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The Client

Based in Rio de Janeiro with more than 9,000 employees, Companhia Sider?gica Nacional (CSN) is Brazil’s largest steel and tin producer. The company, which exports goods to Asia, Europe, and North America, recorded (in 2000) US$1.9 billion in sales of products, which include cans, steel slabs, galvanized steel, and steel used in the automotive, appliance manufacturing, and civil construction industries.

The Challenge

A market leader in an industry not driven by technology, CSN sought to follow the example of a few forward-thinking steel companies, as well as the Steel Mills Association, in pursuing Web-based business initiatives. CSN leadership had received numerous solicitations from solutions providers offering to help the company automate operations. But with very little experience in Web-based operations, CSN leadership didn’t feel qualified to respond to these inquiries. However, they did know that in order to improve their business processes and continue to compete in their market, they needed to embrace technology.

CSN looked to BearingPoint to develop an Internet-based strategy to help the company leverage new technologies and processes—such as online procurement, sales, and logistics—to maintain its leadership position and optimize its supply chain.

Faced with the challenge of Web-enabling a large industrial company, CSN leadership feared that its size would present difficulties in keeping up with its more nimble, technology-savvy competitors. CSN chose BearingPoint based on our reputation as a leader in transitioning traditional companies to Internet competitiveness. Our industry experience and strategic alliances also proved to be major differentiators.

The Solution

Initially, our team worked with CSN executives to build a strategic plan and define their vision, mission, goals, and alternatives for an Internet-based business. In a later stage, we helped CSN define solutions and develop projects to fulfill CSN’s business needs. With tools for restructuring and realigning the organization, we enabled CSN to successfully adapt to the changing competitive landscape. We helped CSN improve its supply chain and prioritize its Internet initiatives, such as:

• Forming a digital marketplace
• Restructuring and redesigning its Web site to be a single source for CSN`s partners, customers, suppliers, and employees
• Piloting functionalities to be implemented with high return on investment and easy implementation

We applied our readySet.Go! Enterprise methodology to develop a strategy for future success. To gain an understanding of customer and supplier expectations and strategies used by CSN’s peer group, we worked closely with CSN’s executives to define CSN’s overall online business vision, mission and strategic objectives, and directions. From these findings, we created a standard questionnaire—which centered on functional and technical issues—to help our team identify optimal Internet-business solutions.

The second phase of the project involved defining CSN’s key Internet opportunities with a focus on the supply chain. Having determined that focusing on CSN’s supply chain could lead to significant and immediate benefits, we employed our QuickScan supply chain diagnostic tool to assess supply chain operations and identify optimization strategies and technologies. Using this tool, our team was able to quickly assess CSN’s current supply chain situation, define the areas that needed immediate attention, and recommend a course of action.

The Benefits

The strategy work completed, CSN now has a firm understanding of (1) the value of Internet-based operations and its impact on the business and (2) the key processes and technologies needed to achieve the company’s online business goals. We provided a two-year road map and ROI study to guide CSN through the realignment of its infrastructure to support new strategic guidelines.

We also provided CSN with more than 42 short- and long-term initiatives, which were organized into individual projects for ease of implementation. The implementation plan took each of CSN’s staff, hardware, infrastructure, and applications plans into consideration CSN, initially, focused on two key areas: extranet-based sales and procurement. Empowered with our recommendations and the needed information, CSN was equipped to make an effective Internet-based business decision.