Quick answer: A case low moq run of 100 units is doable at 25 days: 12 days behind a 3000 unit batch, a 2 h colour purge, and 18% on the unit cost.
Table of contents
- Whether a case low moq order can be taken
- The 2 h purge and the 18% unit cost
- How the 25 day lead time is built
- Five a carton: freight and three traps
- FAQ
1. Whether a case low moq order can be taken
A 100 unit order will be accepted, but it is always scheduled behind the 3000 unit batch in front of it. A mould change costs 1.5 h and a colour purge 2 h; that fixed time comes to 4.2 s per unit on 3000 units against 126 s on 100, a factor of 30.
Three conditions decide it: shared tooling, a colour inside the current range, and 25 days accepted. Meet all three and the run can be slotted in; miss one and the date slides by 5 to 7 days.
Sharing tooling means the outer size and the cavity cannot move. A case low moq request that adds a handle recess or changes the latch type touches the tool, and from then on it is no longer priced as a small run.
A hundred units and three thousand are different jobs on the floor. The batch holds one machine for 12 days without a parameter change, while the small run starts and stops that machine once, 0.5 h at each end, making nothing during either.
There is a merging option. If the 100 units match another order in colour and tool, both run as one batch on a single purge, which cuts 25 days to 16 — provided you accept that colour and freeze the quantity.
So ask which slot the 100 units land in, not whether they can be made at all.
2. The 2 h purge and the 18% unit cost
The 2 h purge is not negotiable. Screw, barrel, hot runner and hopper all get cleaned, and dark to light needs an extra flush: 2 h is the floor, black to white 3 h.
Purging compound runs 3 kg through the screw, then 20 shots clear the head — 19 min at 57 s a shot that sells nothing, so only 40 min of the 2 h is real disassembly.
Spread over 100 units, those 2 h add 72 s of machine time each, which is 1.26 times the moulding time again on a 57 s cycle.
The 18% is 9% purge, 4% mould change and first-off approval, 3% full inspection, 1% packing and 1% leftover from whole-bag material ordering.
It is a batch figure, not a volume discount: the same 5.6 h hangs on 100 units or 300 and only the divisor moves. A same-colour repeat run buys about half of it back.
Ask which charges are one-off and which repeat every batch; that moves a case low moq price further than arguing the total.
3. How the 25 day lead time is built
The 25 days are waiting, making and moving. Production is 2 days: 100 shots at 57 s is 1.6 h, plus 1.5 h of mould change and 0.5 h of first-off approval, which fits in one shift.
Queueing takes the time. The 3000 unit batch runs 12 days at 22 h a day, and the 100 units only get the gap after it comes off; no shop stops volume for a small run.
The queue is not fixed. Order with three batches confirmed and it is 18 days; order at month end with the last batch nearly done and it is 5. The same 100 units range from 18 to 31 days.
Material sits in the middle: masterbatch ships in 25 kg bags, 100 cases need 168 kg, so 7 bags are ordered at 175 kg and the extra 7 kg becomes leftover that is harder to reuse the more exotic the colour.
The tail is 1 day of assembly, 1 day of full inspection, 1 day of packing and 6 days of groupage.
| Stage | Days | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Queue | 12 | Gap after the 3000 unit batch |
| Material | 2 | 7 bags of masterbatch, colour approval |
| Moulding | 2 | 100 shots, including the 2 h purge |
| Assembly | 1 | Latches and labels |
| Inspection | 1 | All 100 units checked |
| Packing | 1 | 20 cartons, 5 per carton |
| Freight | 6 | Groupage, 2 m³ minimum |
| Total | 25 | — |
Cutting 25 days to 18 takes two moves: merge the colour into a same-colour volume batch to save the 2 h purge and the 12 day queue, or switch groupage to a full container to save 3 days.
The leverage is in your own colour list, not in the supplier's schedule.
4. Five a carton: freight and three traps
A hundred units fill 20 cartons of 5, 24 kg gross, 620 × 420 × 360 mm, 0.094 m³ each and 1.88 m³ for the lot, billed at a 2 m³ minimum: 190 USD at 95 USD/m³, or 1.9 USD a case.
Packing detail decides breakage. Two-wall corrugated, 3 mm dividers and corner protectors are what keep a 24 kg carton intact in a 0.8 m corner drop.
Groupage also waits: a container leaves on your date, groupage waits for the lane to fill, so 2 of the 6 days are spent waiting.
The first trap is being pushed by an insert order — if the volume batch slips 3 days, the 100 units slip with it, and no shop jumps a small run ahead without a surcharge.
The second is colour. A case low moq run often uses first-shot material, so the first 20 and the last 80 can differ by ΔE 2.5, visible in daylight; pull the first 20 out as spares.
The third is no spares. One case lost in transit is 1% of the order and a replacement run is 25 days, so building 5 extra costs 5% against a 25 day hole.
All three close with three lines on the order: the production slot, a ΔE 1.8 cap and 5 spare units.
Conclusion
Price a case low moq order on fixed overhead, not on material per unit. Moulding takes 1.6 h; the 5.6 h actually spent is 2 h purge, 1.5 h mould change, 1.5 h inspection and 0.6 h packing, which is the 18%. Add a 12 day queue and 6 days of freight and only 2 of the 25 days go into making cases. Confirm shared tooling and an existing colour, lock the production slot and a ΔE cap, then buy 5 spares — 1% breakage on 100 units is one case, and 5% extra stock beats a 25 day replacement. With those four lines on the order, the 100 units stay at 25 days instead of drifting to 40.
| Cost item | Amount | Per unit | Share of unit cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Colour purge | 2 h | 72 s machine time | 9% |
| Mould change and first-off | 1.5 h | 54 s | 4% |
| Full inspection | 1.5 h | 54 s | 3% |
| Packing, 20 cartons | 0.6 h | 22 s | 1% |
| Leftover from whole bags | 7 kg | — | 1% |
| Total | 5.6 h | — | 18% |
This article discusses container-side specifications and design implications only, and does not cover any handling, loading or use of the contents.
Related Reading
- How custom case MOQ is set
- MOQ and lead time for protective cases
- Specifications for small batch custom cases
- Minimum order for a custom colour
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