Finnish steel firm to use Wipro IT services

Finnish steel major Outokumpu has selected Indian IT bellwether Wipro as IT services partner for its operations across 10 countries.

"The multi-year contract envisages applications maintenance and development of legacy applications across 10 countries to ensure cost efficiencies and optimal utilisation of IT infrastructure spanning human resources, finance, procurement, supply chain, production, marketing and communications," Wipro said in a statement here.

The countries are Britain, China, Germany, Finland, Italy, Mexico, Poland, Spain, Sweden and the US.

As a global leader in stainless steel, the Espoo-based Outokumpu makes advanced materials for the construction sector. With 12,000 employees, it operates in about 40 countries the world over.

"As we continue to drive performance improvements, synergies and cost reductions across its businesses and group functions, we are committed to invest in IT transformation and optimisation," Outokumpu chief information officer Patrik Ekstrom said in the statement.

As part of the partnership, select employees of the steel company will be transferred to Wipro though they will be based at their current locations with specific roles and tasks.

"We will leverage Outokumpu's expertise in manufacturing and capabilities in new technologies to make it more agile and streamline its information sharing across their value chain," Wipro chief executive for manufacturing and hi-tech N.S. Bala said.

Wipro combines its manufacturing domain experience with technology solutions that embrace data, analytics, mobile, cloud, social networks and high performance computing.

The global software major offers strategic solutions, including business process optimisation and engineering, cutting across diverse areas such as supply chain management, product lifecycle management and manufacturing enterprise solutions.