A Steel Service centre is an intermediary between steel producers and the end users and is the most vital link in the steel supply chain. It supplies steel in the exact quantity and the exact customised form at the exact time that customers require, often processing or adding value to the material. A Steel service centre procures steel products in large quantities from producing mills, holds the material in inventory, and either process it or simply trades it in smaller units, to the customers. Service centres usually offer varying degrees of material "pre-processing" which involves Slitting, Shearing, Cutting to Length, Pickling & Oiling, Plate Burning, Roll Forming, Bending etc. thus making the steel immediately usable by the customer, greatly reduces the customer's time. The type, quantity, and sophistication of pre-processing services offered by a particular Service centre are determined by the Service centre's product and customer mix. Service centres handle millions of items each year and are the domestic steel industry's largest customer group. They serve as industry's working reservoir of materials and services. Approximately 300,000 firms buy a large portion of their metal requirements from service centres. In fact, every single metal user in the country and worldwide deals with service centres at one time or other.