Can the tooling fee be waived on a 300-unit first aid kit case order?

A: It can be discussed, but a waived fee returns as amortisation. Compare tooling plus the 300-unit total against the amortised price over annual volume; the lower figure is the real offer.

Two suppliers are 18 CNY apart on the same case. Where is the difference?

A: Insert density and latch grade. Dropping from 45 to 30 kg/m³ and switching 304 for 201 accounts for most of it, and nothing outside changes.

What breaks when 45 days becomes 30?

A: First-off acceptance. A week less tool time leaves less polishing allowance, so sink marks and flash are fixed later and the latch pocket tolerance drifts first.

How should mould ownership be written into the contract?

A: Four items: who owns it, which workshop stores it, who pays for maintenance, and how many years after the last order it can be collected, plus the trials included and the fee beyond.

First Aid Kit Case at 300 Units: Mould, 45 Days, Six Quote Lines

Quick answer: The spread between two first aid kit case quotes usually sits in three places, not in the shell: who owns the tooling, how many units the tool cost is spread over, and how much lead time is being squeezed out. Prepare a loading list, a measured reference case and an annual volume, then ask for a part-by-part quote.

Three documents to prepare before you ask for a price
Who pays for the mould on a 300-unit order
Break the quote into parts and compare line by line
How 45 days is actually built
Sampling and the factory visit
Payment, freight and after-sales in four lines
FAQ

1. Three documents to prepare before you ask for a price

Ask for "something like the photo" and the number is costed on the cheapest reading; when the sample arrives with a cavity 20 mm short, the tooling change is a fresh negotiation.

Document	What to record	What it moves in the quote
Loading list	longest item 320 mm, heaviest 2.4 kg, 7 compartments	cavity layout and how many parts the tool is cut for
Reference case	400×300×150 mm outside, 3.2 mm wall, 3.1 kg complete	whether a cheaper quote really uses less material
Annual volume	2400 units a year, 300 per run, four runs	MOQ tier and the base the tooling is spread over

Measure the cavity at the rim, the waist and the floor and take the smallest figure, then weigh the case with the insert in and the insert alone.

2. Who pays for the mould on a 300-unit order

First Aid Kit Case: sand hard case open on a warehouse bench, grey speckled foam lining the lid, empty compartmented foam base, black folding handle

On 300 units the tooling often costs more than the goods. A two-cavity shell tool is quoted around 42000 CNY: 140 CNY a case across 300 units, 7 CNY across 6000. Two prices for one drawing differ because of the base, not the machine.

Ownership is written four ways, and each is a different object in the contract:

buyer pays, buyer owns, supplier stores it
buyer pays, supplier owns, buyer gets a discount on the first batches
supplier pays, buries it in the unit price, charges again on any change
both pay half, ownership shared and pro-rated if production stops

The first two differ not in money but in whether the tool can leave the building later. Write down where it is stored, who maintains it, who pays for repairs, and the right to collect it within three years of the last order. Three trials are included; from the fourth, 800 CNY a run.

3. Break the quote into parts and compare line by line

Broken into parts, a first aid kit case quote shows its vague areas.

Quote line	Unit	Usual vague wording	How to check
Shell moulding	per case	priced by shot weight, no grade	name the PP or ABS grade and grams per case
Latches	per pair	"stainless steel"	ask for 304 and a 48-hour salt spray record
Insert	per set	EVA and EPE used interchangeably	ask for a tested sample at 45 kg/m³
Packaging	per case	"packing included"	five-layer corrugated, four per carton, with dividers
Tooling amortisation	per case	"amortised", no base	state the unit base and whether it can be bought out

The insert hides cost most easily: two materials both called EVA, at 45 and 30 kg/m³, differ by 9 CNY a set and only show it after a long trip. Latches are the second: 304 and 201 differ by about thirty percent, and after 48 hours of salt spray one opens with a thumb while the other has gone stiff. The grade is invisible, so ask for the report and match its batch to the boxes.

4. How 45 days is actually built

45 days is four stages plus one round of tool modification in reserve.

First Aid Kit Case: olive-grey case open on a sewing bench, mould marks inside the lid, foam tray with staple gun, tape and twine

Stage	Days	Can it be compressed
Tool cutting and closing	18	to 12 with a 6000 CNY expedite fee
Trials and modification	7	three included, more changes cost more time
Moulding	15	650-tonne press, two cavities, 95-second cycle, about 420 a day
Packing and dispatch	5	peak-season booking can add two days

Ask while quoting: is the tool cut in house or subcontracted, which adds three to five days; is the press dedicated or shared, because shared means queueing; do moulding and insert cutting sit on one site; is inspection at the end of the line or in the warehouse, because only the first allows rework on the spot.

Pulling 45 days to 30 usually removes the trial week. Less polishing allowance drops first-off acceptance from nine in ten to seven in ten, so if the date is fixed, ship 100 units for the gap.

5. Sampling and the factory visit

Sample fees and a trip decide whether the next two thousand units match each other.

Sample fee 1200 CNY, credited against the order, sample out within 7 days
Three first-off units signed off and kept on file with the batch label
Press tonnage 650, two cavities, matching the machine named in the quote
Latches still open one-handed after 5000 cycles
20 units each for appearance and fit, judged at AQL 2.5

The third is most often skipped. A quote written for a 650-tonne press, produced on a 380-tonne machine, runs a 140-second cycle instead of 95, shrinks differently, and may need the latch pockets re-cut. The tonnage is on the machine plate; reading it is the cheapest check.

6. Payment, freight and after-sales in four lines

Payment, freight basis, warranty and spare ratio decide what sits outside the unit price. Thirty percent deposit with the balance before dispatch pushes inspection to two days before loading, so a problem found then sails with the shipment. Thirty, sixty against the bill of lading copy and ten after inspection usually costs 1 to 2 percent, and that premium buys room to negotiate after the goods land. Freight needs a basis, with the case converted at 400×300×150 mm, four per carton, where part-load and full-load rates differ by 4 CNY a case. Warranty runs 12 months on latches, hinges and handle, with spares at 2 percent.

Longer credit is not automatically better. The supplier's cash cost returns to the unit price, 60 days working out at roughly 3 percent.

Conclusion

What is negotiated on a first aid kit case order is the amortisation base, the tooling title and the slack in the schedule; the unit price is the result. A 300-unit order still gets a fair price when the enquiry carries numbers, not a photograph.

This article covers container-side specifications and design implications only, not the handling, loading or use of the contents.