Linking to demand and rolling mill's product wheel 

By working jointly with production, quality control, the commercial team, and planners, the most effective actions were identified to fully understand customers' actual. With the support of edxiting, a workshop – the Steel Game – was organised dedicated to identifying customer needs and linking them to demand. Once the market response models were developed with ABS, customers were directly involved in the project, helping to define – in the greatest detail – the actions and tools needed to meet their requirements. In terms of production, the impact was a more levelled flow, enabled by stronger demand alignment through the introduction of kanban systems with selected customers. Thanks to visibility from the product wheel, some customers were able to adopt a 'capacity reservation' model, allowing them to book specific slots for their orders. This approach enabled testing and optimisation of the system, with potential benefits that can be scaled in the future.

Pull-oriented review of finishing flow

The entire production process was reviewed to identify and eliminate bottlenecks, ensuring uninterrupted flow during the finishing stages and avoiding delays or excess queues. 

Extended problem solving: improved punctuality and reduced inventory 

A cross-functional team – including planning, production, quality, and sales – applied structured problem-solving techniques to identify the root causes of flow disruptions and define a set of actions that would directly impact on punctuality and inventory levels. Two key aspects were addressed: 
1. The planning logics and parameters in the steel mill, rolling mill, and finishing stages.
2. The integration of process steps to reduce inventory, shorten lead time, and improve productivity.

Review of process KPIs 

Building on ABS’ existing indicators, a shift was made from phase-based KPIs to end-to-end process KPIs, focusing on what truly adds value for the customer. In particular, Lean on Time Production (LOTP) – measuring punctuality against the planned productions completion date – was revised, and two additional KPIs were introduced:
1. Shipped on Time (SOT): measures compliance with the promised shipment of the finished product, once the manufacturing process has been completed.
2. Lean on Time Delivery (LOTD): Monitors the on-time arrival of material at the customer’s site. This activity was carried out in close collaboration with the ABS team, which included representatives from various departments – from the commercial director to business development, as well as logistics and planning.

Pull-based management of laboratory analyses and testing 

The testing phase was streamlined by making cut samples visible to the lab, introducing fixed times for laboratory technicians to collect samples, perform tests, and publish results within one day (down from four).   Laboratory workflows were redefined, and a pull-based milk run system was implemented for specimen collection – made poka-yoke to reduce errors – which also reduced lead times for metallographic testing in the laboratory. Another improvement was made to the product quality certification process: the information flow was revised to align certificate prioritisation with the readiness of materials waiting for shipment. 

Steel mill production scheduling with variable planning horizons 

In order to reduce inventory between the steel mill and the rolling mill, as well as in the yards downstream of the rolling mill, the planning horizon was shortened. Initially, a 5-week time horizon was used. In the first phase, items were classified based on volume and consumption frequency using the ABC-RRS technique (an analytical method applied during the scan and plan stage). The proposed approach was to adopt differentiated planning horizons based on item rotation: 3 weeks for high-rotation items [runners] (consumed in at least 80% of the weeks analysed), 4 weeks for medium-rotation items [repeaters], and 5 weeks for low-rotation items [strangers] (consumed in less than 15% of the weeks in the period analysed). This classification was then entered into the management system to enable production planning in line with the appropriate lead times for each category. 

Punctuality improved by 7% in LOTP, reaching the target set at the outset. 

Stock levels of semi-finished and finished products were reduced by 17 %. 

Several self-sustaining problem-solving initiatives were launched within the team level, which remains consistently engaged in independently improving processes. 

Involving frontline staff from the sales, logistics, production, and management control teams enabled the organization of weekly project meetings, allowing prompt action in the event of deviations from targets. 

The team has adopted a process-based mindset rather than focusing on the cost of individual phases. In some cases, this has meant opting for solutions that increase the cost of a single stage costs while reducing overall process costs.