The distance between the Värmland steel companies Uddeholms AB in Hagfors and Böhler-Uddeholm Precision Strip AB in Munkfors has decreased significantly. As of the end of March, the old mills are less than a millisecond apart. This has become a reality thanks to voestalpine connecting the two companies to the existing optical fiber that is in the embankment between Hagfors and Munkfors.
"Thanks to the fiber installation, we can now offer a connection speed of 1 Gbit/s between the two steel companies. We hope that this will lead to a series of new opportunities and benefits for both companies in the form of expanded collaboration, streamlined IT operations, faster internet, e-mail, etc.," says Johan Christenson, CEO of voestalpine group-IT AB.
The circle closed – Värmland data in a new batch
Many people say that most IT companies in Värmland have their roots in Värmlandsdata, which was formed in Forshaga by Uddeholm AB and Billerud AB in 1967 to streamline computer operations and the development of the companies' various computer systems. voestalpine group-IT was formed in 2007 as a result of the merger between voestalpine and Böhler-Uddeholm.
"Through this, you can actually say that Värmlandsdata has been resurrected, albeit in a new bottling within Uddeholm and voestalpine", says Johan Christenson, who himself previously worked at Programmer Värmland and Intentia Karlstad, both of which had their origins in Värmlandsdata.
voestalpine group-IT today manages all IT systems and all IT infrastructure for the companies within Uddeholm, Böhler and voestalpine. You can compare the company to the old Värmlandsdata, although today the company is run as a wholly owned company within the group. The company is responsible for development, operation and support of the Nordic customers' various IT systems so that they can optimize all their critical business processes within, among other things, sales, orders, purchases, production, stock, maintenance and finance.
Efficiency through outsourcing, service deliveries and service agreements
In recent years, the Nordic IT operations have been implemented and adapted according to the group's global IT model. This means, among other things, that voestalpine group-IT has taken over the responsibility for managing and investing in the IT infrastructure required to ensure the operation and service deliveries to various group customers. The model means that customers only need to decide which service level is desired for their respective systems and voestalpine group-IT provides a comprehensive service agreement (SLA) that includes everything from hardware, operation, backup and guaranteed availability.
In total, almost 1,600 people work in the various Nordic voestalpine companies, of which approx. 1,300 people work within Uddeholm in Hagfors and Böhler-Uddeholm in Munkfors. This means that the help desk in Hagfors also handles all operations and IT support for a further 300 people in the various Nordic group companies.
Every year, an internal benchmarking and customer survey of the IT services within the voestalpine group is carried out, and the Swedish IT company with the majority of operations in Hagfors was at the top last year in terms of customer satisfaction and cost efficiency.
"It has been a fantastically exciting journey in recent years and I am full of admiration for all the competence and commitment of our staff in Hagfors and Munkfors", concludes Johan Christenson.
Voestalpine is a leading European steel group which, with approximately 360 production and sales companies, is represented in more than 60 countries. The group consists of five divisions – Steel, Special Steel, Railway Systems, Profilform and Automotive. The group's total turnover for the financial year 2010/2011 amounted to 10.9 billion Euros and the number of employees as of December 2011 was roughly 46,000 employees worldwide. voestalpine is one of Austria's largest companies. The head office is in Linz and the company has been listed on the Vienna Stock Exchange since 1995. More information can be found on the group's website (www.voestalpine.com).
voestalpine group IT is the group's joint IT company with a total of approximately 500 employees in various countries. The company's goal is to help the various group companies worldwide to streamline their operations with the help of stable and innovative IT solutions.
…………………………………
Text: voestalpine group-IT AB