🇩🇪Germany

Unbilled und fehlerhaft fakturierte Schrottmengen bei Gewichtsabweichungen

3 verified sources

Definition

Scrap metal traders receive material in mixed loads (old scrap, production offcuts, alloyed grades), weigh incoming material, sort/grade, then sell to steelworks/foundries. The grading process (shredding, pressing, briquetting per GMH process description) causes material loss (dust, fines, packaging trim) of 2–6% depending on grade. Manual reconciliation of pre-processing weight vs. post-processing sellable weight, combined with customer deduction notices and invoice corrections, creates a 30–60 day cash collection cycle delay. Unbilled quantities arise when weight loss documentation is incomplete, preventing adjustment invoices before payment deadline.

Key Findings

  • Financial Impact: €12,000–€40,000/year per 10,000-tonne/year facility. Typical scrap price: €200–€400/tonne. Weight loss of 3% = 300 tonnes unbilled at €300/tonne = €90,000 exposure; if only 15% is recovered (€13,500), net loss = €76,500. Conservative estimate assumes 5–10% of weight variance goes unbilled due to documentation lags.
  • Frequency: Every batch (weekly cycle for mid-size processor); cumulative impact visible in monthly AR aging and customer deductions.
  • Root Cause: Disconnected weight systems (scale output, truck slips, batch records) not integrated with invoicing ERP; manual data entry creates transcription errors; no automatic billing trigger for weight-loss adjustments before customer payment window closes.

Why This Matters

This pain point represents a significant opportunity for B2B solutions targeting Wholesale Metals and Minerals.

Affected Stakeholders

Waage/Wiegen (Weighing Staff), Lagerlogistik (Warehouse Logistics), Rechnungswesen (Accounts Receivable), Kundenservice (Customer Service — dispute resolution)

Deep Analysis (Premium)

Financial Impact

Financial data and detailed analysis available with full access. Unlock to see exact figures, evidence sources, and actionable insights.

Unlock to reveal

Current Workarounds

Financial data and detailed analysis available with full access. Unlock to see exact figures, evidence sources, and actionable insights.

Unlock to reveal

Get Solutions for This Problem

Full report with actionable solutions

$99$39
  • Solutions for this specific pain
  • Solutions for all 15 industry pains
  • Where to find first clients
  • Pricing & launch costs
Get Solutions Report

Methodology & Sources

Data collected via OSINT from regulatory filings, industry audits, and verified case studies.

Evidence Sources:

Related Business Risks

Klassifizierungsfehler bei Schrottgradierung und Umsatzsteuerrisiko

€8,000–€25,000/year per facility in combined penalties, rework, and audit costs. Typical Betriebsprüfung findings: €5,000–€15,000 per misclassified batch; manual rework: 15–30 hours/month at €45/hour (€675–€1,350/month). Cumulative annual exposure: €10,200–€31,200.

Manuelle Nachbearbeitung und Rework durch Spezifikationsverstöße (Kontaminationen)

€15,000–€50,000/year per facility in combined rework labor, equipment operation, and lost margin. Typical scenario: 100-tonne batch contaminated with 2–5% non-ferrous metals = 2–5 tonnes requiring rework. Rework cost: €80–€200/tonne = €160–€1,000/batch. If 1–2% of batches are affected monthly (10,000-tonne/year facility = ~83 batches/month), that is 1–2 rework batches = €160–€2,000/month = €1,920–€24,000/year. Add customer deduction disputes: €5,000–€10,000/year in margin haircuts.

Lieferkettensorgfaltgesetz (LkSG) Dokumentation und Betriebsprüfungsrisiko

€20,000–€100,000/year in combined audit costs, potential fines, and lost customer orders. Government fine range: €50,000–€500,000 per LkSG violation (§ 37 LkSG). Typical cost: 40–80 hours annual compliance documentation (€1,800–€3,600 at €45/hour), plus 3–5% customer churn from audit failures (€50,000–€150,000 lost annual revenue for mid-size processor).

Wartezeiten durch manuelle Prüfung und Klassifizierungsprozess (Durchsatzreduzierung)

€30,000–€80,000/year in combined labor bottleneck cost and equipment idle loss. Calculation: (1) Manual grading labor: 10–15 hours/week × €45/hour × 48 weeks = €21,600–€32,400. (2) Equipment idle cost: €50k facility shredder running 25% idle × €200/hour operational cost = €30,000/year lost margin. (3) Foregone sales: 5–10% throughput increase (100–200 tonnes/month) at €300/tonne margin = €36,000–€72,000 lost annual revenue.

Betrug in Commodity-Backed Finanzierungen

1-3% Umsatz durch Shrinkage (€244-732 Mio. bei €24,4 Mrd.)

Fehlentscheidungen bei Futures aufgrund mangelnder Sichtbarkeit

2-5% revenue loss from unhedged positions (€488-1.22bn potential in €24.4bn market)[1]

Request Deep Analysis

🇩🇪 Be first to access this market's intelligence