Swarf on the factory floor
You have containers at a dozen factories: a roll-on roll-off container of steel offcuts at a fabricator, a skip of aluminium swarf at a machine shop, a stillage of brass turnings at a valve manufacturer. Each factory is supposed to ring when the container is full.
The machine shop's supervisor forgets. By the time he rings, swarf is piling up around the skip and his manager is annoyed. The office writes the request on a notepad. The yard sends a lorry with an empty skip, but the wrong size, and the driver does not know the factory's gate closes at three.
At the fabricator, the opposite happens: they ring for an exchange every few days even when the container is half full, because nobody on site is sure how full is full.
Why factory exchanges are chaotic
Factory scrap is your best supply: steady, clean, sorted by grade. But the exchange process relies on the customer.
- Factory staff ring when they remember, often too late.
- Requests do not specify grade, container type or site details.
- The yard does not see which containers are at which factories.
- Different grades share a container, reducing their value.
- Weights from each exchange are not linked to the customer's rebate automatically.
What chaotic exchanges cost
Overflowing containers annoy your best suppliers and, at worst, push them to try another merchant. Mixed grades are worth less than sorted ones. Half-full exchanges waste lorry time. Wrong container types mean second trips.
Losing a factory account costs a steady flow of clean material that is hard to replace, and factory buyers have plenty of merchants asking for their scrap.
The office absorbs the rest. Phone requests written on a notepad, calls back to ask which container, calls to the factory to ask about gate times, and a monthly job matching exchange weights to each factory's rebate by hand.
How we build factory container exchanges
What we build makes asking for an exchange easy and gives the yard what it needs to plan.
- Each container is recorded with site, grade, type and size, and any site details: gate times, access, contact.
- Factory staff request an exchange by scanning a QR code on the container or using a short web form, picking how full it is and adding a photo. No phone call needed.
- Requests appear on the yard's exchange schedule with all container and site details. The yard plans lorries and brings the right container.
- For regular sites, exchanges can be scheduled on a pattern, with the customer confirming or skipping each one.
- On collection, the driver confirms the exchange, and the weighbridge weight and grade are linked to the customer and container.
- Weights feed the customer's rebate calculation, and a monthly summary shows each factory what they sent.
| Container detail | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Grade | Keeping grades separate protects value |
| Container type and size | Right replacement on the lorry |
| Gate times and access | No wasted trips |
| Fill level and photo | No premature or late exchanges |
The machine shop after the change
The supervisor scans the QR code on the swarf skip when it is three-quarters full and takes a photo. The request appears on the yard's schedule with the skip size and the note that the gate closes at three. A lorry goes the next morning with the right skip.
The fabricator's exchanges are now scheduled weekly, and they confirm or skip each one. Both factories receive a monthly summary of what they sent and what they were paid.
Are factory containers overflowing?
- Factories ring for exchanges when containers are already overflowing.
- Requests do not say which container or grade.
- Drivers arrive with the wrong container type.
- Grades get mixed in shared containers.
- Weights from exchanges are matched to rebates by hand.