Software Creates Overview of Scrap Metal and saves working hours

The Danish scrap metal company Bradals Produkthandel is currently undergoing considerable growth and needs a complete overview of more production areas. This is what new Scanvaegt Systems software has given them. It facilitates workstreams, provides flexibility and boosts profitability. Bradal contributed to the development of this digitalised solution.

Bradals is in the process of phasing in Scanvaegt’s software, ScanClassifier, which will totally modernise this scrap metal company’s workstreams. The company receives scrap metal from both business customers/hauliers and private customers/citizens. In terms of volume, the hauliers account for 95% of all the scrap dropped off at the company’s headquarters in Silkeborg. However, in terms of the number of deliveries, most come from private customers, and these are paid for on the spot.  

Working hours saved 

“Previously, registration was a manual process. After weighing, our operator would write a docket by hand, listing the weight of the different metals being dropped off. The operator would then go into the office with the handwritten docket and hand it over to an accounts clerk, who then entered the information into the system and paid the private customer in cash,” says Anders Holmer, CFO of Bradals Produkthandel.

This convoluted, manual handling process is now a thing of the past, and has been replaced by the new software system.

“Now, during the weighing process, the operator registers information about weight and types of metal on a handheld PC/tablet. This data is then automatically transferred to the accounts clerk, who then pays the money into the customer’s bank account,” he explains.

According to Anders Holmer, the new handling process has led to major savings. “We have probably eliminated the work of one person in this area, so can put those resources to use elsewhere. We have also reduced the risk of typing errors, missing dockets and misunderstandings,” he adds.

Updated inventory overview boosts sales 

When it comes to deliveries from commercial customers, the procedure is quite different. It’s goodbye to handwritten dockets and endless calculations. The new software features automatic number plate recognition. The system automatically recognises and identifies the lorries, which are weighed both at drop-off and after they have been emptied. The system automatically creates a case with x number of tons of scrap dropped off, the vast majority of which is black iron.

Once the lorry has tipped the scrap, a numbered flag is placed on it (this follows the order). As further documentation, the amount of scrap is photographed from different angles, and the times of the lorry’s arrival and departure are recorded. The quantity is sorted at a later point.

“The new ScanClassifier software has made our handling process far more streamlined and efficient. For example, our stock is constantly updated, so we know exactly what different materials we have for resale. Everything’s resold,” explains Anders Holmer.

Increased growth and profitability 

Scanvaegt System’s ScanClassifier software ensures that hauliers can now hand in their scrap – sorted, clean fractions – outside opening hours in both Horsens and Fredericia. Half of all the scrap that Bradal handles is dropped off directly at these two sites. 

“It is the activities at Horsens and Fredericia that have given us triple-digit growth. The new software enables us to realise growth without hiring more staff,” says Anders Holmer.

The idea for the new software arose when staff from Bradal and Scanvaegt System started discussing how to develop and improve the likes of handling, workstreams and stock overview.     

“We’re not quite there yet, but there’s no doubt that we’ve already become much more competitive and profitable,” Anders Holmer points out.

In addition to the scrap metal resold from the site in Silkeborg, in recent years Bradals has expanded its activities with sites at the Port of Horsens and the Port of Fredericia. In Fredericia, there is room for 60,000 tons of iron, which is typically shipped to smelting plants in Turkey, while copper, aluminium and stainless steel are transported by lorry to smelting plants in Germany. From Horsens, fractions such as stainless-steel shavings are shipped to customers in Norway.