Responding to market changes; customers provide insight and opportunities.

Conversations with your customers are always useful, no matter the branch you are in. If we look at Steel Solutions and its role as a logistics service provider, during these conversations, topics sometimes arise that put you to think.

              Warehouse Steel Solutions

Exactly one of these conversations was the inspiration of this piece. Pretty recently, the EU has started an investigation to Stainless steel products from China and Taiwan. According to the accusing party, these products were sold on the European market at rock bottom prices. Investigation should make clear whether this is a case of antidumping or not?

If the investigation results in a ‘yes’ to this question, the price of steel will rice enormously due to EU import taxes. That could lead to a great deal of problems with a number of our customers. If the prices of steel go up, demand for these products will automatically drop. A decreasing demand will result in material remaining in stocks for a longer period of time and absence of arrival of new material. No delivery of goods and no supply of new material of course has an impact on a logistics company such as Steel Solutions, because the demand for logistics services will decrease as a result of this all.

But our customers can’t wait in despair. If the moment comes, that goods from the Chinese and Taiwanese market are too expensive, new suppliers of similar material have to be found elsewhere. Countries that are possibly interesting new suppliers are India, Korea and Vietnam. And our customers are already on the move. They cannot wait for these sanctions to come into force. When they do, alternative suppliers have to be available.

This is not only an opportunity for our customers, but also for us. Our customers are on the search for new suppliers of steel, sheets as well as coils, in other, perhaps unknown, countries (businesswise). That is where Steel Solutions comes in. Her existing network of steel producers, processors and transporters create endless possibilities to offer assistance to her clients in this new logistic situation. And if Steel Solutions herself doesn’t have this knowledge yet, this would be an excellent opportunity to explore the market and find out what options there are for it’s customers in these unknown business territories. That would be a win-win situation; Steel Solutions expands its network which will benefit present and future collaborations and the customers do not have to put energy into finding the best parties that will guarantee a good course of the logistic process. They will only need Steel Solutions for that. They will organize and coordinate the logistics process in such a way, that it will meet al the customers’ requirements and that the customer doesn’t have to worry about anything.

That is what we call responding to market developments. Logistic service providing is not just about monitoring a rise in transport prices or finding new warehouse opportunities. It is about the entire steel market and all the developments and changes that are a part of that. Even if those changes and developments, at first sight, don’t seem to have anything to do with the logistic branch. They could still have great impact on our customers and via them, on us. It is our job to make sure that the logistic service that we provide, matches the changing demands of our customers so that their business can continue without the extra worries.

 

Warehouse Steel Solutions

 

 

Dutch Version;

Reageren op veranderingen van de markt; klanten bieden inzicht en mogelijkheden.

Klantgesprekken zijn altijd nuttig ongeacht in welke branche je werkt. Maar als we kijken naar Steel Solutions en de rol als logistiek dienstverlener, komt er tijdens een klant gesprek wel eens een onderwerp ter sprake dat je aan het denken zet.

Precies zo’n klant gesprek is dan ook de aanleiding voor dit stuk. De EU heeft redelijk recent een onderzoek gestart naar Stainless steel  uit China en Taiwan. Volgens de aanklagende partij zouden deze materialen op de Europese markt tegen bodemprijzen verkocht worden. Onderzocht wordt nu of er sprake is van antidumping.

Als na het onderzoek het antwoord op die vraag ‘ja’ blijkt te zijn, zal de prijs voor deze staal producten aanzienlijk stijgen door import belastingen die door de EU daarop geheven gaan worden. Dat zou bij een deel van onze klanten grote problemen kunnen opleveren. Bij een stijging van de prijs, volgt automatische een daling van de afname. Dalende vraag naar goederen heeft als gevolg dat voorraden langer blijven liggen en dat de toevoer van nieuw materiaal uitblijft. Geen uitlevering van materiaal maar ook geen toevoer van nieuw materiaal heeft natuurlijk een impact op een bedrijf als Steel Solution aangezien de vraag naar logistieke diensten dan automatisch afneemt.

Maar onze klanten kunnen niet bij de pakken neer gaan zitten. Op het moment dat invoer van staal producten, zowel platen als coils, uit China en Taiwan te duur wordt, moet er elders gezocht worden naar nieuwe leveranciers van gelijkwaardig materiaal. Landen die mogelijk als nieuwe leverancier interessant zijn, zijn India, Korea en Vietnam. En onze klanten zitten niet stil. Ze kunnen niet afwachten of deze sancties wel of niet gaan komen. Als ze komen, moet er al een vervangende leverancier beschikbaar zijn.

Dit is een kans niet alleen voor onze klanten maar ook voor ons. Onze klanten gaan op zoek naar nieuwe leveranciers van staal materiaal in andere, misschien wel onbekende, landen (op handelsgebied). Dat is waar Steel Solutions kan helpen. Met haar netwerk van staal leveranciers, bewerkingsbedrijven en transporteurs zijn de mogelijkheden eindeloos om klanten te hulp te schieten in een nieuwe logistieke situatie. En mocht de kennis bij Steel Solutions niet in huis zijn, dan zijn dit uitgelezen kansen om de markt te verkennen en de mogelijkheden te onderzoeken voor de klant. Dat is een win-win situatie; Steel Solutions breidt haar netwerk uit, wat huidige en toekomstige samenwerkingen alleen maar ten goede komt en de klant hoeft geen tijd, energie en moeite te steken in het vinden van de juiste partijen om ervoor te zorgen dat alles goed verloopt. Ze hoeven slechts een partij onder de arm te nemen, Steel Solutions. Die gaat vervolgens het logistieke proces zo indelen en coördineren dat alles voldoet aan de klanteisen en dat de klant zich nergens zorgen over hoeft te maken.

Warehouse Steel Solutions 

Dat is nou inspelen op de markt ontwikkelingen. Het gaat bij logistieke dienstverlening niet alleen om stijging van de transportprijzen of het uitbreiden van warehousing mogelijkheden. Het gaat om de hele staal markt en alle ontwikkelingen die daarbij horen. Ook ontwikkelingen die op het eerste oog misschien weinig met de branche te maken lijken te hebben, kunnen grote gevolgen hebben voor onze klanten. Het is dan onze taak om ervoor te zorgen dat onze dienstverlening overeenkomt met veranderende wensen van de klant en te zorgen dat de zaken door kunnen gaan zonder extra kopzorgen. 

 

“Accelerate when you get the chance and extend your lead”

An article from the Dutch magazine "Hét Ondernemersbelang" earlier this year.

There is still no rust on ‘the man of steel’: Wibo Feijen

The world of steel is a tough one. Who doesn’t have a fighter’s mentality is not going to make it. When you work your way up from the bottom of the staircase as an employee of an expediter, and become the owner of three successful businesses in the steel industry, you can be classified as a tough one yourself. It’s about relinquishing and accelerating and a boy’s dream which came true for Wibo Feijen. The Man of Steel and more.

 

Wibo Feijen is Director and Major Shareholder (DMS) of Steel Solutions and owner of SLE Global Logistics BV and Maasterminal Maastricht BV. A logistical tripod. Steel Solutions is a real specialist in steel which helps its customers in the most efficient way to get steel products from the mills to end-users all around the world. SLE Global Logistics is an expediter, who engages in road transport in all of Europe. But it also is an absolute specialist in overseas logistics solutions for customers who import or export (not only steel) goods. Maasterminal Maastricht offers extensive warehouse capacity for storage and transhipment of all sort of goods besides steel. These warehouses are used as a distribution centre for customers.

 

Expansion

Wibo got to know the world of steel thanks to his father, who, until 1988, was DMS of Feijen Staalservice BV in the Beatrix harbour (in Maastricht). Together with his father and brother he later became owner of a steel company in Belgium, which was sold in 2002. Several years later, he started working for a small shipping agent in the Beatrix harbour, the start of an impressive acceleration. “The Beatrix harbour is the biggest steel cluster in all of Europe. Steel sometimes has a distant overseas origin. That is why both of the warehousing steel terminals were realised at the Ankerkade and offer excellent solutions for the transport of steel. With a lot of service possibilities for its customers.”

 

Taking the lead

And Wibo continued. A management buy-out allowed him to take the lead in 2012. “I noticed that it wasn’t just the transport of steel goods that needed good organisation from harbours to customers, but also everything around it. The steel mills and end-users require a chain direction, someone who has a clear overview of the playing field and can quickly and efficiently serve the market and respond to changes. Hence, added value. As a logistic coordinator for international steel processors, I started focussing on this chain direction. This is because my customers overseas require a partner who knows the market and demand. We now connect supply and demand, we make the steel market more transparent and we are growing as a ‘connector in steel’. All these activities have been accommodated in a separate company: Steel Solutions BV.”

 

Smart combinations

There are however also clients who solely have a logistical question. These are to be answered by SLE Global Logistics. Wibo Feijen emphasizes that this company is not just about steel, but about the logistics of completely different goods as well. “This creates a whole new clientele, with new products. This offers the possibility of smart logistics, such as the transport of heavy steel goods and different lighter goods in one container. Containers namely have a maximum payload. Looking at the fact that steel is, in many cases, indivisible, space arises for (sometimes voluminous) lighter products, that can be transported in the same container. In this way, SLE Global Logistics optimizes the container space available and could one container freight be the solution for multiple customers. Regardless if it is a big or a small customer, whether they import / export a lot of containers or only very few, they have a lot or very few cargo to transport, everybody receives the best possible service.

 

Extend the lead.

That is how he extended the lead. Step by step he succeeded to go from Steel Solutions, a steel distributor in Europe, to a multi logistical leading group of companies, which offer their logistic services to companies worldwide. Nowadays, those services are going beyond steel products only. “We are always looking for possibilities to bundle loadings, looking for combinations of different types of cargo. SLE Global Logistics is strong in overseas logistics, especially in the intercontinental import and export in which we want to grow. We are consciously looking for logistical orders outside of the steel sector.”

 

Leading group

Since the start of this years, a third rider became part of this group; Maasterminal Maastricht BV. This company exploits two conditioned warehouses situated at the Juliana canal in the Beatrix harbour, accounted for 20.000m2 in total. The large storage and handling capacity, own covered docks for dry loading and unloading of inland vessels at all times and its own railway connections, enable Maasterminal Maastricht BV to offer its services on a wide market. “To reserve this warehousing capacity exclusively for the steel industry would be a shame. Therefor both terminals are also available for companies in the region outside of the steel branch who are looking for smart multimodal solutions.” Especially companies with project cargo and break-bulk, like machines, paper, wood and ferrous metal, who are looking for temporary storage, are more than welcome.

 

Let’s accelerate.

These three frontrunners are the result of good entrepreneurship. Of stepping on the gas at the right moment, of quick thinking, acting and responding. While undertaking, you have to have a team of people who support you in order to succeed. They have to understand the strategy and they have to be able to think and act along. Now that the transformation has been made to three companies, it is expected of each of them to put food on their own table and to live up to their leading position. It’s about learning to see and take their own chances on the market. “Don’t wait in the bunch, waiting for others to act, but choose your own plan of attack. Accelerate when the time is right and try to finish first”, teaches Wibo Feijen. “It is a strategy which requires adaptation of the entire organisation.”

 

Change of DNA.

In order to lead the entire process in the right direction, management is required, rather than entrepreneurship. Now, entrepreneurs and managers as we all know them have different DNA. Wibo: “Entrepreneurs undertake, managers manage. You can see that as soon as a manger takes over a company, there is little innovation. As undertaker, you however have little time to occupy with management. So to manage your progress, you need to attract good managers or hire external expertise.

 

Step on the gas

He chose both. Internally, the right managers have been put on the right place and an external HR agency is hired to accompany the organisation as a team leader with the transformation to a winning combination. The change of culture and the right accompaniment should lead to three companies in which specialization is leading. Wibo: “I strongly believe in the power of specialism and the advantages of smaller companies within one big organisation, where they jointly benefit from scale advantages. The employees also have to learn to see the benefits of this new way of working and the chances that come with that. Because even as three separate companies, we remain one family which supports each other. But if the opportunity arises, step on the gas en break away from the bunch. That is the only way to be successful.”