I have been using IMS for 30 years but I have been having a lot of issues with them lately and want to jump ship and switch suppliers but have not found anyone else that offers the same variety of materials and services and prices, am I stuck with them? Other suppliers seem to be more specialized meaning I would have to order from multiple sources and pay higher prices.
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Direct competitors to Industrial Metal Supply in So Cal area?
- Thread starter dead_nuts
- Start date
- Replies 16
- Views 3,277
Larry Dickman
Titanium
- Joined
- Jan 30, 2014
- Location
- Temecula, Ca
So cal is a big place. Where? and for what kind of shit?
You've been dealing with IMS for thirty years, and you just figured out that they suck?
You've been dealing with IMS for thirty years, and you just figured out that they suck?
Mostly in the Los Angeles and Orange County area since we drop ship to some vendors, all the laser water cutting shops seem to be in the OC. I would not say they suck, we just keep having issues that they can't seem to resolve even though they say "next time we will make sure..." I want to get quotes from other suppliers instead of blindly sending IMS PO's. Who knows, maybe the other suppliers will be worse?
G
Guest
Guest
Fry Steel has way more items.
Larry Dickman
Titanium
- Joined
- Jan 30, 2014
- Location
- Temecula, Ca
Since most of us here are not mind readers, what is it you're trying to buy? Prime material with certs? Rems for tooling? Aluminum, stainless, CRS?
G
Guest
Guest
When I lived in So Cal the Industrial Metal Supply in Riverside 10 miles away was my favorite place to buy metal. A lot of remnants at the 1000# price, various sized pieces precut in the showroom, they covered the basics pretty well. Unfortunately the variety of materials was limited, Fry Steel in Santa Fe Springs probably had 5x the selection or more.
TClark
Plastic
- Joined
- Jul 10, 2018
- Location
- Mountain City
I have used TCI precision for steel plate before & been pretty happy with them. Had to ship all the way to TN for me, but worth the freight. They are in Gardenia. I'm not up on Cal geography, but they are closer to you than they are to me...
G
Guest
Guest
If it makes you feel sorry for me I would sell my soul to the devil to have an IMS 50 miles from me where my local metal suppliers are. They all suck to high heaven, I think it is just a Confederacy thing, very odd business practices here and none of them good. Here is the latest example, since BMG Metals was bought out a couple years ago (They were family owned) they have instituted all kinds of policies that even their employees say are losing customers, yet management won't change. It seems things change down in their Richmond location every time the wind blows a different direction.
Today I find out the new policy is no longer will they sell less than full lengths, before they would for a $20 cut charge. Remnants are also no longer available. This applies to all materials they sell, even 12" round steel.
Today I find out the new policy is no longer will they sell less than full lengths, before they would for a $20 cut charge. Remnants are also no longer available. This applies to all materials they sell, even 12" round steel.
I am looking for a "Direct competitor to Industrial Metal Supply in So Cal area". If I was looking for something very specific, that is easy. I am looking for another company that offers the same wide variety of services as IMS. It sounds like there are none.
I first went to IMS when they were just a little shop the size of a 5 car garage in Burbank, then they moved into a larger warehouse, and later opened other branches across So Cal. It sounds like they have a monopoly in this area now. It is a good place to find remnants and they also stock pre-cut material in shorter lengths.
I will have to give them a call. I see their trucks on the freeway all the time, always carrying bundles of steel bars so I assumed they mostly sold steel.
They sell only bar stock but have a large variety of alloy steel, stainless, and aluminum. They also sell 1018, 12L14, C360, and C630.
One service that we do need is precision plate saw cutting of aluminum plate. IMS has a saw that holds +/-.005 allowing us to cut panels to the finished outer size, then we clamp them to a CNC table and do all the machining in a single operation. We only make our own products, we are not a job shop.
Burbank Metal is good for hard to find rem's like 2024, 7075 bars and sheet when you don't need full lengths. I usually go there for that type of material since IMS only sells 6061.
Queen City is good for structural steel.
Burbank Metal is good for hard to find rem's like 2024, 7075 bars and sheet when you don't need full lengths. I usually go there for that type of material since IMS only sells 6061.
Queen City is good for structural steel.
triumph406
Diamond
- Joined
- Sep 14, 2008
- Location
- ca
Didn't want to drag up an old thread (it's not that old)
I had some material quoted a day or two ago by IMS
I had some material quoted, 4 cuts, total length of cuts 60" approx cost $150
Then had to change to 1 piece approx 60.5" long, cost $170
Unfortuantly I discovered this after placing the order (there were a lot of line items) it was late in the afternoon, I was pushing the time frame to get the order to the sawing shop, so I could ensure it got delivered the next day (which it was)
Asked the salesman (via e-mail) why am I buying approx the same amount of material, less cuts and am paying $20 more?
So far haven't got an explanation, having asked several times politely.
I did have some questions while quoting a very large job (which I placed with IMS) last year with IMS about pricing that sometimes didn't make sense. I was told "it's the algorithm that generates the pricing". The algorithm bent me over the barrel this time.
When buying from Fry's, Bralco, Schorr, Max Ind etc, there's no confusion with their pricing. Just IMS.
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