The standard beam, in real numbers
Encased Industrial Beams are the item that turns your steel line into something structural. The recipe unlocks at Tier 4 - Advanced Steel Production and runs in an Assembler:
| Recipe | Machine | Cycle | Inputs (per craft) | Inputs (per min) | Output |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Encased Industrial Beam (standard) | Assembler | 10 s | Steel Beam 3 + Concrete 6 | 18 Steel Beam + 36 Concrete | 1, 6/min |
| Encased Industrial Pipe (alternate) | Assembler | 15 s | Steel Pipe 6 + Concrete 5 | 24 Steel Pipe + 20 Concrete | 1, 4/min |
“Encased Industrial Beam: 3 Steel Beam and 6 Concrete per craft, 10 s in an Assembler, 6 per minute” — the row mirrored from the satisfactory.wiki.gg recipe table into
src/data/satisfactory-recipes.json.
6 beams per minute per Assembler is modest, and the inputs behind it are not: 18 Steel Beams and 36 Concrete per minute, which is 72 steel ingot and 108 limestone per minute from one machine. This is the first recipe where the “ingredient” is a finished building material in its own right.
The ratio inside the recipe is 3 steel beams to 6 concrete, so concrete is always double the beam count by item. Since a Steel Beam costs 4 Steel Ingot and a Concrete costs 3 Limestone, the resource split works out to 12 steel ingot and 18 limestone per beam.
Pushing it back to ore
The cached upstream recipes make the full chain visible:
| Step | Recipe | Rate for one 6/min beam Assembler |
|---|---|---|
| Encased Industrial Beam | 3 Steel Beam + 6 Concrete | 6/min |
| Steel Beam | 4 Steel Ingot to 1 Beam | 18 beams/min = 72 ingot/min |
| Steel Ingot | 3 Iron Ore + 3 Coal to 3 Ingot | 72/min = 72 ore + 72 coal |
| Concrete | 3 Limestone to 1 Concrete | 36/min = 108 limestone |
That is the whole cost of a single beam machine: 72 iron ore, 72 coal and 108 limestone per minute, plus the Foundry, Constructor and Assembler count to process it. One Assembler is a small building sitting on top of a mining operation.
This is why the beam line should never be built in isolation. Feed it from the steel block you already built for Steel Pipes and from a concrete Constructor bank that also serves your foundations. If the steel side is still new to you, the steel production guide explains the Foundry ratios behind the ingot column.
Machine counts at every scale
| Target beams | Assemblers | Steel Beams needed | Beam Constructors | Steel Ingot | Foundries | Concrete | Limestone |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6/min | 1 | 18/min | 2 | 72/min | 2 | 36/min | 108/min |
| 12/min | 2 | 36/min | 3 | 144/min | 4 | 72/min | 216/min |
| 30/min | 5 | 90/min | 6 | 360/min | 8 | 180/min | 540/min |
| 60/min | 10 | 180/min | 12 | 720/min | 16 | 360/min | 1,080/min |
Read the 30/min row carefully, because it is the target most mid-game bases actually need: five Assemblers, six beam Constructors, eight Foundries and twelve concrete Constructors — 31 machines for 30 beams per minute. The Assembler count is the smallest number in the table and the least important.
If you are planning a Heavy Modular Frame block, that 30/min figure is roughly what three frame Manufacturers consume (10 beams/min each). Build the beam line to that scale or you will be hand-feeding frames from storage.
The pipe alternate, and when it wins
Encased Industrial Pipe swaps the beam for a pipe: 6 Steel Pipe plus 5 Concrete per craft, 4 per minute. Because a Steel Pipe costs 1.5 Steel Ingot (3 ingot makes 2 pipes), the per-beam cost drops:
| Metric | Standard | Pipe alternate |
|---|---|---|
| Steel Ingot per beam | 12 | 9 |
| Limestone per beam | 18 | 15 |
| Output per Assembler | 6/min | 4/min |
| Assemblers for 30/min | 5 | 8 |
| Steel Ingot per minute for 30/min | 360 | 270 |
The pipe route saves 25% of the steel and 17% of the limestone per beam, at the cost of 50% more Assemblers for the same output. On a base where coal or iron is the binding constraint — which is most bases by Tier 4 — that is a good trade. On a base where you are short of building space or Assemblers, the standard recipe is better.
There is a second, quieter advantage: pipes are produced at 20/min per Constructor from 30 ingot per minute, while beams are 15/min from 60 ingot per minute. A pipe line needs less belt throughput per unit of steel, which makes it easier to feed from a distant steel block.
Where the beams go
Encased Industrial Beams are structural: they appear in frames, nuclear parts and heavy buildings.
| Consumer | Beams per min | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Heavy Flexible Frame (alternate) | 11.25 | 3 per craft, 3.75/min |
| Heavy Modular Frame (standard) | 10 | 5 per craft, 2/min |
| Heavy Encased Frame (alternate) | 9.375 | 10 per craft, 2.8125/min |
| Uranium Fuel Rod | 1.2 | nuclear chain |
The Heavy Modular Frame draw is the one that matters for planning. Each Heavy Modular Frame Manufacturer running the standard recipe consumes 10 beams per minute alongside 40 Steel Pipe and 240 Screws. That is nearly two beam Assemblers per frame machine, and it explains why the frame line is usually the biggest steel consumer in a mid-game factory.
The Heavy Flexible Frame alternate is even hungrier at 11.25 beams per minute, but it produces 3.75 frames per minute against the standard 2 — so per frame it actually uses fewer beams (3 versus 5). If you are choosing a frame recipe, the beam cost per frame is the number to compare, not the per-minute draw.
Build notes
- Concrete is the cheap half — do not under-build it anyway. 36 concrete per minute per Assembler is two and a half concrete Constructors at 15/min. Players routinely build one and wonder why the line runs at 40%.
- Run beams and pipes from the same steel block. Both consume Steel Ingot, so one Foundry row feeding both Constructors is cheaper than two separate steel outposts.
- Buffer concrete locally. Concrete has a 4-second cycle and no byproducts, so a small container next to the Assemblers removes every stutter.
- Compare recipes in the item database. Every recipe above, with its per-minute rates, is listed in the Satisfactory items database.
- Sink at 528 points. Beams are worth 528 points at the AWESOME Sink, which is a surprisingly good return for the steel — but frames are worth far more, so sink beams only when the frame line is full.
For the steel half of this chain, the steel production guide covers Foundry ratios and the Coke and Solid Steel alternates, the alternate recipe guide explains where Encased Industrial Pipe comes from, and the production ratio walkthrough scales these tables to your own target.