Salzgitter. Service. Stahl. Digital.

We find ourselves in the middle of a fourth industrial revolution, the digitalization and networking of the worlds of work and business. Digitalization is rapidly changing companies and business models, offering opportunities, and making new demands on people, machines and processes. On the occasion of the symposium "The digital future of the supply chain" held in Düsseldorf on May 23/24, Salzgitter Flachstahl management board member Dr. Sebastian Bross presented Salzgitter Flachstahl's point of view on this topic.  Under the heading "Optimizing processes - Seizing opportunities", Dr. Bross described the difficult market environment and the growing demands all along the value chain. "In addition to premium, increasingly individualized products, today our customers expect fast, flexible and, above all, transparent processes," Dr. Bross summarized. "Digitalization is accelerating the processes while simultaneously creating the basis for greater transparency, and is therefore an elementary component in our corporate strategy.
 
Within the context of this strategy, Salzgitter Flachstahl is promoting the exchange of digital data (EDI). For example, today, an EDI connection enables around 80,000 orders to be processed at Salzgitter Flachstahl fully automatically instead of manually. In many cases, delivery notes, letter of reference, and invoices are transmitted online or can be retrieved from a platform. Today, customers receive answers and information in the shortest span of time. "But it is no longer enough for us simply to technically optimize individual systems and workflows or to think and act only within narrow confines (department, plant, company)," is Dr. Bross's message. "Instead, we are looking for improvements that can be implemented beyond just a single area or company. We are increasingly including our business partners directly in the design of the value creation processes." For example, Salzgitter Flachstahl has successfully run a vendor management inventory procedure with one customer for years. Within this process, Salzgitter Flachstahl fully automatically supplies the stocks to the customer via range control. In a further example, an inter-company information platform was able to increase an end customer's satisfaction. Based on this platform, a supplied service center’s end customer provides early information that is used to control the Salzgitter Flachstahl production. "This allows us to ensure a constant service center material supply in spite of different modes of production even if the end customer's demand fluctuates. The end customer's manufacturing is supplied on an as-needed basis," Dr. Bross reported.