Steel-hard in service and speed

Reliability, sustainability and flexibility. Those are the USPs of KS Service Center in Moerdijk. And exactly for that reason, the steel service center invested in its own plate line, which allows them to respond even faster, more cost-efficiently and more flexibly to market demands. 

"We noticed in recent years that we were selling more and more plates," says Gregory Rombaut, sales & marketing manager at KS Service Center Moerdijk, wholesaler of slit strip steel and plates, "But until recently this was done in large quantities, on large coils of 25 tons and therefore mainly by full load. After all, if you bring a mother coil of steel to your customer, it is much easier to unwind that whole coil. Still, we noticed that for many companies 25 tons was too large a quantity to purchase." And so the idea of an in-house plate line of our own came to the table. A cherry on top in honor of their 50th anniversary this year. "With that in-house record line, we can now offer smaller quantities to our customers. Mind you, we remain a wholesaler," winks the sales manager. "So there will continue to be minimum orders, but so they are lower in quantity and tonnage than what they were before." The plate line also came in order to provide current customers and partners with both strip steel and plate, delivered in one truck. Now that's sustainable. 

The specifications of the new record line: 

• decoiling between thicknesses of 0.4 mm to 6 mm
• minimum width: 520 mm, maximum width: 2000 mm
• minimum length: 1,000 mm, maximum length: 12,000 mm
• Available in Zinc magnesium, Sendzimir galvanized or hot rolled pickled steel
• packaging: according to customer requirements on pallets or beams or any other customized solution

Of course, speed and service also remain a given, even with the new line of plates. "After all, we pride ourselves on our fast delivery times," Gregory explains. "If we have the desired material in stock, we can deliver within 48 hours in most cases. The same goes for our strip steel." If the material is not in stock, delivery from new rolling at the steel mill can be made within 2 to 5 weeks, from the Short Lead Time Orders Principle. 

Durable steel

Should we still talk about sustainability, a topic in which KS Service Center likes to take the lead. "Every decision we make is done with sustainability in mind. For example, the majority of our suppliers' steel does not come by truck but by train, our facility runs entirely on green electricity that is partly self-generated, and our own fleet including forklifts is entirely electric. These are just a few examples of our sustainable initiatives. Last year we were also recognized for this with an ISO14001 certificate. This is an internationally accepted standard for efforts toward the environment and sustainability. Furthermore, we are also step 3 certified for the CO2 Performance Ladder," Gregory says proudly. This does not alter the fact that steel remains a hugely polluting product. "True, but without steel there is no economy. Steel is in just about everything," Rombaut explains. "That is why it is extra important that we make a lot of efforts to offer more sustainably produced steel. Not only through the above initiatives, but precisely by purchasing sustainable steel from our steel suppliers and bringing it to the attention of our customers. Steel cannot yet be produced 100% CO2 neutral but this steel is already saving up to a whopping 82% CO2 emissions." Sheets manufactured on the brand new plate line can also be ordered in sustainable steel.