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Steel Sustainability NavigatorUsing data to drive sustainability
Sustainability is an integral part of thyssenkrupp’s corporate strategy. This includes the green transformation of both our own processes and those of our customers. In our steel business, data helps us identify and leverage the key drivers for transforming processes to make them more sustainable.
Technology in the service of the green transformation
The work is worth the effort. “In the current first stage of expansion, we are setting up functions for internal energy accounting,” explains Frank Vidic. “The SSN maps the material and energy flows of a total of 21 utilities and makes them transparent in real time.” This detailed overview provides precise insights into energy consumption and the associated costs.
After all, energy data is business data and offers enormous added value for the company. “Especially when combined with production, product and financial data, energy data can provide additional insights,” adds Mohamed El Haouati. Linking these data sets can help improve the energy efficiency of production processes and identify potential savings.
Vidic also highlights further benefits of the Steel Sustainability Navigator: “Awareness of energy data can be increased by making the achievements of the green transformation visible and measurable. This, in turn, strengthens motivation to engage with sustainability.”
Both experts particularly value the wide range of opportunities offered by their field of work. “What makes it so fascinating is the potential created by digitalizing tasks and processes. Transparency increases enormously, providing a stronger basis for decision-making,” says Vidic. El Haouati also emphasizes the relevance of his work: “From a corporate perspective, energy and sustainability are increasingly moving into focus and becoming more important. This makes it all the more exciting and interesting to implement digitalization projects in these areas,” he explains. “I am also proud to be able to support our green transformation through digital solutions.”
Sustainable reporting for the future
In the next stages of development, additional material flows will be integrated into the Steel Sustainability Navigator. Data on social and governance indicators will also be added to provide a more comprehensive picture of the company’s sustainability performance. This may include metrics relating to workplace inclusion, employee health, participation in community initiatives, the composition of the Executive Board, compliance with laws, ethical standards and corporate compliance.
In the future, the SSN will provide dashboards, reports and other user interfaces covering all of these areas to make sustainability performance easier to monitor. Planned monitoring functions will allow users to visualize data in real time and track performance indicators. These developments are intended to turn the Steel Sustainability Navigator into a comprehensive sustainability management platform that enables thyssenkrupp Steel to effectively track, manage and communicate its processes. The goal is clear: the green transformation of steel production.
Innovation in action: Where data flows and is processed
Achieving defined sustainability targets requires innovative approaches - above all, data-driven solutions. Data is essential for making informed decisions that support a more sustainable future. The challenge is that data must not only be collected, but also made available quickly and accurately to meet constantly growing and changing information requirements.
This is precisely where the thyssenkrupp Steel Sustainability Navigator (SSN) comes in: a central database for future sustainability and ESG information requirements. ESG stands for environmental, social and governance and refers to the criteria organizations consider in relation to the environment, social responsibility and corporate governance.
“Growing requirements from the market, legislation and our green transformation strategy demand transparency regarding the current status of our ESG parameters and key performance indicators (KPIs),” explains Mohamed El Haouati. “Constantly growing and rapidly changing information needs require fast response times when providing specific information,” adds Frank Vidic, who worked alongside El Haouati in the Digital Solutions department at the time of the interview and has since retired.
To meet these requirements, all relevant data is collected in one place. From this single source of truth, information can be generated automatically and provided in the required target formats. The experts are supported in developing the concept by the thyssenkrupp Digital Projects team.
The SSN concept was developed through collaboration between all organizational units at thyssenkrupp Steel that already perform relevant tasks and fulfill reporting obligations. The fact that the topic extends far beyond a single department highlights the urgency of such a solution. The goal? To make the green transformation of steel visible.
Once the data has been entered, the SSN processes the information using tera nova, thyssenkrupp Steel’s proprietary reporting platform. This is where the data is processed and managed using a toolkit developed specifically for this purpose.
In the final step, the data is prepared in the Steel Sustainability Navigator in line with the relevant requirements and presented in user-friendly formats. “Flexible standard components such as MicroStrategy and Microsoft Power Platform are used to prepare the data and provide user interfaces,” explains Mohamed El Haouati.