New British Steel wire rod warehouse in Germany
30 January 2017
In March 2016, following feedback from its German wire rod customer base, British Steel made a step change in the service it provides with the launch of a new warehouse facility in Duisburg, Germany.
British Steel’s Scunthorpe Rod Mill (SRM) produces wire rod to meet the strict demands of the automotive, construction, engineering and consumer goods markets; supported by a dedicated customer technical services team. The business supplies many leading wire drawers, fastener manufacturers and other component manufacturers in mainland Europe. In recent years, Germany has become an increasingly important European market for sales of wire rod.
In today’s demanding market place, differentiation from the competition through service excellence is the key to success. That is why British Steel decided to open a wire rod mill in Germany.
Up and running for over eight months, the German warehouse facility is helping to address two issues that British Steel’s customers in Germany face – the first being lack of storage at their own facilities and the second, the responsive lead times they require to be able to supply into service critical sectors such as the automotive sector.
Clare Hanna, business development manager – wire rod, explains: “We listened to feedback from our customers; whilst they were happy with the level of service provided, they felt that improvements could be made to enable them to better serve demanding supply chains and compete and win in an increasingly competitive market.”
British Steel is now offering a combination of a flexible rolling programme and the warehouse facility to provide greater service flexibility and delivery continuity to their customers. The demands on suppliers in the higher value added sectors are becoming ever greater. The combination of the flexible rolling programme and the opportunity for customers to call off material from the warehouse facility in Germany means that British Steel can now offer even greater responsiveness than before – providing a next day delivery service rather than the three days it takes material to reach Germany from the UK. The warehouse and distribution service are being provided by a third party experienced in handling wire rod; the order despatch flow has been fully tested and the processes are being reviewed and continuously improved as more customers start to have their material delivered to them via call off from the warehouse.
The SRM team has ensured the warehouse operations team understand the high standards of service their customers have come to expect by providing the warehouse with individual customer handbooks that detail the specific requirements of individual customers. The team believes having information on specific customer needs at the fingertips of the operatives will help to ensure that the only difference the customer will see in the service they receive will be the speed at which the material arrives.
“The new warehouse facility is a development that has been well received in the market. Customers were eager for the facility to be up and running and are now seeing the benefits of our greater service flexibility. For those customers in the automotive supply chain especially, we are helping them to meet the demands of their customers through our next day delivery service,” said Christoph Bross, sales manager – Germany.
The opening of the warehouse demonstrates the continued focus and dedication of the British Steel team to understand customer requirements and its commitment to work in partnership with both new and long-standing customers to implement improvements in service.
