Kieattayakorn Metal is the only Thai company that cuts and bends steel bars, include round and deformed bars, for construction contractors and subcontractors to reduce their onsite costs.

Managing director Prajaub Kieattayakorn said subcontractors typically wasted a lot of steel – and money – by cutting it on the construction sites, or by ordering too much for their actual needs.

“How will they get richer if they don’t know about the hidden costs and hidden losses from cutting steel? They have huge costs from including [steel] stocks in accounts payable and then receiving delayed payments. Those problems should be resolved once the subcontractors secure the job from the project’s owners,” he said.

Prajaub has positioned his company as a specialist in the steel industry, able to reduce hidden waste and losses and manage costs for customers by cutting and bending steel products according to their requirements.

“The steel is processed at our factory and delivered to the project sites. The clients can [keep to] schedule each day, making sure they can receive money from their customers and will have more cash flow to get additional projects,” he said.

The company says it can help subcontractors cut their costs by 40-50 per cent. When he first offered these solutions to customers, some did not believe him because no one else could do this.

Projects that use his deformed steel run on schedule while saving costs, for which reason Kieattayakorn Metal has become well known among contractors.

Companies working with steel must use good sense, he said, noting that steel was a commodity whose price could be volatile while the global economy is in a period of uncertainty. Therefore, he has to follow the movement of steel prices, and purchases from upstream steel producers have to comply with the projects that his company is negotiating for.

“My company has grown by 100 per cent a year because we think differently and move faster [than rivals] in this industry,” he said.

This year, sales revenue should grow by only 30-40 per cent, but he said he was happy with the figure given the country’s economic slowdown.

Prajaub said the economic recovery would take time, so the company has shifted its focus to infrastructure projects to reduce risks from the uncertain situation of condominium construction subcontractors.

“Small and medium-sized subcontractors don’t have much cash flow and banks are not lending to them.

“Our clients have to have a bank guarantee, a promissory note or bill of exchange. In this situation, we should play safe by moving to infrastructure projects,” he said.