Materials Services at Blechexpo - new digital customer solutions

thyssenkrupp Aerospace is supplying the Korean aircraft landing gear manufacturer Hyundai WIA with 48 ship sets and is integrating the various supply chains involved in the process. The materials will be supplied to the original equipment manufacturer, Hyundai WIA, over a period of three years and will be used to aid Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) in building the Korea Utility Helicopter KUH-1 Surion. The KUH project was developed by KAI and Airbus Helicopters, a long-standing customer of thyssenkrupp Aerospace. The twin-engined transport helicopter will be used for both military and civil purposes.

Early involvement for best results

A landing gear consists of many different components and is built for heavy loads and extreme reliability. To meet the demands, a wide range of materials with highly specialised properties and very specific features from various sub-suppliers are required, but usually only in small quantities. This often leads to complex material supply chains and challenges in procurement, driving up costs and time required for overall coordination.

thyssenkrupp Aerospace has used its expertise in materials and global supply chains to develop a customized one-stop shop solution for the customer. A profound understanding of the customer’s challenges combined with early involvement in the process to develop a solution were important for success. As a result, thyssenkrupp Aerospace consolidated the various material shipments and put together a series of ship sets. These are then delivered when necessary and synchronised with the customer’s production flows.

This strategy allows thyssenkrupp Aerospace to eliminate supply chain complexity, enabling the customer to focus entirely on its core business. “The project shows that it is not enough to simply supply materials to our customers. They need a partner who can also solve logistical challenges,” says Patrick Marous, CEO of thyssenkrupp Aerospace. “We have developed the one-stop shop solution with and for the customer to save them time and money. Both the material shipments and supply chain management have been customised for our customer.”

As one of the world's leading service providers in the market for raw materials, processing services and the management of complex supply chains, thyssenkrupp Aerospace supplies the required materials just-in-time, cut and machined exactly to customer specifications. The aim is for customers to be able to concentrate fully on their core business. The company has a global network of 21 countries.

As part of its strategic further development "Materials as a Service" thyssenkrupp Materials Services is breaking new ground and investing in an innovative business model: For a joint venture the company has secured the expertise of the industry experienced company builder mantro. Together with the Munich-based company, the materials experts of the thyssenkrupp Group founded “mt industry recycling GmbH” on June 2, 2020 to recycle steel. The joint venture aims to achieve a more effective return of steel scrap to the production processes of the manufacturing industry and thus offer added value to customers.

"Few raw materials in the world can be recycled as effectively as steel. Already today, almost half of the steel production comes from recycled steel scrap. In Germany alone, this corresponds to over 20 million tons of scrap every year. We are convinced that coordinating and processing them offers enormous innovation potential," says Jan Crommelinck, Managing Director of mt industry recycling GmbH and Lead New Business Model at thyssenkrupp Materials Services.

In future, customers such as steel mills and foundries will be able to purchase pure steel scrap directly from mt industry recycling GmbH. The intermediate step via the scrap dealer is no longer necessary. Thanks to the streamlined process, customers will benefit from significantly lower costs and thus lower purchase prices. The purity of the material also enables them to melt down and reprocess the scrap without any loss of quality. In addition, efficient logistics processes promise to make a positive contribution to more sustainability in recycling processes. "Material recycling is the last missing component after steel production, processing and trading, which we can now offer our customers with the joint venture. We consistently see ourselves as part of the complete recycling management system," explains Jan Crommelinck.

Decades of experience meet innovation catalysts

With the new joint venture, thyssenkrupp Materials Services is systematically expanding its service portfolio in line with its "Materials as a Service" strategy. The aim is to intensify customer relations and drive forward integration into customers' entire supply chains. The joint venture of thyssenkrupp Materials Services and mantro combines the best of two worlds: Customers can draw on the decades of in-depth materials expertise of thyssenkrupp's materials specialists. As an expert in setting up innovative companies together with industrial partners, mantro ensures that the organizational structure is optimally set up and accelerates development. "In all our ventures, one thing above all is important to us - finding a setup that makes the success of the business model possible. Often the key to this is to generate independence and speed without losing the advantages of the existing networks of mantro and our partners", explains Manfred Tropper, Managing Director of mantro GmbH. The spin-off of the new business as a separate and independent GmbH should enable the development and growth of customer solutions particularly quickly and flexibly.

The hiking route through the Höllentalklamm gorge offers summiteers an extraordinary experience on the way to the Zugspitze, Germany’s highest mountain. In a unique landscape, numerous waterfalls are passed along huge rock and stone formations that open up views of gorges up to 150 metres deep. The materials experts from thyssenkrupp Schulte supplied almost seven tons of steel for this very special scenery as part of a sponsorship. The material was used in the construction of the new arched bridge, which crosses the one kilometer long gorge at an altitude of around 1,000 meters. The Garmisch-Partenkirchen section of the German Alpine Association (DAV Garmisch) was responsible for initiating the joint project. The implementation and completion was carried out in cooperation with the construction company ZÜBLIN, which completed the bridge recently. 

Sustainability is a core component of thyssenkrupp’s corporate strategy. The diversified industrial group aims to offer innovative products, technologies and services worldwide that contribute to the sustainable success of its customers as well as climate protection. The solar industry, for example, is one of many other sectors that has special requirements when it comes to the organization of the value chain. thyssenkrupp Materials Processing Europe has identified these requirements and provides tailored supply chain services to manufacturers of industrial solar power systems used for sustainable electricity generation.

In Duisburg thyssenkrupp is testing the “sequence impulse process with induced shockwaves”, a new blast furnace technology designed to enhance process efficiency.