Product range and customer proximity, competitive advantages
The new Duferco TP beam rolling mill in San Zeno Naviglio (Brescia) is destined to radically revolutionise the Duferco Group’s industrial capacity and potential. Starting from the know-how developed over many years in the company’s core business, today’s objective is to do better and not just more and to become the best cost producer of beams in Europe. Vertical integration with the steel mill, a barycentric location in the heart of the domestic and European market and the most modern technology available are the pillars of the project.
First of all, the product range will be expanded and this will take place in one single plant – in San Zeno Naviglio (Brescia) – which will become a logistics hub to better serve customers. Managing customer demands from Brescia means being central not only with respect to Italian demand, but above all European demand (Germany and the Eastern EU).
Selling has always been perfectly integrated with the other areas of the mill project. The great flexibility of the new plant was considered from the design phase as an asset not only for Duferco TP, but also and above all for their customers. The aim is to supply the customer – the focus of Duferco’s business strategy – with the widest product range in the shortest possible time. And this becomes a reality with the new rolling mill: breadth of range, speed of production, logistical efficiency in shipping are essential competitive advantages.
All this is also made possible by new commercial digital tools, which, starting from data collection and the creation of database, support processes and decision with artificial intelligence. Increasingly rapid response to customer demand, and logistical efficiency that goes hand in hand with the possibility of guaranteeing maximum quality. Digitisation allows you to know the whole development of the beam and to track it also thanks to the creation of a ‘digital twin’ that becomes the virtual avatar of the beam supplied to and used by the customer.
Sustainability is another crucial aspect, a fundamental corporate principle that has guided the investment since its inception. The new rolling mill will be fuelled entirely by energy from renewable sources through a PPA (long-term purchase agreement) finalized with a wind power producer, a decisive step towards decarbonisation and energy transition. The new plant’s reheating furnace is equipped with new generation burners that can run on alternative fuels such as hydrogen or biomethane. This will make it possible to provide customers with green beams, in line with the culture of sustainability that permeates all Duferco buildings: from design to construction.
