Please find attached the article in stahlmarkt following your interview with them during the Stahl Tag event in September.
stahlmarkt (steel trade press; paid circulation: 7,300. Read by decision makers in the German steel industry)
Headline and date: ‘No hiding from global competition – Tata Steel prepares for the future’ on 8 November 2016
Short summary: As Europe is still a highly open market and faces cheap imports, Jens Lauber from Tata Steel says international trade needs to be fair on a global scale. Tata Steel is developing new products such as Celsius 355 or Serica to face these challenges and remain competitive. Yet, according to Lauber it is not enough to just develop new products and offer them in a traditional way as new non-European players have entered the market, directly approaching customers or buying steel companies in Eastern Europe. Moreover, online sales and distribution will intensify with new players such as Alibaba entering the market.
As a result, new digital ways of bringing products into the markets are needed. In this regard, the customer is the most important part of the supply chain according to Lauber: New concepts and products need to be developed in strong cooperation with them. Furthermore, steel producers need to deeply network with their customers to be able to consider their steel demand within daily business. The aim is to generate value, offer new services and connect delivery logistics with the customer’s demand. In this regard, digitisation is a useful tool to fulfil new wishes and requirements of the customers. Humans are not replaced, but new possibilities of linking all steps of the supply chain are revealed. In the future, no company will be successful without deeply engaging with its customers as Europe is one of the most demanding markets when it comes to customer requirements. Thus, “we need to discuss with each other and find new ways together”, Lauber concludes.
stahlmarkt_no-hiding-from-global-competition
Kind regards,
Rob Simpson
Head of Media Relations, Europe
Tata Steel
