Challenges

Founded in 1939, Stena Metall grew from a local scrap dealer in Gothenburg, Sweden, into a global leader in the circular economy.  

With operations in 9 countries, over 4,300 employees, and a wide range of offerings that span resource management, recycling, steel production, and more, managing procurement on such a large scale brought several challenges.  

The company relied on a static and cumbersome database for managing spend. This made it difficult to dive deep into their data and connect it with other key areas, like contracts, supplier assessments, and financial information.  

“We had limited insight into our data and couldn’t connect it with other critical areas. This made it hard to take a holistic approach to our categories and suppliers,” explains Niklas Frisk, Group Procurement at Stena Metall.  

Adding to the complexity, manual processes slowed down their procurement processes. The team worked with “unworkable” Excel sheets, and contract compliance tracking was unreliable. “Terminated or expired contracts weren’t updated, leading to compliance reports that were not reliable, and was a hindrance for supplier management,” adds Niklas.  

Mapping spend accurately to categories and suppliers was another challenge, making category management and strategy work more difficult. These limitations made it hard for them to identify cost-saving opportunities or manage risks effectively.  

“Finding savings required a lot of manual research, and it was tough to track trends,” Niklas notes.

Stena Metall needed a more efficient solution that would bring this data together and make it easier to manage and act on.

Solution

Ignite provided the solution, by bringing Stena Metall’s data together in one place. By connecting spend, contracts, supplier assessments, and more, the procurement team now has a comprehensive view of their data, ensuring accurate tracking of contract compliance and better visibility across key procurement areas.

In addition, by integrating data from Ignite partner Proceedo, Stena Metall has access to more granular spend data, enabling effective follow-up on key performance indicators (KPIs) such as PO-share.

“We no longer have to sift through static reports. Ignite dynamically displays updated spend data tailored to each situation,” says Niklas. “Whether we’re preparing for a supplier evaluation or managing a category, Ignite helps us find and display the data in a way that drives better results.”

Ignite’s visualization tools also made a huge impact. It allows the team to make sense of complex data without needing advanced skills in Excel or Power BI.  

This lowered the threshold for the entire team, making it easy for purchasers to find and understand supplier or category-specific insights. “With Ignite, you don’t need to be a data expert. The platform makes it simple for anyone to find the information you need,” says Niklas.

Category management became much more efficient as well. Weekly imports of data replaced monthly updates, allowing for more agile decision-making. With up-to-date, reliable data, Stena Metall could confidently map their spend and ensure that their data was accurate.  

“We have full control over how our spend is mapped, and we’re confident that what we’re seeing is correct,” Niklas explains.  

Beyond procurement, Ignite helps other teams like sustainability use procurement data to identify emission-heavy categories. This strengthens Stena Metall’s ability to align procurement with their broader sustainability goals.  

“Ignite allows us to present our spend data to multiple stakeholders in a format that’s easy to understand. We can quickly find cost-saving opportunities, risks, and other areas of improvement,” adds Niklas.  

Results

Since implementing Ignite, Stena Metall’s procurement team has become more confident and focused on their work.  

With easy access to data, they can now prioritize key activities, like managing risks, identifying cost-saving opportunities, and ensuring compliance.  

“We have a better understanding of what activities to focus on, thanks to being able to find and access the data ourselves,” shares Niklas.

One of the most significant improvements has been contract compliance tracking. Previously, there was little control over connecting spend to contract periods, leading to unreliable reports.

Now, with Ignite’s automatic syncing, Stena Metall can trust that their compliance data is always up to date.  

“We now know our compliance figures are reliable, and with the automatic sync, we’re always on top of it,” says Niklas.

Ignite has also helped the procurement team share their work’s impact across the company. “We can easily show stakeholders outside of procurement the savings and risks of using or not using contracted suppliers,” Niklas explains.  

This transparency has enabled more informed, cross-functional decision-making, particularly in supplier management. With a complete overview of suppliers used across various departments, Stena Metall has been able to drive down costs and create agreements that cover multiple divisions.

In addition, the support from Ignite’s team has been a key part of their journey. “During the setup and implementation, Ignite has been with us every step of the way. Their dedicated Customer Success Manager and online chat support have made the process smooth and efficient,” says Niklas.

With these improvements, Stena Metall’s procurement team is not only more comfortable in their daily work but also better equipped to make strategic decisions.