MetalSite
Although a number of small steel manufacturing plants (called minimills) have opened in the past 20 years, most of the world's steel is still produced in very large steel mills. In these steel mills, it is economical to produce steel only in large batches. Because of the high cost of reconfiguring machinery, a steel mill set up to create one type of steel (for example, rolled sheets) requires significant time and money to change over to produce another type of steel (for example, bar steel). To minimize these changeover costs, steel mills produce steel products in large batches to meet estimated demand rather than actual orders. Because production quantities are designed to meet estimated demand instead of actual demand, steel mills often have overproduction of some items. Companies such as Bethlehem Steel, with annual revenues of more than 84 billion and 14,000 employees, solved this problem in the past by sending faxes to potential buyers of their excess production. Buyers would respond with a bid on the product in which they were interested, and Bethlehem would negotiate with them to determine price and delivery terms. In 1998, MetalSite was one of the first metal trading exchanges to begin doing busi-ness on the Web. These exchanges offered manufacturers such as Bethlehem an efficient way to reach a larger market for their excess production. By mid-2000, there were more than 200 metal exchanges operating on the Web. These exchanges were following a reintermediation strategy; that is, they were entering the supply chain of the steel industry to provide some added value that had not existed in the supply chain before. However, most industry analysts agreed that there was no need for more than one or two exchanges in the steel industry. In 2001, metal trading exchange sites began to fail. Continued
MetalSite Although a number of small steel manufacturing plants (called minimills) have opened in the past 20 years, most of the world's steel is still produced in very large steel mills. In these steel mills, it is economical to produce steel only in large batches. Because of the high cost of reconfiguring machinery, a steel mill set up to create one type of steel (for example, rolled sheets) requires significant time and money to change over to produce another type of steel (for example, bar steel). To minimize these changeover costs, steel mills produce steel products in large batches to meet estimated demand rather than actual orders. Because production quantities are designed to meet estimated demand instead of actual demand, steel mills often have overproduction of some items. Companies such as Bethlehem Steel, with annual revenues of more than 84 billion and 14,000 employees, solved this problem in the past by sending faxes to potential buyers of their excess production. Buyers would respond with a bid on the product in which they were interested, and Bethlehem would negotiate with them to determine price and delivery terms. In 1998, MetalSite was one of the first metal trading exchanges to begin doing busi-ness on the Web. These exchanges offered manufacturers such as Bethlehem an efficient way to reach a larger market for their excess production. By mid-2000, there were more than 200 metal exchanges operating on the Web. These exchanges were following a reintermediation strategy; that is, they were entering the supply chain of the steel industry to provide some added value that had not existed in the supply chain before. However, most industry analysts agreed that there was no need for more than one or two exchanges in the steel industry. In 2001, metal trading exchange sites began to fail. Continued
การแปล กรุณารอสักครู่..