Accelerating Sustainable Steel Solutions through Data-Driven Excellence at Norex
“We didn’t want to spend six months modeling, we didn’t want to spend a week modeling, we wanted to see it perform from day one. With Qlik Sense© and Stretch Qonnect – We did!”
Casper Wallin, Business Controller, Norex International.
Norex customer story – A company on a growth journey
Norex Group has been in operation for nearly 40 years. They began as a family-owned company with a vision to utilize non-prime steel, meaning steel that does not meet quality standards and often goes to waste. They aimed to optimize its use, reduce energy waste in remelting, and contribute to sustainability by reducing landfill waste. Their core mission revolves around creating sustainable steel solutions. In the past years, they have expanded significantly, with a revenue of around 95 million USD and being present in the market globally.
A rapid goal-oriented process
In the ever-evolving landscape of business, the need for agility and quick decision-making has never been more critical. Norex faced several challenges lacking a BI system, had limited data insights, and relied on operational data from other systems that were not entirely reliable. Their rapid growth, doubling in size and employee base between 2020 and 2022, necessitated a solution to catch up in this rapidly changing world, that demands quick action.
Before we started the project, there were six key goals Norex wished to accomplish:
- Correct Data Delivery: Needed accurate information, delivered at the right time, to the right person. Failure in any of these criteria was not an option.
- Efficiency and Automation: Aimed for efficient, hands-on, and automated data processes.
- Data-Driven Decision Making: The goal was to draw conclusions, gain new insights, and improve our strategies.
- Cost Optimization: Needed to reduce non-value-added activities and manual data processes.
- Improved Collaboration: Aimed to foster cooperation between departments and teams.
- A Valuable Partnership: Sought a vocal partner with a focus on our success.
Norex wanted a lower cost of business and a more efficient way of working. Casper elaborates, “We extracted data manually, we sent it manually, we analyzed it manually. We did a lot of things manually. We wanted to reduce the hours spent on non-valuable activities, as much as possible”.
Dashboard on demand
In short, Stretch Qonnect effectively integrated data into a Qlik-dashboard tailored to Norex’s needs, despite the limitation of mainly internal data. This marked the achievement of transforming raw data into a practical platform.
We implemented Qlik Sense, and Casper played a pivotal role in driving this transformation. We emphasized quick iteration and gathered feedback from end-users, continuously improving the platform. Our approach allowed us to solve issues and meet user demands promptly. Engaging with users helped in shaping the solution, as they have the knowledge on what’s important and what needs they have, as steel experts.
“We need to use a lot more external data and we need to make it accessible, so that the end user needs to be able to use it. And to do that we believe that we have to increase the number of professional users,” says Casper.
Looking Ahead
In summary, the implementation of Qlik Sense has delivered tangible results, including faster decision-making, data accuracy, efficiency gains, improved collaboration, increased data literacy, cost optimization, and readiness for future data-driven strategies.
Looking ahead, Norex aims to use more external data sources, including public data and data from partners. They aspire to make decisions based on future data and are considering forecasting and predictive analysis, possibly leveraging AutoML and Qlik Sense.
Norex’s customer case exemplifies their progression in utilizing data for enhanced decision-making and efficiency, supporting their commitment to sustainable steel solutions in an ever-changing business environment.
Contact
Feeling inspired by this customer case and feel interested in making actionable insights based on data as together with us? Data Analytics is applicable to every possible business area. Partnering with us, includes a scalable and tailored end-to-end solution, according to and in collaboration with you.
Mail: sebastian.kadestal@stretch.se
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/stretch-qonnect/
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