Evan Schwartz is the Chief Enterprise Architect at AMCS Group.
Digitalization in the scrap business isn’t about jumping into all the latest tools. It’s about transforming how we work, supporting sustainability and setting the business up for steady growth.
From my experience helping companies digitize in the scrap industry, I’ve learned that even the smallest improvements can lead to meaningful change. Here’s how we approached digitalization and how to start practical digitalization for a scrap business.
Why Logistics Is Essential To The Circular Economy
One thing I’ve learned in this business is that waste doesn’t like to travel far. Every extra mile a truck goes increases fuel costs, raises emissions and reduces the scrap’s value. At first, it may not be obvious how much these transportation details impacted both costs and environmental goals.
Route optimization is a game changer. Digitizing routes allows trucks to take the shortest, most efficient paths, which not only saves fuel but also reduces carbon footprint—a crucial factor in today’s push for sustainability. For example, with extended producer responsibility (EPR) becoming more common, we’re finding new ways to produce materials that are easier to recycle that we can keep closer to their source and reduce emissions. Keeping logistics tight helps us fulfill our role in the circular economy, using materials locally instead of shipping them across the country.
Keep It Small, Get Quick Wins
A lot of scrap businesses think digitalization means overhauling everything at once. In reality, the best results often come from tackling one issue at a time, which makes the process smoother and easier for your team to accept. Change usually comes with a whole host of questions: will I be able to learn this? What will my job look like? When these questions aren’t answered, digital transformation often meets resistance. That’s why we focused on small, high-impact areas first to get buy-in from the team and build muscles from success.
Here are a few of the initial wins we focused on:
• Reducing repetitive Excel exports.
• Optimizing vehicle & fixed asset maintenance schedules.
• Optimizing vehicle routes, both static and dynamic.
• Detection and enforcement of overfill and contaminated containers.
• Cutting out double data entry.
Each of these changes seems small, but together, they’ve streamlined the workflow. For instance, by digitally managing vehicle maintenance we’ve cut down on downtime and saved on oil changes. While these steps might not seem revolutionary on their own, they build a foundation for bigger changes down the road. With modular digital solutions, we scaled up gradually by adding features as we needed them.
Here are my tips on getting started finding these quick wins:
1. Look for the low-hanging fruit. Missing data, or data you have but are not tracking, allows you to build a metric for success. So, build small systems that track and collect data first. It helps to reward your team for collecting that data by tying incentives to a metric. Then, assess what the metric tells you to determine where changes would best be applied. This adds a little more work upfront but doesn’t change the process until you are completely sure the data tells you to change the process.
2. Now that you have data-supported decisions and you’ve aligned everyone to this change, look for the best way to execute on the change. Include stakeholders and decision-makers. Areas to focus on here include automating data collection and metric tracking. Pick the process with the least change that offers the most bang for your buck, and get a WIN on the scoreboard!
3. Now that you’ve shown your organization you can collect data, analyze data, and make meaningful improvements to the business, it’s time to rinse and repeat. Look for something a little more challenging and review your “lessons learned” from the first two steps. Success begets success when it comes to digital transformation.
Change isn’t necessarily hard. But dealing with uncertainty is. In my experience, uncertainty often comes from the lack of data to make a proper decision. Once your organization has success under its belt, prepare yourself for what comes next. Too much change, too quickly, will be a challenge. That’s why finding incremental success is the best way to approach digital transformation.
Digitalization Is Not Really Optional Anymore
With rising expectations around sustainability and resource management, sticking with old systems can put any business at risk of falling behind. At my company, we’ve moved away from manual operations and paper trails to AI-assisted processes, digital records and predictive tools. Using data analytics, we can make smarter and faster decisions that allow us to adapt quickly to changing needs.
For anyone in the scrap industry aiming to stay competitive, digital tools are essential. The increasing importance of environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards means that companies need tools that simplify ESG data collection and reporting. It’s critical to look for the efficiencies often overlooked by ESG. If you overlook them, ESG is an added cost to your business and bottom line, something you’re less likely to continue doing. However, these efficiencies are where you find the performance. I like to call this Performance Sustainability, where you can be sustainable AND profitable. Finding profitability is ultimately what keeps sustainability going. Digitization means companies can operate with a forward-thinking approach.
Finding The Right Partner Is Critical To A Successful Digitalization Strategy
Picking the right technology partner is one of the most important steps in any digitalization effort. In the scrap industry, you’re not just buying software; you’re forming a partnership with a vendor who understands your unique challenges and goals. That’s why I always say, buy the vendor, not the product.
A good partner is more than a supplier—they’re an advisor who’s genuinely invested in your success. They’ll work alongside you, adapting to your specific needs and helping you get the most out of the tools they provide. Having partners who understand the industry inside and out has made all the difference, helping to meet today’s logistical demands and tomorrow’s growth opportunities.
Digitalization in the scrap industry doesn’t have to be daunting. By focusing on logistics, starting small and partnering with the right people, you can turn today’s challenges into tomorrow’s successes. Embracing digital tools isn’t just about staying current—it’s about thriving in an industry that’s constantly evolving.
Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives. Do I qualify?
