The US market for cold rolled steel strip presents specific challenges for Waelzholz. To optimally respond to these needs, Waelzholz has operated a service center in the country, located in Cleveland, Ohio, for over 20 years. In this interview, André Sereno, President of Waelzholz North America, explains how the company creates added value for local customers.
USA: Customers value local presence
Mr. Sereno, how important is the Cleveland site to the Waelzholz Group?
“Our service center in Cleveland is our gateway to our North American customers. It is extremely important to them that we have a presence in the country. This is due to the market structure, business culture, and supply reliability. With these three aspects in mind, we are ideally positioned here with a team of experts for our cold rolled and heat-treated steel materials, a large warehouse, and our own production facilities. We have several slitting lines and an oscillator that enables us to supply oscillated-wound coils. We also manufacture high-quality ski and snowboard edges, making us the leading supplier in this segment on the North American market. It is our goal to continue expanding our local presence for our customers.”
Waelzholz is known worldwide for its technological expertise. Does Waelzholz North America also stand out in the US market for cold rolled steel materials as a result?
“The US cold rolling market is dominated by large steel companies, some of which also operate their own cold rolling mills. There are also smaller cold rolling companies that focus on very specific product segments. We have a unique position here. This is because we combine our company size and specialization in cold rolling with a high level of technological know-how, in-depth materials expertise, and many years of experience in a wide range of customer industries. The team in Cleveland provides US customers with access to the Waelzholz Group’s entire wealth of expertise – in terms of materials engineering and our comprehensive, highly specialized production capabilities. And yes, this also sets us apart from our competitors in the US market.”
And how does this benefit US customers?
“The advantage of our technological expertise pays off for our customers, especially when our materials experts are involved in new projects at an early stage of development. We are familiar with the challenges of the downstream value creation stages through to the final product and can advise our customers not only on the choice of material, but also with regard to the processing concept, such as the design of tools. This is how we can offer our customers the highest degree of flexibility for their product development and process efficiency that can lead to a real competitive edge.”
What about US customers’ mindset – what’s important to them?
“Compared to other markets, response time plays a major role in North America. Companies usually respond very quickly and proactively to changing market conditions and expect the same of their suppliers. People here are also more willing to take risks. Furthermore, there is a highly developed competitive culture. These aspects mean that speed counts. Our customers expect quick responses – from the initial inquiry to each individual delivery. That’s the American mindset, which our entire team here fully lives and breathes. We combine this with a high degree of reliability. And our customers appreciate it.”
How important is supply reliability to US customers?
“For our customers in the US, just like everywhere else in the world, a reliable supply is extremely important. This is especially true in times of increasing trade restrictions. We are laser-focused on meeting every single agreed upon delivery deadline. Our production facilities and associated warehouse in Cleveland, along with two other material warehouses in the southern and western United States, are particularly helpful in this regard. They make us highly flexible, enabling us to fulfill orders quickly and efficiently. We can also easily handle smaller batch sizes. This flexibility offers our customers enormous benefits. This is especially true since Waelzholz North America offers this supply reliability and flexibility across all material grades, from traditional steel strip to HSLA grades and stainless precision steel strip.
Trade restrictions have had little impact on our delivery reliability in the past. In this regard, we benefit from Europe’s and Germany’s transatlantic partnership with the United States. Thanks to our technological expertise, we are usually able to enforce exception rules and, in addition, we can always respond with flexibility thanks to our global network of locations.”
What does customer focus mean to you personally?
“In Cleveland, we have our finger firmly on the pulse of our US customers. A local presence is more than just buildings, production lines, and a reliable supply. A local presence means thinking and operating like our local customers. We speak their language and work in their time zone. This means that we can be reached during normal local business hours and can respond to inquiries promptly. This is how we understand personalized customer service.”
