Gibraltar Industries Inc's Suppliers Performance

Our business is required to maintain sufficient quantities of raw material inventory in order to accommodate our customers’ short lead times. Accordingly, we plan our purchases to maintain raw materials at sufficient levels to satisfy the anticipated needs of our customers. We have implemented enterprise resource planning systems to better manage our inventory, forecast customer orders, enable efficient supply chain management, and allow for more timely counter-measures to changing customer demand and market conditions.

The primary raw materials we purchase are flat-rolled and plate steel, aluminum, and resins. We purchase flat-rolled and plate steel and aluminum at regular intervals on an as-needed basis, primarily from the major North American mills, as well as, a limited amount from domestic service centers and foreign steel importers. Substantially all of our resins are purchased from domestic vendors, primarily through distributors, with a small amount direct from manufacturers. Supply has historically been adequate from these sources to fulfill our needs. Because of our strategy to develop longstanding relationships in our supply chain, we have been able to adjust our deliveries of raw materials to match our required inventory positions to support our on-time deliveries to customers while allowing us to manage our investment in inventory and working capital.

The cost of our raw material purchases of steel, aluminum, and resins is significantly linked to commodity markets. The markets for commodities are highly cyclical and the costs of purchasing these raw materials can be volatile due to a number of factors including general economic conditions, domestic and worldwide demand, labor costs, competition, import duties, tariffs, and currency exchange rates. Changes in commodity costs not only impact the cost of our raw materials but also influence the prices we offer our customers. We have largely managed fluctuations in the market by maintaining lean inventory levels and increasing the efficiency of our manufacturing processes. However, in limited situations, where we have fixed price contracts to supply goods covering multiple quarters, we have used hedge contracts to mitigate the risk of changes in commodity costs.

We purchase natural gas and electricity from suppliers in proximity to our operations.
Even though we have long-term relationships with our suppliers, we have no long-term contractual commitments. Management continually examines and improves our purchasing practices across our geographically dispersed facilities in order to streamline purchasing across similar commodities.

Our business is required to maintain sufficient quantities of raw material inventory in order to accommodate our customers’ short lead times. Accordingly, we plan our purchases to maintain raw materials at sufficient levels to satisfy the anticipated needs of our customers. We have implemented enterprise resource planning systems to better manage our inventory, forecast customer orders, enable efficient supply chain management, and allow for more timely counter-measures to changing customer demand and market conditions.

The primary raw materials we purchase are flat-rolled and plate steel, aluminum, and resins. We purchase flat-rolled and plate steel and aluminum at regular intervals on an as-needed basis, primarily from the major North American mills, as well as, a limited amount from domestic service centers and foreign steel importers. Substantially all of our resins are purchased from domestic vendors, primarily through distributors, with a small amount direct from manufacturers. Supply has historically been adequate from these sources to fulfill our needs. Because of our strategy to develop longstanding relationships in our supply chain, we have been able to adjust our deliveries of raw materials to match our required inventory positions to support our on-time deliveries to customers while allowing us to manage our investment in inventory and working capital.

The cost of our raw material purchases of steel, aluminum, and resins is significantly linked to commodity markets. The markets for commodities are highly cyclical and the costs of purchasing these raw materials can be volatile due to a number of factors including general economic conditions, domestic and worldwide demand, labor costs, competition, import duties, tariffs, and currency exchange rates. Changes in commodity costs not only impact the cost of our raw materials but also influence the prices we offer our customers. We have largely managed fluctuations in the market by maintaining lean inventory levels and increasing the efficiency of our manufacturing processes. However, in limited situations, where we have fixed price contracts to supply goods covering multiple quarters, we have used hedge contracts to mitigate the risk of changes in commodity costs.

We purchase natural gas and electricity from suppliers in proximity to our operations.
Even though we have long-term relationships with our suppliers, we have no long-term contractual commitments. Management continually examines and improves our purchasing practices across our geographically dispersed facilities in order to streamline purchasing across similar commodities.