Should an Equipment Case quote list the mould separately?

Answer: On a first order, yes. It shows the real one-off cost and makes tooling options comparable.

Can a 300 piece minimum be cut to 100?

Answer: At roughly CNY 595 a case. Better to share a frame and fit inserts later.

Which block should never be squeezed?

Answer: The seven days of trials. Compressing it moves sink and flash into the batch.

Why charge for colour on the same tool?

Answer: Purging. Dark to light takes 20 to 30 shots with nothing saleable out.

Who fixes an insert that fits too tightly?

Answer: Whoever supplied the compartment drawing. A supplier-designed layout must be adjusted.

Equipment Case Procurement: Quote, MOQ and Lead Time

Quick answer: An Equipment Case price is four blocks: mould and jigs, moulding, foam cutting, panel hardware. Itemise the mould, order above the amortisation break-even, and split lead time into tooling, trials and production before comparing quotes.

What an Equipment Case Quote Is Made Of
Where Mould Cost Amortisation Breaks Even
Lead Time in Three Separate Blocks
What an RFQ Must State
Who Owns Sampling and Who Owns Production
FAQ

1. What an Equipment Case Quote Is Made Of

An Equipment Case price is four blocks stacked. Mould and jigs are one-off, and itemising them decides whether two quotes compare. Moulding locks material, tonnage and cycle: a 600×400×230 mm shell runs 96 s on an 800 tonne press and 74 s on a 500 tonne one. Foam is priced by cutting time, 18 minutes per six-compartment set. Panel work is small and easiest to omit.

Cost block	Priced by	Typical figure	What moves it
Mould and jigs	one-off, per tool	CNY 42,000	cavities, sliders, steel grade
Moulding	material plus machine time	CNY 96 per case	wall, tonnage, cycle
Foam insert	per set, cutting time	CNY 58 per set	compartments, hardness, nesting
Panel and hardware	per part	CNY 21 per case	cut-outs, gasket, latch brand

Foam is also where price gets cut: nesting two sets on one sheet saves fifteen percent but leaves a 0.5 mm deviation in the compartment wall.

2. Where Mould Cost Amortisation Breaks Even

A CNY 42,000 tool usually carries a 300 piece minimum, so the first order returns the steel. Spread over quantity, CNY 140 a case at 300 pieces, 84 at 500, 42 at 1,000, 21 at 2,000.

Order size	Mould share	Build cost	Landed price	Share of price
300	CNY 140	CNY 175	CNY 315	44%
500	CNY 84	CNY 175	CNY 259	32%
1,000	CNY 42	CNY 175	CNY 217	19%
2,000	CNY 21	CNY 175	CNY 196	11%

Break-even sits where the mould falls under a third of the price, here 500 pieces. A shared frame cuts the second tool to CNY 26,000; inserts fitted after moulding start at 20 sets.

3. Lead Time in Three Separate Blocks

A 35 day promise is 18 days of tooling, 7 of trials, 10 of production.

Stage	Days	Constraint
Tool design	6	parting line, ejection
Steel and standard parts	5	frame, sliders
Machining and fitting	7	cavity polish
Trials and changes	7	sink, flash, oversize
Scheduling and moulding	10	large press slot

Five hundred shells at 96 s over 22 hours is under a day of moulding; the press slot and hardware matching take the rest. Foam at 18 minutes a set is six days on one cutter, so parallel work holds the block at 10 days. Steel stops shipping two weeks before Chinese New Year: contract its arrival date.

4. What an RFQ Must State

Most of the spread between Equipment Case quotes comes from an incomplete RFQ, not an inflated supplier. Eight fields close it.

internal length, width and depth, per-side tolerance
wall thickness, rib thickness, draft angle
colour reference with a ΔE 1.5 limit
ingress rating and its test, such as IP67 at 1 m for 30 minutes
foam grade, hardness, compartment drawing, single-set cutting
latch type, count, holding force, here 520 N each
panel cut-out drawing, print content, gasket material
sampling plan and treatment of a rejected lot

Sampling is skipped most often: eight pieces per lot, key dimensions gauged, appearance at AQL 2.5. Tool ownership belongs in the same document, with a CNY 2,000 removal fee.

5. Who Owns Sampling and Who Owns Production

Five T1 samples at CNY 3,000, credited against the bulk order, with a change list due within three working days, settle who pays for rework later.

five T1 samples: supplier, drawing and appearance, credited later
sample sign-off: buyer, signed sample and report
change list: buyer, within 3 working days, silence is acceptance
first-off retention: supplier, 3 per lot, 12 months, inside the price

Production splits by origin: oversize with the supplier if the tolerance was fair; a mismatched compartment depends on who drew the layout; colour beyond ΔE 1.5 is the supplier's to re-run.

Conclusion

Read an Equipment Case quote as three ledgers: one-off cost, unit build, and the labour around moulding. Quantity matters because it pushes mould recovery under a third of the price. Put both on the RFQ and the Equipment Case purchase stops being a guess.

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.