Protect Your Margins When Steel, Aluminum, and Tariffs Move Faster Than Your Quotes

Material prices, tariffs, and freight costs can shift with little warning. For job shops and make-to-order operations, that volatility hits margin directly.

BLS data shows fabricated structural metal prices have climbed 70.6%, with 89% of manufacturers reporting higher costs from tariffs and 80% still facing trade uncertainty. When quotes stay static while input costs rise, a job can look profitable in the pipeline and still lose money on the floor.

The real threat is quote lag: the gap between estimate creation and material commitment. The longer a quote stays open, the more its cost assumptions drift across estimating, purchasing, production, and finance.

The fabricators who protect margin best connect estimating, purchasing, production, and finance tightly enough to catch variance early. You don’t need to predict the market—you need to shorten the feedback loop. The eBook, How Fabricated Metal Manufacturers Can Protect Margins Amid Material Cost Volatility, shows you exactly how to do that with Acumatica.