How Swiss Steel is stepping up its partnerships with scrap metal dealers

Swiss Steel, one of the largest producers of electrical steel in Europe, has stepped up its operations by partnering with scrap metal dealers to produce green steel.

A pie of scrap metal (PHOTO: Swiss Steel Group)

Scrap is the primary raw material for Swiss Steel Group, which processes more than 2.2 million tonnes of scrap every year.

According to the company, producing steel from pre-sorted scrap requires less energy and generates less CO2 than producing steel from iron ore and alloy metals.

Swiss Steel said: 鈥淐ooperation with scrap dealers is crucial. Previously, they only negotiated the price per ton, but now scrap dealers are system service providers who are compensated for quality and punctuality.鈥

It said: 鈥淭he quality of the scrap directly affects the quality and environmental impact of the resulting steel. This is a crucial requirement for producing 鈥榞reen steel鈥.

As such, the company is now utilising a five-stage process maturity model to improve scrap quality.

鈥淭o produce high-quality steel, it is necessary to use new scrap material from metal processing with precisely known alloying additions. This enables precise control of the composition of the new steel, resulting in the production of high-grade steel for new quality products,鈥 Swiss Steel said.

The company added that while scrap is no longer considered waste, but a valuable and costly raw material, 鈥渢ransporting scrap across Europe is both environmentally damaging and inefficient鈥.

It said: 鈥淪teelworks with a strong local presence, like those of the Swiss Steel Group, play a crucial role in establishing regional circular economies by minimizing transportation distances.

鈥淚n Germany, France, and Switzerland, the Swiss Steel Group鈥檚 steelworks source most of their scrap from within a 90 to 100-kilometer radius.鈥

According to the company, in recent years 鈥渟crap dealers have become more than just middlemen; they are now important, fully integrated system partners in the steel industry鈥, and are making a huge contribution in the field of data.

鈥淔or instance, the Swiss Steel Group plant in Switzerland is collaborating with scrap suppliers and multiple universities on a project to create a digital twin of incoming scrap.

鈥淭his project is highly rated in terms of its significance and is being funded by the Swiss government. This project utilizes big data to enable steelworks to predict the type of scrap that will be delivered, resulting in more efficient and effective delivery, production, and steel quality.鈥

The company claims the digital twin of its scrap is 鈥済roundbreaking and has potential applications beyond the steel industry鈥, as the system can be used for other materials.

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