17. Notion of production costs

By becoming global, the sheet and plate markets have evolved considerably over the last ten years. Pressure on prices has pushed converters to better control their costs. To remain competitive, all cost categories have to be taken into account, and in some cases controlled on an almost daily basis. Savings can be made in materials, wages and processes.

• Unlike other products such as tubes, which are sold by the metre, sheet and plate are sold by weight: we are not yet producing to minimum tolerances, which would lead us to oversize our equipment. Nevertheless, thicknesses have steadily decreased over the years, reaching in some cases 40% of initial thicknesses. This trend has been driven by the development of higher-performance materials and considerable improvements in extrusion and thermoforming processes.

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