Pricing software for the metals industry
In metals, nobody picks a price off a list. Coil, sheet, plate, extrusions, custom profiles: every price is a calculation — an LME base, a conversion premium, alloy and dimension adders, an incoterm multiplier, the clause on page 12 of the contract. Pricera is the pricing engine built to run exactly that calculation — tested, versioned and traceable on every quote.
The anatomy of a metals price
A metals price looks like one number on the quote. Underneath, it is a chain of terms that each carry commercial intent — and each can be wrong, stale, or disputed:
+ alloy adder + gauge/width adder + spec adder
× incoterm multiplier + packaging & freight
- The index basis varies by contract — monthly average, average-plus-lag, spot on order date, or a fixed quarter. Each customer can pin a different one.
- Adders are dimensional — alloy series, gauge bands, width ranges, surface and spec surcharges. They live in rate tables, not in a single cell.
- The commercial layer sits on top — incoterm multipliers, MOQ floors, payment-term and volume adjustments, "price on request" flags.
This is why metals pricing resists the two tools companies usually reach for. A spreadsheet can compute the number but can't govern it — no pinned index snapshot, no proof of which premium version applied on a given date, no way to stop a stale table from repricing a live contract. Generic CPQ assumes price = list minus discount, so the entire formula ends up as a script nobody can audit.
Model the formula once. Quote it a thousand times.
Indices are native, not scripted
LME series, monthly averages, lags and averaging windows are first-class inputs. When the index moves, the price moves — with the contract's basis, not a hardcoded one.
Adders are tables, not IF-chains
Alloy, dimension and spec adders live in inspectable banded tables. Update a table, every dependent price recalculates — and reference cases re-test the model before it publishes.
Every quote shows its work
Each quote line stores the model version, the index value used, and the full waterfall. Replay a two-year-old quote and see exactly why it came out as it did.
Aluminium sheet, priced off LME + premium
A real model shape: aluminium 5754 sheet, 2.5 mm × 1 500 mm, 18 MT, DAP Rotterdam — the same scenario shown in the product demo.
Each segment of that bar is a named node in the pricing model — inspectable, testable, versioned. Sales configures the deal; the engine applies the contract's index basis and the current rate tables; the quote carries the whole waterfall into your CRM, or out as a standalone document.
Built for the metals value chain
- Mills and processors — list and contract pricing for coil, sheet, plate and strip, with alloy/dimension matrices and index-linked LTAs.
- Extruders and profile makers — per-metre pricing off billet cost plus press-line, alloy, surface and tooling terms.
- Service centers and distributors — cut-to-length and processing adders, zone freight, stock vs. back-to-back costing.
- Toll processors — tolling fees with metal pass-through, scrap-share and yield clauses.
Metals pricing, answered
What is LME-linked pricing?
LME-linked pricing means the product price is contractually tied to a London Metal Exchange quotation — typically the monthly average, a monthly average plus a lag, or spot on the order date — plus a fixed conversion premium and product-specific adders. The supplier's margin sits in the premium and adders; the metal value itself floats with the market.
How do metals distributors and service centers calculate prices?
A typical structure is base index (LME or a regional equivalent) plus a conversion or service premium, plus adders for alloy series, gauge and width ranges, surface treatment, and certification — multiplied by incoterm and quantity factors, with floors for minimum order quantity. Each customer contract can pin a different index basis, lag and premium.
Why do metals companies outgrow spreadsheet pricing?
The formulas themselves are simple; the governance is not. Spreadsheets can't pin an index snapshot to a quote, can't prove which premium version was used on a given date, and can't stop a stale table from silently repricing a live contract. When an auditor or a customer asks "how did you get this number", the answer is archaeology.
Can pricing software handle monthly LME averages and contract clauses?
Generic CPQ tools treat price as a list number with a discount waterfall, so index logic ends up as custom scripts. Purpose-built pricing engines like Pricera store index series natively, apply the contract's averaging window and lag automatically, and keep every adder as an inspectable model node rather than embedded code.