Can a shipping case order go below 150 pieces?

Answer: Yes, at a price. The changeover costs 30–50 CNY a unit, or the run is pooled with another colour-matched order.

Buy the tool or amortise it?

Answer: Buy when volume is steady and the drawing holds, so the mould stays yours. Amortise for a trial run.

How is the moulding-time line checked?

Answer: Get tonnage, cavity count and cycle time; machine rate over output per cycle gives unit cost.

What stays on file after first-article approval?

Answer: Dimension, wall, weight and colour reports, latch and drop records, plus two signed samples.

Who replaces a case damaged in transit?

Answer: The handover sheet decides. Intact at loading, broken at unloading is the carrier's; a pre-existing crack is not.

Shipping Case Procurement: Quotes, MOQs and Lead Times

Quick answer: Four things decide whether a shipping case order runs clean: how the quote is split into line items, how MOQ and tooling are amortised, where the critical path from sample to production lands, and what the sample is signed against.

What a Shipping Case Quote Is Made Of
MOQ and How Tooling Cost Amortises
Mapping the Lead-Time Critical Path
Sample Cases and First-Article Approval
Payment, Inspection and Damage Replacement
FAQ

1. What a Shipping Case Quote Is Made Of

A shipping case quote arrives as one number but builds from five blocks: resin, moulding time, hardware, foam, freight, with tooling separate.

Resin moves with net weight: 9.5 kg of polyethylene at 11 CNY a kilo is about 105 CNY, while an injection body of the same volume weighs 6.2 kg. On a shipping case, moulding time is softer: 2 hours 10 minutes in the mould, or 3 CNY a unit on an 800-tonne press.

Quote line	Basis	What to pin down
Resin	Net weight plus 8–12% scrap	Masterbatch, UV package, regrind
Moulding time	Mould or machine hours	Tonnage, cavities, cycle time
Hardware	Per set	304 or 201, latches apart
Foam and freight	Material, cutting, pallets	Die cost, pallet return, fumigation

2. MOQ and How Tooling Cost Amortises

An MOQ is the smallest run that pays for its tool: a rotomoulded mould costs 42,000 CNY and a colour change eats 40 minutes, so the line sits at 150 pieces, 300 with a change; injection tooling at 86,000 CNY starts at 800.

Shipping Case: closed white case on a wooden bench, folding handle held by two latches, sawdust and tools on top, orange racking behind

Buy the tool and it moves plants with you; amortise it and the supplier holds it. Write the base down either way: unit share equals tool cost over cumulative quantity from the first order, never reset per shipment. At 42,000 CNY over 256 CNY units:

First order	Tooling share	Landed price
300 pcs	140 CNY	396 CNY
1,200 pcs	35 CNY	291 CNY
3,000 pcs	14 CNY	270 CNY

The 300 to 3,000 spread is 126 CNY a unit, 112 CNY of it tooling. Negotiate the mould and the price separately.

3. Mapping the Lead-Time Critical Path

Two tracks run in parallel: a rotomoulded tool needs 25–30 days to first shot, an injection tool 30–35, foam dies 7–10 days plus 3–5 for cutting. The tool stays critical.

From T0: drawings at T+3, rough machining T+8, first shot T+30, sample out T+33, first article signed T+38, production T+40, run complete T+58, loaded T+61. Only the five days around sign-off compress, by reviewing at the plant.

Slips come from colour and foam: masterbatch takes 10 days, a foam redesign reopens the die in 7. Freeze the drawing date, price each change at 10 days, set damages at 0.3% a day capped at 5%.

4. Sample Cases and First-Article Approval

Three samples get signed: white proves structure, colour proves colour, production covers the run. Parting line, wall distribution and latch feel are settled at white stage, because the tool freezes them.

Shipping Case: transparent tote of grey pellets on a workshop floor, lid closed, side ribs visible through the granules, conveyor at left

For a shipping case, first-article approval is the last cheap exit: twelve dimensions to drawing, eight wall readings with a 3.2 mm floor, weight within plus or minus 3%, 500 latch cycles, a 1.2 m drop on six faces, three edges and one corner. Keep two signed samples with a dated photo, and fix the rework clause.

5. Payment, Inspection and Damage Replacement

Payment runs 30% deposit, 60% before shipment, 10% on acceptance, tooling invoiced apart so a modification still carries leverage. A 20% deposit is negotiable if sign-off is a payment condition.

Inspection follows GB/T 2828.1 level II: zero critical, AQL 1.5 major, 2.5 minor. Appearance is written as numbers, sink marks under 0.3 mm and colour under ΔE 1.5, or two inspectors read one shipping case two ways. Damage is judged on the carrier's handover sheet, photographed at both ends: up to 0.3% the supplier replaces, beyond that the batch is negotiated, and replacement ships in 15 days.

Clause	Wording that works	The trap
Payment	30 / 60 / 10 by stage	Tooling folded into the balance
Inspection	Zero critical, AQL 1.5 / 2.5	Pass rate without a sampling plan

Conclusion

Quote, MOQ, lead time, sign-off and clauses are one task: turning uncertainty into numbers before the order is placed. What saves money is not the last yuan on the unit price but tooling, samples and replacement terms where they belong. That is shipping case procurement.

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.