from the conferences organized by TANGER Ltd.
The macroeconomic situation in the steel market has a large impact on the functioning of enterprises producing steel and steel-based products. Currently, global steel production continues to increase in 2017, seeing a rise of about 5.3 % over 2016. The absolute leader in steel production is China (about 49 % of global production), alongside countries of the European Union, Japan, India and USA. Overproduction is the biggest problem in the steel industry, which may affect the price level. Recently protectionism is a new threat which has appeared on the steel market. Furthermore, the philosophy of functioning of modern enterprises has also changed after the recent economic crisis. There is a growing need for new methods and tools to support business management. Also, the new concept of Industry 4.0 has attracted more and more attention all around the world, the main goal of which is to increase the competitive advantage of the enterprise. The assumptions of this concept are related to the development of the Internet of Things, cloud technology and big data. It offers great opportunities, but is also a big and difficult challenge. The purpose of the article is to identify the most important challenges that have the greatest impact on the management of enterprise in the steel industry and future perspectives. Particular attention was paid to the methods which increase the enterprise efficiency and effectiveness. Also, the main benefits and threats resulting from the introduction of the Industry 4.0 concept are identified.
Keywords: Global steel production, Industry 4.0, macroeconomic situation on the steel market, efficiency and effectiveness© This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.