STEEL BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE - Intelligence in the Steel Sector
- CAMACERO
- May 21, 2024
- 5 min read
Paulo Galvão Júnior (*)
Katherine Buso (**)
Luiz Alberto Machado (***)
Discover how Business Intelligence (BI) is transforming the way companies in this industry make informed strategic decisions.
This article highlights an emerging trend at the international level in the steel sector: the increasing adoption of business intelligence. In such a dynamic and diverse context, understanding trends, opportunities, and challenges becomes crucial for companies in this industry. In the era of Industry 4.0, the ability to identify growth opportunities becomes crucial.
Business intelligence allows companies to analyze the business environment and discover new market segments, explore new geographies, and better understand changing customer needs. From demand analysis to the detection of technological innovations, business intelligence provides deep insights into the steel market.
It enables companies to anticipate changes in product demand, understand competitors' strategies, and assess potential risks, such as fluctuations in raw material prices or regulatory changes. In a highly competitive and globalized market, business intelligence becomes an indispensable ally. It helps steel sector companies in Latin America make informed strategic decisions, identify new growth opportunities, and confidently overcome challenges.
What should we collect, analyze, and visualize effectively for a deep understanding of market trends and competitive strategies?
In the complex international landscape, business intelligence becomes an invaluable tool for steel sector companies in Latin America. It allows for effective data collection, analysis, and visualization, providing a deep understanding of market trends and competitive strategies. Moreover, it facilitates informed decision-making by offering actionable insights in real-time.
With business intelligence, companies can identify growth opportunities, optimize their operations, and proactively mitigate risks, enabling them to remain competitive in an ever-changing business environment.
From demand and consumption to anticipating future trends, including production and capacity, import and export, pricing and margins, innovation and technology, regulation and policy, sustainability, competitor analysis, and long-term perspectives, each of these pillars forms an interconnected system that demands meticulous and proactive analysis to navigate successfully in a challenging environment.
PRODUCTION AND CAPACITY
To understand the current and future production capacity of Latin American countries in the steel sector, it is essential to employ Business Intelligence (BI) tools that allow for a detailed analysis of a series of key performance indicators (KPIs).
Among the most relevant KPIs are the operational efficiency of steel plants, the rate of utilization of installed capacity, production planning based on forecasted demand, analysis of the effectiveness of preventive maintenance operations, identification of bottlenecks in the supply chain, monitoring of machinery and equipment performance, management of inventory of intermediate products, and optimization of workflow on the production line.
These KPIs provide a comprehensive view of production capacity and enable strategic decisions to optimize efficiency and profitability in the steel industry.
DEMAND AND CONSUMPTION
For effective demand and consumption management in the steel industry in Latin America, it is crucial to leverage the capabilities of Business Intelligence (BI), using a series of key performance indicators (KPIs).
Among these essential KPIs are the steel penetration index in various industrial sectors, the geolocation of international markets, the annual growth rate of steel consumption, trend analysis in steel product demand, market segmentation based on customer preferences, correlation between steel demand and the economic cycle, monitoring of order fulfillment, and prediction of future demand based on historical data and macroeconomic variables.
This detailed analysis not only provides a deep understanding of market opportunities but also insights for informed and strategic decision-making in the steel sector.
IMPORT AND EXPORT
To better understand the trends in import and export of steel products in Latin America and capitalize on market opportunities, it is crucial to utilize Business Intelligence (BI) and analyze a series of key performance indicators (KPIs).
Some essential KPIs include analyzing market share in global export and import markets, tracking applied trade agreements and tariffs, evaluating the impact of regulatory changes on international trade, identifying potential markets for expansion, analyzing competitiveness in prices and quality of steel products, tracking the global supply chain, and assessing logistic performance in terms of time and costs.
These indicators provide a comprehensive view of the steel market dynamics and help companies make informed strategic decisions to enhance their competitive positioning.
PRICES AND MARGINS
Effective management of steel prices is crucial to ensure profitability in the sector. By utilizing Business Intelligence (BI), companies can conduct a detailed analysis of prices and margins in the steel industry, focusing on a series of key performance indicators (KPIs).
Among these KPIs are monitoring the volatility of steel prices in global markets, evaluating profit margins by product and market, analyzing price competition, identifying opportunities to optimize selling prices, detecting trends in price-demand elasticity, managing dynamic pricing strategies, and assessing the profitability of different product lines.
These indicators provide valuable information for making strategic decisions about prices and enhancing competitive positioning in the steel market.
COMPETITOR ANALYSIS
In the realm of competitive analysis in the steel industry, Business Intelligence provides essential tools for evaluating the company's position, identifying competitors' strengths and weaknesses, and developing differentiation strategies.
Some relevant KPIs encompass market share analysis, tracking of new product launches, customer perception of competitors, pricing and promotion strategies, presence on social media, technological innovations, geographical distribution, and mergers and acquisitions movements.
Furthermore, monitoring the strategies and performance of competing companies, especially Chinese steel mills, is crucial for Latin American companies, considering their influence and presence in this highly competitive market.
SUSTAINABILITY
Some key KPIs are found in the realm of sustainability in the steel industry, where the adoption of sustainable practices becomes increasingly relevant.
Companies that prioritize sustainability can not only differentiate themselves in the market but also attract consumers, producers, and investors concerned about environmental issues. Business Intelligence (BI) provides tools to monitor environmental and social performance, identify improvement opportunities, and promote sustainable practices.
Some of these KPIs include analyzing natural resource consumption per ton of steel produced, tracking greenhouse gas emissions, analyzing the environmental impact of production processes, monitoring recycling and material reuse initiatives, analyzing consumer perception of sustainable products, tracking compliance with international sustainability standards, and analyzing the social impact on local communities.
(*) Brazilian economist, graduated from UFPB (1998), specialist in HR Management from UNINTER (2009), Economics professor at UNIESP, effective advisor of CORECON-PB, effective member of the Celso Furtado Forum for the Development of Paraíba, author of 12 Economics e-books by Editora UNIESP, author and co-author of hundreds of Economics articles.
WhatsApp: 55 (83) 98122-7221.
(**) Specialist in Economics and International Affairs, Graduated with academic merit from the Faculty of Economics of Armando Álvares Penteado University (FAAP-SP) in 2014. Postgraduate in Statistics from the Pontifical Catholic University (PUC-Chile). Editorial Consultant at Ciência Capital. International Columnist at Rádio Alta Potência. International Columnist at Rádio Agro Hoje. CEO of Business Intelligence at BlueBI Solution in São Paulo. Instagram: @bluebisolution.
WhatsApp: +56 98484-9704.
(***) Brazilian economist, graduated from Mackenzie University (1977), Master in Creativity and Innovation from Fernando Pessoa University (Portugal, 2012). Managing partner of the company SAM - Souza Aranha Machado Consultoria e Produções Artísticas and advisor to the Democratic Space Foundation. Author and co-author of hundreds of articles in the areas of Economics and Creativity and of the books Journey through Economics (2019) and Economics + Creativity = Creative Economy (2022), both published by Scriptum Editorial.
WhatsApp: +55 (11) 99905-6445.
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