Earlier this year, following feedback from our German customer base, we made a step change in the service we provide with the launch of a new warehouse facility in Duisburg, Germany.
We supply many leading wire drawers and convertors in mainland Europe and in recent years, Germany has become an increasingly important European market for sales of wire rod. The German warehouse facility will help address two issues that British Steel's customers in Germany face - the first being lack of storage at their own facilities, and the second, the responsive lead times they require to be able to supply into service-critical sectors such as the automotive sector.
At British Steel we can now offer a combination of a flexible rolling programme and the warehouse facility to provide flexibility and delivery continuity to our customers. By reducing stocking requirements and costs for our customers and providing shorter lead times for material called off we are able to increase responsiveness throughout the supply chain. Customers will continue to speak to their local contacts to arrange deliveries which will be available to call off for next day delivery.
Clare Hanna, Business Development Manager - Wire Rod explains: "We listened to feedback from our customers; whilst they were happy with the level of service provided they felt that improvements could be made to enable them to better serve demanding supply chains and compete and win in an increasingly competitive market."
The opening of the warehouse demonstrates the continued focus of our team to understand customer requirements and our commitment to work in partnership with both new and long-standing customers to implement improvements in service.
The warehouse took delivery of material and opened at the end of March 2016 and was launched at Wire 2016 in Dusseldorf in April. For further information on our products and services please contact the team on +44 (0)1724 402582 or email wirerod@britishsteel.co.uk.