A strategic shift that goes beyond pure IT services: Swedish steelmaker SSAB has expanded its collaboration with Canadian IT service provider CGI in Finland and Sweden. For planners, steel processors, and customers in the construction industry, this development is more than a technical footnote, as it marks a profound transformation of production and supply chain processes in the steel industry – with direct consequences for availability, quality assurance, and sustainability documentation of structural steel and reinforcing steel.
SSAB as a pioneer of fossil-free steel production
In recent years, SSAB has positioned itself as a pioneer of decarbonized steel production. The company is developing a hydrogen-based steelmaking process under the HYBRIT (Hydrogen Breakthrough Ironmaking Technology) brand that is intended to reduce CO₂ emissions by up to 95 percent compared to conventional blast furnace processes. This technological reorientation requires fundamentally different control of production processes, energy supply, and material flows – and thus an IT infrastructure that goes far beyond classic ERP systems.
According to company information, the expanded partnership with CGI encompasses not only the provision of cloud infrastructure and enterprise applications but also the integration of data analytics tools and process automation. Specifically, this means: SSAB is expanding its digital infrastructure so that production data can be captured, analyzed, and used for control decisions in real time. This is particularly critical for hydrogen-based direct reduction, as significantly more complex process parameters need to be monitored here than in the conventional blast furnace process.
Impact on the concrete and reinforced concrete industry
For customers of reinforcing steel and construction profiles – such as precast manufacturers, construction companies, and concrete plants – several relevant developments emerge from this digitalization initiative. First: Complete digital documentation of production data enables more precise traceability of material properties. Yield strength, tensile strength, and ductility can be documented batch-by-batch and linked to digital product passports, which simplifies quality assurance in reinforced concrete construction and makes compliance with Eurocode 2 requirements more transparent.
Second: CO₂ accounting becomes more granular. With a fully digitalized production chain, SSAB can provide a product-specific Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) for each steel batch that shows not just average values but actual emission values from the respective production. This is relevant for planners and building owners who must provide precise documentation of the CO₂ balance of materials used in buildings as part of building certification (DGNB, LEED, BREEAM) or EU taxonomy compliance.
Third: Supply chain transparency increases. Cloud-based logistics platforms allow customers to view delivery dates, availability, and transport routes in real time – a significant advantage in volatile markets where steel shortages or price fluctuations can affect project planning. This particularly affects major projects in building construction and infrastructure, where timely delivery of reinforcing steel is critical to construction progress.
Context: SSAB and the circular economy with Heidelberg Materials
The IT initiative should not be viewed in isolation but rather as part of a broader strategy that SSAB pursues together with partners from the building materials industry. For example, SSAB has already started a cooperation with Heidelberg Materials to use steel slag as a secondary raw material for cement production. These circular economy approaches also require close digital control, as slag quality criteria (such as free lime or magnesium oxide content) must be precisely documented and adapted to cement standards (DIN EN 197-1).
Furthermore, SSAB and Heidelberg Materials are jointly developing low-CO₂ cement binders based on the use of steel plant residual materials. Here too, a digital platform for coordinating material flows, quality data, and logistics is essential to synchronize processes between steel production and cement plant. The expanded IT partnership with CGI provides the technological foundation for this.
Comparison: Digitalization in timber construction and insulation materials industry
SSAB's digitalization initiative is not an isolated case but part of a cross-industry trend. Manufacturers of cross-laminated timber (CLT) and glue-laminated timber (GLT) are also increasingly relying on cloud-based production planning and digital material tracking. The difference: While in timber construction digitalization primarily serves automated CNC manufacturing and cutting optimization, in the steel industry it is more about real-time control of highly complex thermal and chemical processes.
Another comparison field is the insulation materials industry. Manufacturers such as ISOVER (Saint-Gobain) and ROCKWOOL have also invested in digital production control in recent years to reduce energy consumption and stabilize product quality. However, these are typically incremental optimizations within established processes (melting and fiber formation processes in mineral wool), while SSAB is making a radical technological leap with hydrogen-based direct reduction, requiring a completely new IT architecture.
Market context: IT service providers as enablers of industrial transformation
The role of IT service providers like CGI in heavy industry is becoming increasingly strategic. While in the past IT projects were often limited to administration and accounting, today production control, energy management, and supply chain optimization are central fields of application. CGI itself specializes in cloud-based enterprise solutions and has already realized several major projects in process industry in the Nordic countries.
For the building materials industry as a whole, this means: Digital transformation is no longer an option but a necessity to remain competitive in volatile markets. Those who cannot control production processes in real time, cannot dynamically optimize energy consumption, and cannot make supply chains transparent will lose market share – particularly in segments where sustainability and proof requirements are becoming increasingly important.
Significance for planners and processors
For architects, structural engineers, and building material dealers, SSAB's IT transformation has several practical consequences. First: The availability of digital product data becomes standard. In the future, planners should expect that every delivered steel profile or reinforcing mat comes with digital documentation that shows not only mechanical properties according to DIN EN 10080, but also CO₂ balance, recycling rate, and raw material origin.
Second: Integration of steel data into Building Information Modeling (BIM) is simplified. When manufacturers like SSAB provide their product data in standardized formats (such as IFC or ÖNORM A 6241-2), they can be imported directly into BIM models, which accelerates planning and tendering processes. This is particularly relevant for complex reinforced concrete structures, where reinforcement routing, anchorage lengths, and lap splices must be planned precisely.
Third: Sustainability assessment of building projects becomes more precise. With granular CO₂ data at batch level, planners can quantify the environmental impact of reinforced concrete much more accurately than before, when often only average values from EPD databases were used. This is relevant for meeting ESG requirements (Environmental, Social, Governance) of institutional investors and for compliance with future regulatory requirements under the EU Green Deal.
Outlook: Digitalization as a competitive factor
The expanded IT partnership between SSAB and CGI is a signal that digitalization in the building materials industry is moving from technical optimization to strategic necessity. Companies that invest early in cloud infrastructure, data analytics, and process automation create competitive advantages in the form of higher product quality, lower production costs, and better sustainability performance.
For customers – from concrete precast manufacturers to steel builders to general contractors – this means: Requirements for own digital competence are increasing. Those who cannot process digital product data, cannot use BIM models, and cannot interpret CO₂ balances will increasingly be excluded from information-based value chains. At the same time, new opportunities are opening up for optimizing material selection, construction methods, and project management – opportunities that only those who embrace digital transformation can take advantage of.
The development at SSAB exemplifies how closely technological innovation, sustainability goals, and digital infrastructure are intertwined. Hydrogen-based steel production would not be controllable without highly advanced IT systems; circular economy with cement manufacturers would not be feasible; granular CO₂ accounting would not be documentable. Digitalization is thus not an add-on but an integral part of industrial transformation – an insight that is increasingly taking hold in other segments of the building materials industry as well.
