How To Maximize Your Yield
Buying steel isn't easy. Suppliers quote flat-rolled steel in a number of ways, making it difficult for you, the buyer, to accurately compare prices and make the best possible decision for your business. That can result in less yield and, ultimately, lower profits. I often find that lowest quoted price is not the best value. I run into situations like this on a regular basis:
A material quote is sent to me reading:
10,000 #’s 26 gauge 60” x coil g90 coating cwt price_________
I quote the requirement at $62.95. My competitor quotes a price of $61.50
On the surface, it looks like the competition has me beat by $145.00 (2%). But while we're both quoting 26 gauge material, my material has a thickness of .0187 inch and the competitor's material is a thickness of .0197 inches.
Gauge vs. Decimal
A "gauge" represents a range of thicknesses that fall within it, as set by ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials). The parameters of the gauge are set by the "Max" and "Min," or the maximum and minimum thicknesses accepted. "Nom" is approximately in the middle.
Many steel buyers purchase by the gauge, accepting any thickness that falls within it. Others buy on Nom because it's roughly in the middle and, well, the difference between the Min and Max can be tenths or hundredths of an inch. While that difference seems too slight to be significant, it becomes critically important when you factor in how much length these two coils will yield
Unraveling yield
Knowing the steel's thickness, I can calculate the linear footage of the competitor's coil with the following formula:
Coil weight divided by width in feet, divided by the steel density constant (which is 40.8), divided by thickness.
10,000 pounds / 5 feet wide / 40.8 /.0197 inches = 2,488 feet
My material has a thickness of .0187, right at the minimum of 26 gauge. The footage of my coil would be:
10,000 pounds / 5 feet wide / 40.8 / .0187 inches = 2,621 feet
2,621 feet compared to 2,488 feet
Bottom line
My coil has 133 more linear feet. 133 more feet of production. That 133 feet equates to a 5% greater yield from my material and overall, my product is a 3% better buy. Majestic Steel buys all its product at the min of every gauge we sell. It just makes sense that when you buy a 10,000 pound coil, you should get as much out of that coil as possible.
You can use our free mobile app to easily calculate a coil’s yield without doing all the math and compare cwt prices. In the newest update, released just last week, we’ve added the percentage difference between the Min and Nom as well as the Min and Max (for our 26 gauge example, it’s 13.82% and 24.29%).
So, how many more products would you make with 5% more?