Context & The Volatility Challenge

Heavy manufacturing relies heavily on metals like steel. However, metal production is highly energy-intensive, and fluctuations in local energy tariffs or fuel constraints cause steel prices to swing by an average of 6% monthly. This price volatility complicates budgeting and contract planning for procurement departments.

Traditionally, purchasing managers relied on delayed surveys or updates from the suppliers themselves. Without direct capacity visibility, procurement teams were at a disadvantage during contract negotiations.

Project Ambitions

In partnership with the Zehnder Group, LaGrand customized its satellite monitoring engine to track specific suppliers, giving purchasing teams unbiased operational data.

• Track active operations at key steelworks.
• Detect shutdowns or curtailments before they are announced in the media.
• Enable managers to choose contract structures based on real utilization trends.

Thermal Monitoring & Signal Isolation

The platform captures weekly thermal infrared satellite data from manufacturing sites. By focusing on blast furnaces and active processing lines, our algorithm filters out seasonal ambient temperatures. To make these findings easy to use, we integrated:

This data is aggregated with market news and economic logs using Large Language Models, producing clean management summaries that keep C-level teams informed of key trends.

Results & Validation

The collaboration with Zehnder Group successfully proved the financial benefit of space-based procurement intelligence.

By shifting from a reactive strategy to an unbiased, weekly data stream, Zehnder Group procurement managers successfully avoided pricing peaks, optimized supplier selection, and strengthened their buying position.