We all know that the material price is important. And we all have budgets to meet. But there are a big difference between sourcing the lowest material price across the board and sourcing the lowest material price for your specific application. Sourcing at the lowest cost can drive costs up in other areas when you have a project bound by quality requirements.

#1 Material Price and Quality

It's been the consensus that material price and material quality are closely connected.

Lower prices typically indicate lower quality, and higher prices indicate higher quality.

Here are some of the ways that price and quality are intertwined when it comes to sourcing materials.

#2 Ensuring Standards Requires Resources

It requires employee time and resources to test and verify.

ISO standards differ but are intended to ensure your material is within tolerance and has been tested a number of times.

When encountering material that doesn't meet standards, we hold it and find something better for the customer, and get different material if that's what it takes.

When your application requires specific dimensions and tight tolerances, receiving the right material the first time is worth the extra investment.

#3 Edge Conditioning Reduces Imperfections

We make it a priority to deliver materials in or as close to their usable state. There are some quality issues that can be minimized with value-added processes.

Camber and burr issues can affect a customer's ability to meet their project specifications, and this is something we can often take care of at our facility.

Similarly, we have some customers who receive materials from other suppliers that need to be slit down or reworked before they can use it.

They'll bring these materials to us for processing.

#4 Getting What You Pay For

For applications where the material will be stamped and painted, appearance issues like stains, and surface finish inconsistencies will be covered up in the final product.

In these situations, sourcing the lowest material price will likely serve your purposes.

Generally, the construction projects are constructed with high speed and tolerance critical. In these situations, we need the best and most pristine material. In these situations, sourcing materials at the lowest price will ultimately cost you more from a whole project perspective.