Which block in a Field Armoury quote inflates most easily?

Answer: Coating and packing. Both are priced by area and volume; powder coating quoted as one line runs from 60 to 140 CNY.

Can a Field Armoury minimum drop to ten?

Answer: Yes, at 400 to 600 CNY more per unit, since 18 000 CNY over ten units is 1 800 each.

Can 35 days be shortened?

Answer: To 28 if steel is in stock and the coating line is free. The saving comes from material and inspection; welding and cure time cannot move.

Should the buyer pay for tooling?

Answer: On the first order, yes, with ownership and retrieval written in, or the dies belong to someone else.

Who pays freight on a warranty lock?

Answer: The supplier, both ways, for a non-human failure; a warranty without a freight line gets argued about.

Field Armoury Procurement: Pricing, MOQ and Lead Time

Quick answer: Price a Field Armoury by five blocks, not one number: steel and sections, forming and welding hours, coating, locks and hardware, packing and freight. The minimum is 30 units, tooling is amortised across the batch, and 35 days of lead time breaks into seven stages.

The Five Cost Blocks Behind a Field Armoury Quote
Checking Steel and Section Consumption
Forming Hours and Coating Cost
MOQ Tooling and Amortisation
Lead Time RFQ Fields and Warranty
FAQ

1. The Five Cost Blocks Behind a Field Armoury Quote

A quote you can check is not a total but five unit prices. A typical Field Armoury at 1 080 CNY splits into 270 for steel and sections, 260 for forming and welding, 95 for coating, 145 for locks and hardware, 105 for packing and freight, and 205 for overhead and margin.

Only then does negotiation have a target. Material is checked against the day's steel price, labour against process minutes, coating against area, hardware against model, freight against volumetric weight. A single number hides its margin, and a blanket cut lands on sanding and inspection.

Block	Basis	Per unit
Steel and sections	42 kg sheet, 6.4 m tube	270 CNY
Forming and welding	4.2 hours at 62 CNY	260 CNY
Coating	3.6 m², powder plus cure	95 CNY
Locks and hardware	three-point lock, hinges, handle	145 CNY
Packing and freight	crate plus groupage	105 CNY

2. Checking Steel and Section Consumption

The body uses 1.2 mm cold-rolled sheet, the door 1.5 mm, the frame 6.4 m of 20 by 20 by 1.5 tube. Net weight is 38 kg but purchasing carries 42 kg for nesting loss, since a 1250 by 2500 sheet yields about 78 percent. At 5 200 CNY a tonne the sheet is 218 and the tube 51, which accounts for the 270 quoted.

Ask for the nesting drawing and the offcut route. Lifting yield from 78 to 84 percent saves 3 kg a unit, 15.6 CNY, or 47 000 CNY over 3 000 units.

Part	Material	Gauge	Per unit
Sides and top	cold-rolled	1.2 mm	2.9 m²
Door	cold-rolled	1.5 mm	1.1 m²
Frame	square tube	20×20×1.5	6.4 m

3. Forming Hours and Coating Cost

Hours on a Field Armoury accumulate by the minute: laser cutting 6.2 min for a 21.7 m path, fourteen bends at 4.8 min, 420 welds and 6.8 m of seam at 7.5 min, sanding 12 min, assembly 25 min, for 4.2 hours. At 62 CNY an hour that is 260 CNY, close to a quarter of the price.

Coating covers 3.6 m²: shot blast to Sa2.5, phosphate, powder at 70 to 90 μm, cured at 180 °C for 15 min. Powder at 32 CNY a kilo and 0.85 kg a unit plus energy comes to 95 CNY.

4. MOQ Tooling and Amortisation

The 30-unit minimum means same size and colour. Below it tooling will not spread: dies, welding fixture, paint jig and gauge total 18 000 CNY, or 600 a unit at 30, 180 at 100, 60 at 300. Ask how that line is amortised.

Sampling costs 2 500 CNY, credited against orders. Tooling ownership must be written down, or the fixture stays behind when you switch and the dies are paid for twice.

Batch	Tooling per unit	Landed unit price	Lead time
30	600 CNY	1 680 CNY	35 days
100	180 CNY	1 260 CNY	42 days
300	60 CNY	1 140 CNY	55 days

5. Lead Time RFQ Fields and Warranty

A Field Armoury order of 35 days runs as seven stages: material 7, cutting and bending 6, welding 5, coating 5, assembly 6, packing 3, inspection and dispatch 3. Peak-season steel stretches to 10 days, so the contract needs an extension clause and a daily penalty.

The RFQ needs twelve fields: size, gauge and material, colour and gloss, lock model and locking points, shelf count and load, foot type, packing, delivery point, batch, acceptance standard, warranty and quote validity. One missing field costs a round of clarification.

Terms run to three lines: quote valid 30 days; steel movement beyond 5 percent reopens the price against the monthly average; warranty 24 months on the cabinet, 12 on locks, spares at 1 percent, response in 48 hours.

Conclusion

Split the quote into five blocks, spread tooling across the real batch, break lead time into seven stages, and procurement stops comparing totals and starts comparing structure. Negotiate a Field Armoury with these three tables and the price becomes something you can hold.

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.