Insight Beyond: Economic benefit through digital expansion!

In his keynote speech, the participants gained exciting insights into the world of the largest independent materials distributor in the western hemisphere, which is helping to shape the solutions of tomorrow as a successful partner for 250,000 customers worldwide. At thyssenkrupp Materials Services, it´s not just about procuring products and materials as cost-effectively as possible and optimally timing supply chains. The aim is to make the supply of materials secure and sustainable in the sense of smart materials trading through continuous digitization, automation and standardization of processes – and to achieve climate neutrality by 2030. thyssenkrupp Materials Services is constantly developing new products and services for the supply chain and service business. Materials Services can be anything from a provider of individual supply chain modules to a manager of the entire supply chain.

The starting point for thyssenkrupp Materials Services as a materials trader, taking steel trading as a concrete example, was the question: How much material do we have to store to achieve a good service level for the customer? The way to achieve this was, for example, the centralization of material groups, through which alone a cost optimization of 15% could be achieved. For automotive OEMs, data-based timing analysis was used to achieve a 20% increase in the accuracy of requested goods. Using an e-commerce platform, thyssenkrupp Materials Services succeeded in reducing customer overstocks through a digital marketplace solution. Black Swan events in the recent past or present – such as the Corona pandemic, supply chain problems or the war in Ukraine – showed that this digital approach can also work on a global level.

As an intermediary between the various players in the supply chain, thyssenkrupp Materials Services has a wide reach with its customer base to bring transparency to the supply chain (e.g. in terms of certificates, CO2 emissions) and thus decisively advance the digital transformation. The important thing here is to demonstrate the economic benefits to the respective partner so that all those involved really get on board.

The iron hammer with its Hammermuseum and hammer forge provided an ideal backdrop for this inspiring lecture, the content of which reached far into the future against a historical backdrop. Immediately afterwards, the guests had the opportunity to experience the time-honored pile hammer of the hammer forge live in action, before a joint dinner in the former iron foundry ushered in a summery evening.