Salzgitter AG and SAP’s partnership is a ground-breaking initiative for environmentally responsible steel manufacturing, with meaningful insights gained from it expected to contribute to the development of the SAP product portfolio.
In a video released by the German tech giant titled Salzgitter’s Path to Decarbonization, Salzgitter AG Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Gunnar Groebler explained that Salzgitter has a long history in the steel industry and is currently one of the top European steel companies. He noted that the company’s existing method of steel production adds around 1%, or 8 million tons, to Germany’s carbon footprint.
“I’m truly passionate about sustainability and redefining the way we do our business from a line kind of approach towards a circular approach. And we have a clear path to decarbonize our way of producing steel.”
The collaboration between SAP and Salzgitter AG aims to speed up the German steel manufacturer’s sustainable digital transformation and provide the groundwork for more environmentally friendly steel production. The two businesses are working together to achieve this objective by transitioning to the latest cutting-edge SAP technologies and using sustainability solutions from the SAP product portfolio.
“In order to make that a success, you need strong partners. You need partners like SAP, alongside us, to support us in getting us there. It’s cool to say by now that yes, we’re gonna make it,” Groebler said.
With a goal of reaching carbon neutrality in its crude steel production by 2033, Salzgitter AG also seeks to aggressively explore opportunities to grow its leading position in the green steel industry. From the year 2025 forward, Salzgitter plans to begin producing the world’s first carbon-zero steel.
From SAP’s perspective, the business has spent the better part of the last several years bolstering and unifying its suite of cloud-based products, especially those related to sustainability. With SAP’s help, enterprises can see their processes through from start to finish, which is essential for keeping tabs on their sustainability goals.
Commenting on the partnership with Salzgitter AG, SAP Deutschland Managing Director Sven Mulder remarked:
“We are looking forward to continuing our excellent cooperation with Salzgitter AG, in order to address our shared goal of smoothing the course to climate-neutral operations and a sustainable future in Germany.”
Leveraging the SAP Product Portfolio
In order to complete its digital transformation, Salzgitter AG has decided to expand its partnership with the German enterprise software giant immediately. Salzgitter AG has been using SAP S/4HANA since 2017, when the company-wide migration first began. Therefore, it makes sense for the organization to leverage the SAP product portfolio in the areas of data analytics and sustainability.
In a statement, Arne Brinkmeier, Head of Applications for SAP at Salzgitter AG, further shared:
“Our SAP S/4HANA transformation program has major goals. We can build on this with SAP Product Footprint Management, SAP Environment Health and Safety Management and SAP Sustainability Control Tower, leveraging SAP S/4HANA and Business Logic to gain insight into our environmental data. This gives us the ability to drive more innovations on SAP S/4HANA.”
Meanwhile, Salzgitter AG Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Burkhard Becker believes SAP’s cloud solutions are crucial in Salzgitter AG’s efforts to create more sustainable steelmaking processes. The following technologies are leveraged the company to streamline and optimize its operations:
- SAP Product Footprint Management is used by Salzgitter AG to measure its overall carbon footprint. By incorporating frequent and scalable preset and adjustable footprint scores into end-to-end business processes, SAP Product Footprint Management allows organizations make smarter business choices across the entire product life cycle.
- Salzgitter AG’s safe and sustainable business operations may be better organized with the help of SAP Environment Health and Safety Management (SAP EHS Management). SAP EHS Management is a suite of applications developed to ensure the health and safety of employees, materials, and the company as a whole.
- The SAP Analytics Cloud solution provides the technological framework for accurate and efficient sustainability reporting of the German steel manufacturer. SAP Analytics Cloud, part of the SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP), is a cutting-edge business intelligence (BI) tool that uses artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and predictive analytics to quickly and accurately share actionable insights with the people who need them.
“I think that the partnership that we have here enables sustainable change towards a sustainable future. Ultimately it’s about the two companies having the shared goal of a sustainable world that we are gonna create together,” Groebler concluded.
