The manufacturing costs of conventional steel frame structures, including materials continues to increase yearly. However, contract prices have shown minimal change compared to a decade ago. Industrial workers' wages have been rising in tandem with average income.
Enterprises face persistently high levels, with inventory turnover being particularly challenging for large steel manufacturers. As steel mills don't offer credit terms, steel structure enterprises face significant cash flow pressures.
The availability of skilled workers is an additional challenge, so that robot welding especially for small to medium sized companies is becomming more and more necessary. Most common applications for robot welding are MIG/MAG, TIG and Laser welding.