The Steel Industry Needs Real-Time Cost Visibility to Thrive
Steel companies everywhere are facing a slow growing business environment as a result of continued volatility and dynamics in the world economies, driven in part by the end of China’s rapid economic growth cycle as well as changes in commodity prices and increasing regulations. In today’s increasingly competitive markets it is also critical that steel companies have a firm grasp on their real cost-to-serve customers. Often companies lack a systematic management process around their annual budgetary calculation of production costs; therefore, the insights gained from variance analyses using standard costs are not consistent across business units and only allow limited insights into past business performance. A structured approach to product costing can help steel businesses better navigate the challenges facing them.