The short answer
Service centers sell metal by weight and processing by the operation, and the two are often priced separately. When processing is folded into the metal price, or entered by hand on the order, it is easy to underbill: extra cuts, tight tolerances, and small-piece work take more machine time than the charge covers. Match work orders and machine time to invoices, and compare what each operation cost with what was billed for it.
Where it hides in metal service centers
Processing folded into the metal price
Small pieces and many cuts
Remnants and drops
Rush and tolerance work
The records to pull
Twelve to twenty-four months of each. Nothing needs to be installed or connected; a spreadsheet export is enough.
Work orders
Invoice lines
Scrap and remnant records
The ten-day test
Days 1–2
Days 3–5
Days 6–8
Days 9–10
Specimen · illustrative figures
A service center processing 40,000 tons a year found that saw work on orders with more than 50 cuts recovered about 60 percent of its machine cost, while plate burning was overpriced against cost. Remnants scrapped from cut-to-length orders were never charged. A per-cut component and remnant pricing were worth an estimated $350K to $500K a year.
Stop condition, written first
Stop if processing billed covers processing cost within five percent for every operation, in both the search period and the holdout.
What gets built if it holds
A processing price calculated from cuts, pieces, and tolerance at quote time, shown separately from the metal price. It runs inside your operation, belongs to you, and is measured weekly against the dollar range the test produced.
Specimen figures are illustrative and do not describe a Modven client. Reviewed October 10, 2026.