about UTILITY METALS - Q & A

UTILITY METALS UK Ltd is a company serving:

a. as a sourcing tool to companies with or without a dedicated purchasing department.

Small business owners without employees ( or with a small number of employees ) active in purchasing, use U.M. as an outsourcing company for their metal and plastic buying needs.

Larger businesses with purchasing departments, cooperate with U.M. to enhance and strengthen their buying force

b. as a trading company, with drop shipping activity, that is purchasing materials from suppliers and reselling them to the end users. This is mostly for small orders of value around or less 2000 Euro.

The company is registered in London, U.K. ( European Union ) and is operated through an office in Athens, Greece ( European Union ).

Active in the field of metals and plastics since early 2004 

Utility Metals assists you and can be of financial benefit for you in the following cases:

• you need additional purchasing choices

• you face long or short term difficulties in your current purchasing acticity

• you need a wider choice of materials

• you need specific products of specific standards especially ones relating to Werkstoff or other E.U. standards that are difficult to find

• you need assistance in the very complicated case of export – import compliance that is becoming of extreme importance in the today’s metals industry

• you need to group different materials coming from different suppliers in one single shipment, U.M. does this efficiently and with cost saving for you.

In more detail:

• Cost Reduction. Competitive prices satisfying both customers and suppliers

• Cost Reduction. Research for you, many times before you make it. We all make market research in the internet, that takes a lot of time
  and is translated to cost. For too many cases U.M. has done this already for you or is in position to shorten the research time for you

• Cost Reduction. Dedicated purchasing department at the times you never thought it was possible. Are you too busy with your work or is
  it too costly to employ a person dealing with international purchases ? Now you can afford it at a fraction of the cost you had in your mind.

• Cost Reduction. Assistance to existing purchasing departments. You work in the purchasing department around the clock, but there is a
  never enough time and never assistance when you need it. Working hours are translated to cost. Even for purchasing of single items U.M.
  cooperates with you, reducing your workload.

• Building of long term relationships. It acts as a bridge between you the customer and the supplier for long term multiple financial benefits.

• Availability of supply. It may happen, suppliers not to have stock, delivery time to be long, some items to be highly priced, grouping different
  materials in the same order not to be possible. Market demands and your personal market goals can’t wait and U.M. will source the materials you
  need.

• Understanding. The company that feels like you. Would you prefer buying from people that have dealt with production matters in the past ?
  that understand how important materials are to the final product you try to sell ? that have discussed in depth with production and designing
  departments ? that have cooperated with quality managers ? that have planned with finance, marketing and product development managers about
  cost reduction, availability, diversity, innovation and how all these can have an impact to the company’s growth ? that understand that your order
  no matter small or big, has worth value of a fortune and order values are not just numbers

• Flexibility. Aren’t you tired of hearing just about how big everybody else is but your big problems look just too small to them ? Aren’t they
  flexible enough to try to solve them?

• Diversity and innovation. Would you like to explore possibilities with products that you never knew they existed, some of them no body ever
  bothered to suggest them to you ? Some of these metals and plastics may reduce your manufacturing cost, may assist you launch new products in
  your market, or may assist you differentiate from your competitors.

• e-business, connecting your traditional ways of purchasing with tomorrow’s trends and technology. Some of the most advanced
  companies in the world today use advanced web tools that maximize efficiency ? Do you want to use the same tools ?

• Consultancy and advice. Nobody on earth is gonna tell you how to run your business and if you do things right or wrong. But if you ever want
  to discuss with Utility Metals about your problems in the supply chain and how you could possibly solve them, U.M. is there for you to provide a
  range of services.

• Common language, common objectives. growth, efficiency, metals, alloys, plastics, LME, price, fluctuation, supply, chain, manufacturing,
  inventory, certification, and so much more. U.M. speaks the same language with you about your business and is a company you can communicate
  with.

• Listens to you. You are not another order, you are a human with a problem to solve, with a job to do and U.M. takes that into consideration.

• Dynamic. U.M. will not stop sharing knowledge with you and will always assist you to keep pace with market changes and plan for the future.
  U.M.

• Meeting the requirements for the job. You are not acting on your own in this company, departments interact and depend each other and you
  want to have done your job right. No matter to which department you belong, U.M. will assist you having in mind that you cooperate and that you
  must satisfy the requirements of each department at any given time.
  * Compliance. You are using dual use products and you want to be sure whether you are in line with international regulations.

• You are not alone. We are together in this. U.M. supports you and shares your passion for growth, improvement and achieving sustainable
  results.

• If Invoicing is from UTILITY METALS UK LTD to your company, then VAT has to be paid at the customs entry point by Utility Metals not you as exports by UM are usually on DDP, Incoterms 20202 basis. 

Utility Metals invoices you except rare cases where the stockholder in the E.U. will invoice you ( that is for rare cases of the past, where there is an agreement between U.M. and the supplier, U.M. to act as an agent for the supplier or where is a separate agreement between U.M. and the customer, customer to be invoiced by the stockholder. As from 2016 with new customers, it is U.M. that invoices you. .

By bank transfer through international prime banks. Payment by credit card still is not possible to be accepted by U.M. even for sales that come from U.M.’s webshop. 

Yes, this can be done. You are always advised in case you as a customer arranges for the transport of the goods, to insure the cargo for 110 % of the Invoice value against all risks ( very common international practice in trade ) 

If you are an E.U. customer, then ca 10-15 working days. You must consider the time needed the payment to arrive from your bank to U.M.’s bank account that is 1-3 days, that standard stock items need ca 1-2 days to be prepared for shipment and that the transport companies usually ship goods to another country every Thursday and Friday 

No minimum but some suppliers ask for minimum value of about 400-500 Euro. 

Prime

Yes, it is not part of a any larger group in the metal business ( yet U.M. works and cooperates with different large groups in Europe ) 

Through a web link provided to you, it shows order updates status  

no, please don’t insist. Only companies with a valid VAT or business registration number can be served. 

Utility Metals wants to serve customers with the maximum choice of materials possible, especially for cases where grouping of different materials is needed. 

Without excluding such possibility in rare cases, U.M. has no interests in public tenders. 

Mostly stockholders in the West and North E.U. 

No, sorry, no technical advise here possible  

Utility Metals avoids communicating with such generic email addresses. It would be best if you communicate with an e-mail address with a valid business domain name 

Utility has all the best of intentions but if you don’t really know what you want, how it can possibly help you ? 

If you have never imported most likely you won’t import now as well. If you believe you want to import, it would be best to start with a small quantity first 

According to Incoterms 2020

You must inform about it in your inquiry so as U.M. to check if it can quote as international regulations may apply. 

materials of small thicknesses are very vulnerable to damage during shipment, U.M. will not be able to quote for such small thicknesses. 

this is only due to the international voip systems, has nothing to do with U.M. 

U.M. did nothing less than what thousands of Greek companies did, that would be to move business outside Greece. It is not possible for 1 ( one ) single Euro profit a company to be obliged to pay 5000 Euro minimum in taxes and national contributions. 

20 %. U.M. is also subject to possible taxation due to the bilateral tax treaty between Greece and the U.K. 

Please click the relevant link, under ”Your Country” section in the same page you are in now 

Yes, at your premises, or at serviced offices, mainly Regus (center of Athens, maroussi, Piraeus, Kallirois, OR othre, or by tele-meeting i.e: Skype 

Utility Metals serves a variety of industries i.e

architecture, HO.RE.CA., energy such as electricity stations, sports equipment, chemical such as detergent factories, cnc machine shops, Laser, Plasma, Waterjet cutting companies, defense industry i.e for automotive purposes, companies with punching machines, shipbuilding, food industry, findustry, advertising industry and other !

Due to data privacy, U.M. can’t mention names of customers or of brands, but here below some important sales are mentioned:

• stainless steel for a monument in a heritage foundation

• aluminium for a project of a world famous commercial aircraft to an aviation company in Germany

• stainless steel bars for propeller for a large fishing boat in Croatia

• naval brass for shipbuilding for a frigate of a NATO member

• copper, aluminium, stainless steel, alloyed steels, plastics for automotive applications by a West European NATO member

• stainless steel for window frames in a famous Greek monastery at Athos peninsula

• stainless steel for booths of a famous English fashion brand

• aluminium for sports equipment used in Olympic Games

• aluzink for machinery headed to a famous research institute in Switzerland

Utility Metals is not active and can not sell to the following industries

• nuclear of any kind inclusive the one for peaceful applications.

• military for missiles, launching platforms for missiles, ammunition, anti-ballistic applications. Exceptions can be made for projects by large country members of NATO ( i.e: U.K., U.S.A., German, France etc. )

• biological labs

• X-Ray chambers

• Only repeated coincidences are not coincidences. This one is a coincidence. UTILITY METALS UK LTD has nothing to do with UTILITY METALS in the U.S.A. or U-METAL in Singapore. In the metal trade business too many business names include the word ”Metal”