Steel Industry

The steel industry manufactures hot-rolled sheet metal, which is stored in rolls that are, for example, 6 feet wide, 5 feet in diameter, and weigh approximately 40,000 pounds. The manufacture of hot-rolled steel includes such characteristics as material, gauge (thickness), and width.

A steel supplier purchases hot-rolled steel from the manufacturer and puts the sheet metal through a leveling process. The leveling process both unrolls and flattens the sheet metal, which the supplier then cuts to length. The sheet metal product is presented in sheets to be used for the manufacture of cabinets, sheet metal parts such as registers or radiator grates, and metal roofing and siding for steel buildings. The product characteristics of the sheet metal sold by the supplier are material, gauge (thickness), width, and length.

An example of a style item in the steel industry is metal roofing. The style item is metal roofing and the style item attributes or levels are 14 gauge rolled steel, 4 feet wide, 10 feet long, and green in color.