SMU Steel Summit: Rühl Sees Digital Transformation in Steel's Future

Kloeckner, the company’s U.S. subsidiary, is in the process of implementing its “Kloeckner & Co. 2022” strategy aimed at disrupting the industry through an aggressive and innovative digitalization initiative. By 2019, the company hopes to handle 50 percent of all its transactions through a new digital platform.

“Today, the steel industry is more asset-driven. Our resources are assets. Our know-how is steel know-how. Five years from now, our assets will be more the platform. It will be more intellectual property. Our people will be different to a certain extent. We will have much, much more digital people,” Rühl said.

The digitization of steel distribution calls for a change in the basic business model making the organization more efficient and steel pricing more transparent to consumers. No longer will it be about making margins by speculating on steel. “In the future, all transactions will go through the platform. We will come to a point where we probably do business only online. We will make profits by being a real service business, not a margin-arbitrage business,” he predicts.

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