Should Gear Case tooling be a separate line or absorbed?

Answer: Separate is clearer, absorbed is easier on cash flow. Separate puts mould number, ownership and storage in the annex; absorbed fixes volume and refund.

Can one hundred units reach the three-thousand price?

Answer: No, but the gap closes: standard foam, existing cartons and gap-filling bring it near ninety per cent.

How long does sampling take, and is a mould change charged?

Answer: Three weeks. After approval changes are usually free, at five days of schedule each.

Where does a supplier recover a sixty-day term?

Answer: On the unit price by 2% to 3%, at the low end of wall tolerance, and in lower-grade hardware. Write all three into acceptance.

Gear Case Procurement: A Sampling and Factory Audit Diary

Quick answer: A Gear Case price is comparable only when split into resin, moulding, hardware, foam and packing. Order quantity sets how tooling is absorbed, ownership decides the bill three years out, and lead time starts when the sample is signed.

Why the same gear case comes back at three prices
MOQ tiers and who owns the tooling
Three weeks of sampling, three changes
Four lines to walk on a factory audit
Lead time, payment terms and fine print
FAQ

1. Why the same gear case comes back at three prices

Last autumn we quoted a Gear Case for an equipment integrator: 820 × 520 × 430 mm outside, 9.4 kg empty, 6.5 mm wall, two draw latches and cut foam. Three factories answered at 186, 214 and 252 RMB against one drawing.

No yuan of that spread sat in machining. It sat in definitions: the cheapest sheet named HDPE without a grade, the middle one named the grade but left the hardware as two latches.

Cost block	Share	Priced by	The line that hides the difference
Resin	26%–33%	kilos times rate	HDPE named, grade missing
Moulding	28%–36%	machine hour times cycle	cycle quoted ideal, runs longer
Hardware	13%–19%	latch and hinge per set	two latches, material open
Foam	8%–14%	density plus cutting	foam promised, density unfixed

The 252 RMB sheet reconciled: stainless hinges, foam at 45 kg per cubic metre, CNC cavities. The 186 RMB one gave ground on the same points: 5.5 mm wall, zinc alloy hinges, hand-cut foam. On paper the first is 66 RMB dearer, or 660,000 RMB across ten thousand units. Count rework and transit damage and the gap narrows to a dozen yuan. Definitions come before prices. Sheets written to different rules cannot be lined up.

2. MOQ tiers and who owns the tooling

Minimum order quantity looks like a factory threshold but is a scheduling one. Rotomoulding runs one mould per arm, and loading, heating, cooling and demoulding eat over twenty minutes, so start-up cost lands on every case.

Batch	Tooling	Relative price	Delivery
100	charged in full	100	fitted into gaps
300	half charged, rest credited	93	two days, one mould
1,000	absorbed	87	six days, two moulds
3,000	waived, annual frame	81	eighteen days, dedicated line

How tooling is written matters more than the unit price. Bought outright, ownership passes to the buyer; amortised, the fee returns at an agreed volume; left with the factory, the price is lowest but moving supplier means a new mould. An 800 mm steel mould runs 48,000 RMB, or 48 RMB per case at one thousand and 16 RMB at three thousand.

3. Three weeks of sampling, three changes

Week one the model and foam drawing, week two the trial shot, week three the mould change and signed sample. Machine time: under four days.

Gear Case: corner close-up of a black case body, one ribbed latch clamped over the lid edge, a polished stainless hinge on the right

Wall thickness on the first part was uneven: 6.2 mm across the side, 5.8 mm at the handle root, 7.1 mm in the corner. Powder builds in corners, and the thin zone falls between handle and panel centre, hence a 5.9 mm minimum beside the 6.5 mm callout.

Three changes followed: handle root plus 1.2 mm, latch down 2 mm to clear the lid rib so the corner stopped lifting, foam CNC routed at plus or minus 0.5 mm.

Mould changes cost nothing, but each pushes the schedule back five days.

4. Four lines to walk on a factory audit

We bring the first-article report, the cost table and a checklist, then walk four lines.

Gear Case: black case corner, latch pressed over three horizontal ribs, repair bench with a green circuit board, soldering iron and multimeter behind

Moulding line: machine tonnage, number of arms, powder grade on the sack, minutes claimed per case;
Hardware store: latches and hinges batched apart, a 48-hour salt spray report, stainless kept from zinc alloy;
Inspection bench: hinge screws at 4 N·m, lid gap after latching under 0.3 mm on a feeler gauge;
Packing: five-ply cartons, corner protectors, pallets, one case pulled for a 1.2 m corner drop.

The hardware store hides problems best: two hinge batches look identical until the spray report returns, by then the pallets are at sea.

5. Lead time, payment terms and fine print

Lead time starts when the sample is signed, not when the order is placed.

Stage	Days	Usual hold-up
Drawing and foam sign-off	5	foam drawing slips
Tooling and first article	7	wall tolerance not agreed
Pilot batch, 100 units	6	latch force unstable
Production, 1,000 units	18	larger order jumps queue

Payment terms carry a second price: thirty per cent deposit, balance against the bill of lading. Thirty days adds 1.5% to 2%; sixty days adds more, or comes out of wall and hardware.

Four clauses need an edit: storage for 12 months at 2 RMB per cubic metre per day beyond, the mould number in the annex, AQL 2.5 inspection, volumetric weight at 6000.

Conclusion

The price of a Gear Case is never the last line on the quotation. It is cost table, tooling clause, schedule and acceptance rule stacked. Three quotes differed by 66 RMB, and the gap was wall, hardware and foam. Fix those items on one day and procurement has begun. Ask for the cost table first, then argue about the Gear Case price.

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.