Schnitzer Steel

The Challenge

Founded in 1946, with $2.3 billion in 2010 revenue and over 3,000 employees, Schnitzer Steel Industries is a global leader in metals recycling. As a result of its rapid and expansive growth, Schnitzer needed to consolidate multiple financial and operating systems across over 90 locations and business units in the U.S., Canada, and Asia into integrated systems and applications.

Our Approach

To reduce the costs and level of effort associated with various enterprise-level activities, Slalom developed an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system and implementation strategy to address financial reporting, supplier relationships, and maintenance. In conjunction with restructuring Schnitzer’s information technology, Slalom defined business processes to support the strategy and worked in partnership with stakeholders to implement the redesigned processes and manage risk over the project lifecycle.

The Results

The impact of the improved system has been felt across both productivity and financial domains. Examples include:

• The ERP system increased Schnitzer’s compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley through increased visibility into business, financial, and compliance performance
• Purchasing costs have been reduced by $5 million annually
• Preventative maintenance scheduling and repair tracking for thousands of assets has also allowed Schnitzer to reduce unscheduled downtime and lower overall repair costs