3 Ways Off-the-Shelf Extrusions Lose Your Business Money
Off-the-shelf, generic aluminum extrusions may seem like a quick and inexpensive solution, but ultimately cost your company more money in the end. Regardless of whether you are involved in product design, construction, or manufacturing, off-the-shelf profiles never seem to suit the needs of your project exactly. Working with custom aluminum extrusions suppliers will allow you to avoid the hidden costs of poor fit, wasted material, and slowed production. To maximize efficiency and profitability, it's time to consider a more personalized approach. Offshore Direct Metals offers quality, cost-effective custom solutions that are well worth exploring.
Read on to learn more about the three ways off-the-shelf extrusions can cost your business money.
1. Poor Fit and Performance
When you use off-the-shelf extrusions, you're limited to their standard sizes and shapes. This typically means design compromise or extra time and dollars invested in retrofitting. Not only can this form weak structural integrity, but it can also affect the functionality of your final product. Unlike generic parts, custom aluminum extrusions suppliers provide profiles that are manufactured to your exact specifications, minus the modification costs that aren't necessary.
This inefficiency carries over to components that come together with Aluminum sheets. Poor alignment between extrusions and sheet materials creates weak joints and additional labor for remediation. All of these small inefficiencies can accumulate, compromising product quality and customer satisfaction.
2. Wasted Material and Increased Scrap Rates
A second major unseen cost of standard extrusions is material waste. When the profile isn't optimized for your application precisely, you're left cutting off surplus or discarding unusable sections. That means higher scrap rates, more expensive disposal, and higher material costs.
Custom aluminum extrusions companies enable your design team to specify and order precisely what's needed, minimizing waste. This is especially worthwhile when working with Aluminum sheets, where every cut and joint counts. Minimizing scrap not only saves money but also contributes to greener manufacturing processes.
3. Slower Production and Delays
Fabrication with stock extrusions typically requires more processes, such as cutting, welding, drilling, and machining, to ready the part for manufacture. These additional processes require more time and more man-hours, which naturally translate into higher operating costs.
Also, inconsistent integration with other parts, like Aluminum sheets, will lead to alignment issues, which entail costly rework. Coordination with custom aluminum extrusions suppliers eliminates these extra processes by handling profiles that are ready for use right from the box.
Delays in production timelines result in late delivery dates and damaged customer relationships. Offshore Direct Metals specializes in streamlined supply chains and custom solutions that keep you on schedule and within budget.
A Better Alternative for Long-Term Savings
While off-the-shelf extrusions may offer short-term convenience, their long-term cost impact can be crippling. Inefficiencies in design, material waste, and production delays all take their toll on reducing your bottom line. Enhanced performance, reduced waste, and faster turnaround times are assured through precision-engineered components from quality custom aluminum extrusions suppliers.
For dependable sourcing and quality custom aluminum extrusion solutions, Offshore Direct Metals is your best partner. Contact us today and discover how much you can save.