improved access to specialised steel grades.

The range offers several important advantages:

• Improved local availability
• Competitive pricing
• Consistent material quality
• Excellent manufacturing performance
• Access to a broad selection of grades
• Proven performance in demanding applications

By combining access to these materials with Fabrinox’s established capabilities, we can offer customers a complete manufacturing solution—from material selection and technical input to cutting, forming, machining, welding and fabrication.

Quard: Engineered for Resistance to Wear

Quard is a premium wear-resistant steel plate developed for equipment and components operating in abrasive and demanding environments.

Its combination of hardness, toughness and consistent performance can help extend component life, reduce maintenance requirements and minimise costly equipment downtime.

Fabrinox has access to a broad range of Quard grades, including Quard 400, Quard 450, Quard 500 and Quard Pro.

Quard is suitable for applications such as:

• Agricultural wear parts and attachments
• Buckets and loader components
• Tipper and dump bodies
• Chutes, hoppers and liners
• Conveyor, crusher and screening components
• Blades and cutting edges
• Recycling and demolition equipment

These properties make Quard particularly relevant to the agricultural industry, where constant exposure to soil, stone and other abrasive materials can cause severe wear.

Quend: High Strength Without Unnecessary Weight

Quend is a high-yield-strength structural steel developed for applications where equipment must carry, lift or withstand heavy loads.

Its high strength-to-thickness ratio allows manufacturers to design lighter structures without compromising strength or performance. Depending on the application, this can contribute to increased payload capacity, improved operating efficiency and reduced equipment weight.

Quend is ideally suited to crane booms, chassis, outriggers, support beams, truck and trailer components, lifting equipment and other load-bearing structures.

Proven Manufacturing Performance

Quard and Quend are produced with tight thickness tolerances, excellent flatness and a high-quality surface finish. These characteristics support consistent results during cutting, forming, bending and welding.

Fabrinox can laser cut these materials using either oxygen or nitrogen, depending on the grade, thickness and required cut finish. Our practical experience has also demonstrated very good machinability, formability, rolling characteristics, weldability and dimensional consistency.

Importantly, Fabrinox has been testing and processing Quard and Quend for more than a year. During this period, we have worked with selected customers to manufacture components from these materials and evaluate their performance in real applications.

This hands-on experience has allowed our team to understand the behaviour and processing requirements of the different grades. We are therefore introducing materials that we have already processed, tested and manufactured successfully.

Innovation Driven by Customer Needs

For Fabrinox, innovation is not simply about introducing something new. It is about finding better ways to respond to our customers’ evolving needs.

Quard and Quend provide another reliable material option for new equipment, replacement parts and product-development projects—supported by improved availability and Fabrinox’s established manufacturing expertise.

Whether you manufacture agricultural equipment, transport components, heavy machinery or products exposed to demanding operating conditions, Quard and Quend could provide a stronger, longer-lasting and more cost-effective material solution.

Contact the Fabrinox team today to discuss whether Quard or Quend could be suitable for your application or next project.