Innovation

This company specializes in recycling stainless steel from metal scraps that they buy for other businesses. In order to proceed, there is a process in which transportation is done from the businesses factories into INOXCRA, then inspected and sorted so that just stainless steel is separated from the other metals to be able to press it, customize it and finally send it to foundries.

This main innovation includes new machinery which is more efficient and is electric when installed with the solar panels. This satisfies two UN SDGs which are “Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure” and “Affordable and Clean Energy."

Regarding the new machinery, the business will buy more portable guns for spectrometric analysis. These guns are used to analyze the different metals that the company receives and then proceed to separate them. The gun approaches the metal to be analyzed and once the button is pressed, it sparks. Instantly, the type of material that the metal is will appear on the screen. With more of these guns, there would be a faster metal separation which is really important to have it organized, cut, and put into brackets, so it can be sold to to the foundries later.

Inspiration

“The inspiration for this innovation is mainly shown in this business culture and working force” - Ignacio explained to us what makes this business differentiate and compete. Their Mission is to contribute to global sustainability by recovering and recycling materials through innovation and through their continuous improvement culture. Their Vision is key to maintaining the high level of leadership in the metal recycling industry. They keep full confidence from their stakeholders, and maintain their principle of continuous improvement, both of which leads to long-term relationships with both customers and suppliers.

The real inspiration for the innovation that the company is introducing (more efficient machinery and solar panels) is being able to be a self-sustained business. The business aims to contribute to a circular economy model in which the metal scraps can be reused in a more efficient way, and all the energy consumed in the process is self-made. This model would meet their mission and vision, while also accomplishing SDGs that will differentiate them. This is a new idea applied for a positive impact which will also reduce operating costs for the company.

Improvement and sustainability are essential in a business dedicated to giving alternative lives to metal scraps that may seem like “waste”. This is part of the inspiration, which aims to reach a zero waste objective.

With all these measures and differentiations, INOXCRA creates an added value to the society and environment, fulfilling what inspired the leader from the beginning (4 generations ago). In order to express this inspiration to society, this business also sponsorships with pride initiatives such as Loinaz cycling society (www.scloinazte.net), Danena football club (Zizurkil), and Txanpaka Kirol Elkartea basketball team, among others.

Overall impact

There will be an evolution in the volume of sales and the turnover will increase. In 2021 they had an income of 10.5 million, in 2022 it is expected to end with an income of 14.3 million. Finally, it is estimated that with all the investment in machinery, the company will reach a turnover of 17 million in 2023. A lot of this improvement has come from the context that we are living in right now in which the war in Ukraine and high levels of inflation are making a lot of materials (such as metal) and energies increasing heavily in price. For that reason, investing and changing people’s habits to prefer recycled materials (which in this case is stainless steel) is leading to increased demand and higher prices than before.

This expected increase is considering the impact of the innovation that is being carried out. In the short term, it will have high costs due to the big investment made, which will amortize slowly during the following years. The more efficient machinery will be able to speed up the process of classifying materials, moving them inside the business, and pressing them into smaller pieces. This will translate into higher productivity and more capacity to recycle and sell more.

In the long term, INOXCRA will be self-sufficient. This means that all the energy used will be from solar energy, and the consumption will decrease by having more efficient machinery. This has already started but hasn’t gotten to the point where it is 100% independent (approaching the circular economy inspiration).

Business benefit

“When all these innovations and new ones are added, the opportunity to get new clients and expand to new markets will be seeming less” - Ignacio said. This is a great benefit so that the business can improve revenue and also share its differentiation strategies inside a competitive market that is turning to sustainability. Because the business is implementing the innovation of solar panels and more efficient machinery, these good things have happened.

Solar panels will generate clean and non-polluting energy, and at the same time, generate significant savings. With the data provided by the installation of solar panels in one of its foundries, and the study of such installation in the company itself, it is estimated that with them it will be possible to reach an annual saving of 3500 euros. The actual price is 360 €/Mwh and it is estimated that the Mwh price for 25 years will be 98.33€.

INOXCRA also provided the savings during the first week of the installment of the solar panels (which was at the beginning of September 2022). It can be seen that they are saving, in economic terms, around 500€ every day in comparison to last year's cost (costo precios 2022 vs 2021). In addition, energy consumption has also decreased lately.

Social and environmental benefit

Inoxcra is a scrap yard that is important for improving the quality of the environment, as it is a place to recycle metal waste and not just get rid of it.

Definitely, this investment in new machinery will enable the company to continue to fulfill its functions, such as reusing materials, improving the sustainability of production processes, and preserving environmental quality, in a much more efficient way. In addition, taking into account solar panels, the energy produced by them is clean energy that does not pollute and does not emit toxic substances into the air, which are very harmful to humans and the environment, so this is a very important benefit.

This energy, as we have said, is produced in the same place where it will be used, so it has a more sustainable use (approaching a circular economy). Furthermore, one of the most significant advantages of solar panels is that they contribute to eliminating the carbon footprint. Also, a small but big innovation that helped the environment was the construction of a wall to avoid polluting the river (explained in the description of the innovations).

Inoxcra includes in its web pages sections where they recognize that they have a responsibility to the planet and recognizes that they use renewable energy. In this way, new customers, when looking for information about the company, will find this section which will generate more confidence and if they establish a relationship (clients), it will be consolidated in the long term. They are well aware of the importance of the social work a recycling company should perform.

Interview

Ignacio Vicuña Royo, Trader