|
by Stephanie Neil, MA Editorial Staff   | Abstract: | Saddled with soaring raw materials costs and inflexible production machines, metals manufacturers are being forced to seek out operational performance management technology to drive efficiency throughout the plant.
|
| Keywords: | soaring raw materials costs, soaring metals costs
|
In the metals industry, there's one word no one wants to hear: scrap.
Scrap, says Terrell Thompson, vice president of facility planning at Arkansas Steel, "is very expensive."
Indeed it is. According to the International Monetary Fund, prices for metals — copper, nickel, aluminum, zinc, etc. — rose by an average of 57% in 2006. That's a result of strong demand and unplanned disruptions to supply, an IMF report says. In the face of such steep increases, metal-based manufacturers — whether they are rolling out steel or stamping sheet metal to convert it to final product — can't afford to make mistakes.
[Click to continue] |