In the competitive processed scrap market, scrap trading companies will find creative ways to gain an advantage. For Metal Exchange Corporation of St. Louis, Missouri, that meant putting their money where the machining is.

As described in the April, 1999 issue of Automatic Machining, for manufacturers with sufficient volumes who are willing to install the appropriate equipment, the upfront costs will be covered by Metal Exchange Corporation. The company also provides the engineering to help develop the best system for each application The cost is covered by withholding an agreed upon portion of the revenue for scrap returned to Metal Exchange Corporation...until the equipment is paid-off.

Companies such as Metal Exchange Corporation use this innovative approach for acquiring already processed scrap because it is more desirable. Processing removes the moisture, makes the scrap more manageable, and assures higher payloads, reducing costs throughout its handling. Purchasing ready-to-melt scrap also eliminates any possible discrepancies between what a company thought they shipped and what the mill thought they received. Perhaps most importantly, processed scrap melts more efficiently and yields a higher quality product. It is for these reasons that companies typically pay for processed scrap. Metal Exchange Corporation has partnered with Inter-Source to provide such systems.