Swiss Steel : At Swiss Steel Group, scrap steel becomes green steel

Every year, Swiss Steel Group processes over 2.2 million tons of scrap in its plants. This not only makes it one of the largest recycling companies in Europe, it is also the largest steel company in Europe that produces exclusively using the electric arc furnace route.

In order to be able to produce high qualities, you need new scrap - pure scrap material - from metal processing, the alloying additions of which are precisely known. This allows the composition of the new steel melted from it to be controlled to the exact gram. This creates the conditions for the production of new quality products made from high-grade steel.

Scrap has long ceased to be waste

Steel is probably the best and most frequently recycled material in the world. Scrap has therefore long since ceased to be waste and is now a sought-after and expensive raw material. Transporting scrap all over Europe is environmentally damaging and inefficient. This is why steelworks with a strong local presence, such as those of Swiss Steel Group, play a decisive role in establishing regional circular economies due to the short transportation routes. In Germany, France and Switzerland, most of the scrap for Swiss Steel Group's steelworks comes from within a manageable radius of 90 to 100 kilometers.

Cooperation with the scrap dealers is crucial. In the past, they only haggled over the price per ton. But today, scrap dealers are system service providers who are paid for quality and punctuality. There is now a five-stage process maturity model, which should lead to ever better scrap quality.

Scrap dealers as "big data" service providers

However, scrap dealers are no longer just middlemen, but important, fully integrated system partners of the steel industry. For example, Swiss Steel Group plant is working with scrap suppliers and several universities on a system that will create a digital twin of incoming scrap. The project is rated very highly in terms of its importance and is being funded by the Swiss government. It is a "big data" project that enables the steelworks to recognize in advance what type of scrap will be delivered. This will make the delivery, production and, above all, the quality of the steel more efficient and effective.

The digital twin of Swiss Steel Group's scrap created will be groundbreaking - and not just for the steel industry. The system can be used for many other materials. This is the only way to boost the production of "Green Steel" and thus the circular economy in an intelligent way. The huge scrap hall in Emmenbrücke is by no means the end of civilization. On the contrary, it is the beginning of a new, better world.

Frank Koch, CEO of Swiss Steel Group, comments on the "Digital Twin" of Swiss Steel Group as follows: "This program is trend-setting for us: We are following our strategy of positioning ourselves as a leader in the field of sustainable steel production."

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