UK Metals Expo Q&A: SteelBuy CEO Terry Sargeant 

SteelBuy chief executive Terry Sargeant believes that the steel distribution sector must go through a “dramatic change” in order to embrace efficiency and reduce costs.

The former Thyssenkrupp Materials UK CEO is embracing a start-up culture in a bid to streamline steel sales with SteelBuy, an online marketplace that was launched in the United Kingdom last year. 

Sargeant will be one of the expert panellists taking part in MEPS International’s Stainless Steel Market: Exploring Trends and Price Dynamics debate at the UK Metals Expo next month. 

The discussion, hosted by MEPS’s head of price analysis and forecasts, Kaye Ayub, will take place at the event’s Supply Chain, Trade and Policy theatre from 11am on September 12. 

• MEPS’s presence at UK Metals Expo will be centred around its stand, B50. Click here to book a free consultation with a market analyst. 

Read on for our introduction to panellist Terry Sargeant: 

How did you start your career in the steel sector? 

I started my career in the steel industry with a steel, aluminium and stainless processor called Garfield Lewis and later moved to Pechiney World Trade. When Garfield Lewis was bought out and became Thyssen Garfield I was headhunted to come and turn the business around. We took the business from losing around GBP4 million a year to making GBP10m. Around 12 years ago I became CEO of Thyssenkrupp UK plc. 

How did you progress to the job you have today? 

The idea for SteelBuy came about at a time when we were carrying some excess stock at Thyssenkrupp Materials and we came up with a platform to sell it online. We spent GBP1 million with Boston Consulting Group to explore whether it had legs and the response was clear. I turned 60 three years ago, and the opportunity to establish SteelBuy was right in front of me. How many times in your career do you get the chance to start a new business from scratch and really feel like you’re innovating? I jumped at it. Our sole investor is Thyssenkrupp, but we are a start-up business, set up as a wholly independent entity. Nobody at Thyssenkrupp can access our data. That’s important because we are a marketplace where you can upload and sell goods anonymously. That allows sellers to trade without any reputational risk. At any one time, SteelBuy has around 15,000 to 20,000 tonnes of steel for sale. To date, we’ve invested GBP22m to establish ourselves in the UK and it’s a really exciting time for the business. Germany will represent our first expansion, next year, and then we plan to expand into Spain when the time is right. 

What is the most rewarding part of your job? 

Two things really interested me about the business: providing excellent customer service and developing people to the best of their ability. If you get the right team and get them working to their very best, the rest falls into place. As we’ve adopted a start-up culture, I’ve found myself dealing with employees that are part of ‘Gen Z’ and their motivations are very different. They want to feel like they’re making a difference in the world and that’s our goal with SteelBuy – making life easier for steel buyers. 

What is the biggest day-to-day challenge faced by your business? 

The biggest challenge for me has been recruiting the right people. Before, if I’d wanted to recruit an operations director I would have asked for a list of the best people in the steel sector and selected from there. Now I’m recruiting UX engineers and data scientists and that’s a whole new challenge. Apart from that, the truth is that I would have liked to have launched SteelBuy at a busier time for the steel sector, but the market is the market, and we’re selling thousands of tonnes of steel nonetheless. 

Do you foresee a standout ‘hot topic’ for the UK Metals Expo? 

Where does the industry think it’s going? The industry needs to go through some dramatic change. Our research shows that every coil of steel that passes through the UK distribution chain is touched approximately 12 times before it becomes a product. I think reducing those movements can hugely improve efficiency and reduce cost. 

What do you hope to take away from the event? 

How much will it embrace innovation? That’s what we want to discover at the UK Metals Expo.