Materials & Procurement

Chapman Smith sources the raw materials and semi-finished products that go into your production parts — and manages the purchasing, availability, and inventory that keep them arriving on schedule.

We work as an extension of your purchasing department. That means qualifying suppliers, consolidating orders, finding alternate sources when a mill or supplier runs long, and holding stock so your line doesn't wait on a delivery.

What We Source

Aluminum Extrusions

Standard and custom profiles, sourced to your drawing or developed from an existing part. We coordinate die work for custom profiles, cut to length, and secondary operations — punching, drilling, tapping, anodizing — so the extrusion arrives ready to use rather than as raw stock.

Common applications: frames, tracks, housings, structural members, heat sinks, trim.

Steel Tubing & Pipe

Carbon and stainless tubing in round, square, and rectangular sections. Welded and seamless. We supply mill lengths or coordinate cutting, bending, and end forming through our fabrication network.

Common applications: frames, guards, handles, structural assemblies, fluid and conveyance lines.

Castings

Aluminum sand castings and die castings, coordinated through to finished, machined parts. We manage the foundry relationship and the secondary machining as one supply, so you aren't managing a caster and a machine shop separately.

Also available: ductile and gray iron castings, forgings, powdered metal components.

Flat Rolled Steel

Hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized, and aluminized steel in coils and blanks. Stainless steel flat rolled and wire. Aluminized stainless. Supplied as coil, sheet, or cut blanks, with slitting and blanking coordinated to your requirements.

Common applications: stamped parts, formed components, laser cut blanks, enclosures.

Also Sourced

Bar and wire products. Plastics and resins for molded and extruded components. Specialty alloys and materials. If it goes into a production part and you're buying it today, we can generally source it.

Excess Prime & Secondary Steel

Mill overruns, excess prime, and secondary steel become available when a producer's run exceeds an order or material falls outside a customer's specification. For manufacturers whose application tolerates a wider window, this material can cost substantially less than standard prime.

We track what's available and match it against customers who can use it — checking gauge, width, coating, and grade against your actual requirements rather than the specification you inherited. Availability is opportunistic by nature, so it works best for buyers with flexibility on timing, or who can hold material against future releases.

If you've never evaluated whether your parts could run on secondary, it's worth a conversation. The savings are real when the fit is right.

How We Reduce Material Cost

Supplier consolidation

Buying four materials from four vendors costs more than volume through fewer. We consolidate where it makes sense and negotiate against the combined spend.

Alternate sourcing

Domestic and global supply, qualified before you need it — so when a supplier runs long or prices move, there's a second option ready rather than a scramble.

Material substitution

Sometimes the cheapest change is the specification. We review whether a different grade, gauge, or form does the same job for less — evaluated against your requirements, not applied blindly.

Inventory & Supply Programs

For production volumes, material availability matters as much as price.

Stocking programs

We hold material against your forecast and release it as you need it, reducing your working capital without risking a shortage.

Safety stock

Buffer inventory against lead time variability and supplier disruption.

Scheduled releases

Firm quantities on a defined schedule, so pricing reflects volume while deliveries match production.

Warehousing and freight coordination

Storage and inbound logistics managed as part of the supply rather than a separate problem.

Tell us what you're buying.

Send a material specification, a part print, or a copy of what you purchase today. We'll evaluate the source, the price, and whether there's a better way to supply it.

Submit an RFQ