halbfabrikat

Halbfabrikat is a term used in manufacturing and economics to describe a product that has undergone some processing but is not yet a finished item. It represents an intermediate good within the value chain, intended for further processing or assembly into a final product. The concept helps distinguish between raw materials and completed goods in production planning, procurement, and inventory management.

In practice, halbfabrikat can take many forms across industries. In metallurgy, typical semi-finished shapes include billets, slabs, blooms, bars, tubes, and sheets produced by casting, rolling, or extrusion. In plastics and other materials, extruded profiles, rods, films, or sheets often serve as halbfabrikate. In manufacturing supply chains, these intermediate goods are either purchased from suppliers or produced internally and then processed further, machined, or assembled to become finished products.

The term is closely related to other economic classifications such as raw materials and finished goods. Halbfabrikat reflects the intermediate stage of production and influences cost accounting, capacity planning, and logistics. Firms manage inventories of halbfabrikate to balance lead times, production schedules, and demand, aiming to minimize storage costs while maintaining supply reliability.