What MOQ should I expect for a cartridge box?

Answer: Mid-size injection cases sit near 300 units and rotomoulded large cases near 100, since an aluminium mould costs about a third of an injection tool.

Who owns the tool after I pay for it?

Answer: Whoever the contract says. Paid separately, the core can move but needs trial shots elsewhere; amortised, it stays with the factory.

How much colour difference is acceptable?

Answer: Below 2 on a spectrophotometer is invisible, above 3 should be rejected; compare under one light source.

Why do quotes expire after 30 days?

Answer: PP spot prices swing 6 percent within a month, so 30 days is the longest lock most plants carry; longer costs 2 to 3 percent.

How should late delivery be written into the contract?

Answer: Charge 0.3 percent of contract value per day, capped at 5 percent, and allow cancellation past 15 days.

Cartridge Box Procurement: Quotes, MOQ and Lead Time

Quick answer: A cartridge box price is set by tooling, MOQ, resin grade, hardware and lead time, not by one unit figure. This walks through the enquiry sheet, the quote and the schedule, with values you can copy.

Five Items to Put on a Cartridge Box RFQ
MOQ, Tooling and Sampling Fees
Four Costs Missing from Most Quotes
Splitting Lead Time into Nodes
Tying Payment to Inspection
FAQ

1. Five Items to Put on a Cartridge Box RFQ

A cartridge box enquiry is only comparable in numbers. In one tracked round, the same 400 × 300 × 160 mm cavity described as PP with foam came back at 78 to 165 yuan, with the spread in resin, wall and hardware.

Name five items: cavity with tolerance and gauge, main and base wall stated apart from ribs, resin grade with a regrind cap, hardware counted item by item, liner material and slot depth.

Item	Write this	Omitted means
Cavity	L × W × D, tolerance, gauge	Scaled from outside, will not fit
Wall	Main, base, rib apart	Thinnest point accepted, lid dishes
Resin	Grade, regrind ceiling	Regrind creeps in, cold cracks
Hardware	Latch count, pin, valve	Lowest spec quoted, added later
Liner	Material, density, slot depth	Foam downgraded, item shifts

Give the net cavity, not the outside: a case 420 mm outside often holds 392 mm, and scaling from outside lands 6 to 10 mm short.

2. MOQ, Tooling and Sampling Fees

A single-cavity tool for a mid-size case costs about 38,000 yuan. The 300-unit MOQ reflects a 90-minute mould change and 12 units of start-up scrap.

Cartridge Box: cream case open on airport floor, tablet and coiled cable in the lid, circuit board and handheld meter in the foam, two latches

Sampling runs 1,200 yuan per unit, credited against bulk within 90 days. Order three: standard colour, specified colour, and one with the liner fitted.

Tooling ownership is a contract clause. Invoiced separately and owned by the buyer, the core can move; amortised, the unit is 4 to 6 percent cheaper but the tool stays.

Quantity	Factor	Tooling	Lead time
100	1.35	Full	28 days
300	1.00	Half	35 days
500	0.92	Waived	38 days
1000	0.86	Waived	45 days

3. Four Costs Missing from Most Quotes

Regrind comes first. A quote costed on virgin resin with 20 percent regrind blended in is 6 to 9 percent lighter; past 30 percent, cold drops crack the corner first.

Hardware second: a glass-filled nylon latch saves 4 yuan and cuts life from 8,000 closings to 2,500. Testing third: air, drop and salt spray at an outside lab cost about 2,600 yuan a lot, usually excluded.

Packaging fourth: a five-ply shipper with four corners adds 6.5 yuan, and pallet versus loose loading moves freight 12 percent.

4. Splitting Lead Time into Nodes

Thirty-five days is six nodes: 12 of tool, 4 of trial, 5 of resin, 9 of moulding, 3 of assembly, 2 of packing. At 40 units a day, 1,000 units need 19 moulding days and become 45.

Cartridge Box: cream case closed on pale floor, ribs and a round pressure valve on the lid, two latches gripping the handle, glass-walled showroom behind

Two levers work. A standard colour removes 5 days of matching; die-cut EPE instead of cut EVA removes 3. The 16 days of tool and trial do not compress, so a 20-day promise usually hides trial shots.

Start the clock at the later of deposit and drawing approval.

5. Tying Payment to Inspection

Payment splits 30, 60, 10, with the last tenth released only after arrival and inspection.

Write acceptance as numbers: level II at AQL 2.5, zero critical; 0.2 bar for 60 seconds allowing 5 percent decay; 5,000 latch cycles; a 1.2 m drop on six faces at three points.

Milestone	Share	Trigger	Document
Order	30 percent	Drawing approved	Tool sheet
Pre-shipment	60 percent	Inspection passed	Test report
On arrival	10 percent	Sampling passed	Acceptance sheet

No document, no release of funds.

Conclusion

The cost of a cartridge box is settled before unit price comes up: by how precisely the enquiry is written, who owns the tool, and whether acceptance can be measured. Numbers make quotes comparable, tool clauses keep spending recoverable, and payment tied to inspection gives the schedule consequences. Run those three steps and a cartridge box typically lands a tenth below a price-only purchase.

This article discusses only the container (case body) side of specifications and design intent, and does not cover any handling, loading or use of the contents.