Two Travel Case Production quotes sit 74 yuan apart. Which is sane?

Answer: Pull the mould out first. On 15,000 units a 520,000 yuan steel tool carries 34.7 yuan a case, an 86,000 yuan aluminium tool 5.7; most of the gap is tooling.

At 15,000 units a year, build a line or outsource?

Answer: Outsource. In-house needs 2.1 million yuan against a 124,000-unit break-even; outsourcing adds 17 yuan a case but 40% capacity.

A vacuum corner measures 1.35 mm. Is that enough?

Answer: It depends on drop height. At 1.2 m it holds, at 1.5 m move to injection or thicker sheet; the corner is where any crack starts.

ABS saves 32%. Which orders stay on PC?

Answer: Northern routes and air check-in: after 72 hours at -25℃ and a drop, ABS splits while PC whitens.

How is colour held with 30% regrind?

Answer: Keep a retained sample per lot. Drift can reach 1.5, so above 1.0 a batch goes domestic; export orders run virgin resin.

12 Yuan a Case or 30,000 a Batch: Travel Case Production Costs

Quick answer: Price per unit says little about cost. Weigh mould, labour and rework together: below 15,000 units a year injection moulding is often the worst Travel Case Production route, while vacuum forming or outsourcing saves 30 yuan a case.

Three cost lines in Travel Case Production
Injection or vacuum: when vacuum wins
Own line or outsourcing: below 15,000 units
Material downgrades: where ABS replaces PC
Three orders that should not go upscale
FAQ

1. Three cost lines in Travel Case Production

An e-commerce luggage brand quoted 15,000 units a year and got two offers, 74 yuan apart: 268 and 342. The gap is not resin but how three accounts get spread: mould, labour, rework.

The mould is the only one-off. An aluminium tool runs 86,000 yuan, a steel tool 520,000, so on 15,000 units they carry 5.7 and 34.7 yuan a case. That line alone separates the two quotes.

Cost line	One-off	Per case at 15,000	When it turns
Aluminium, vacuum	86,000 yuan	5.7 yuan	Past 20,000 it wears out
Steel, injection	520,000 yuan	34.7 yuan	Under 8,000 it never spreads
Manual assembly	none	26 yuan	Above 6,000 a month labour outruns machines
Rework, freight	none	3 or 18 yuan	Past 3% rework a load ships again

Labour counts in motions. A vacuum case takes 11 motions; an injection case forms the boss platform in the tool, dropping to 8 and from 26 yuan to 19. The break is 6,000 a month: below it hands beat fixtures, above it a fixture pays back in 4 months.

Rework is the forgotten account: three extra points adds 12 yuan a case, plus a 28-day sea leg and a re-shipped load. Travel Case Production quotes rarely say which side of that line they sit on.

2. Injection or vacuum: when vacuum wins

Vacuum forming costs a sixth of the tooling and pays for it in wall uniformity: 2.0 mm sheet goes in, the corner thins to 1.35 mm.

Travel Case Production: navy hard case open on an aircraft aisle carpet, lid raised over black foam, spanners and boards in cut-outs, screwdriver beside it

Injection is different: 2.4 mm in, 2.4 mm out, corner included. The split shows at a 1.2 m drop, where the vacuum corner cracks first and the crack runs up the thinned band.

Under 5,000 units of one design replaced yearly, vacuum wins; one design sold 3 years at 15,000 a year is where injection earns its 34.7 yuan back. The middle band only the client's rhythm settles.

The usual mistake is comparing list prices while ignoring secondary work. Trimming, drilling and boss fitting each need a fixture, 9 yuan a case. A 40 yuan paper advantage often leaves 12 yuan, and Travel Case Production buyers who skip that step pay twice.

3. Own line or outsourcing: below 15,000 units

A minimum in-house line is three presses, one assembly line and six people: 2.1 million yuan.

Item	Own line	Outsourced	Gap
Equipment	2.1 million yuan	0	2.1 million
Processing a case	41 yuan	58 yuan	17 yuan
Break-even	124,000 a year	not applicable	109,000
Sample to volume	25 days	40 days	15 days

At 17 yuan saved a case, 2.1 million needs 124,000 units a year; a client at 15,000 never gets there in a Travel Case Production plan, and a design change means another tool.

Outsourcing charges twice: lead time and queue priority. Peak insertion adds 8% and lifts a case to 62 yuan; off-season slots fall to 52. So a split model holds: own capacity for 60% of the peak, farm the other 40%.

Tool ownership is the hidden item: leave a steel tool at the subcontractor and switching suppliers means cutting a new one. In Travel Case Production contracts that clause is worth more than the 17 yuan.

4. Material downgrades: where ABS replaces PC

Material and cost do not move in a straight line: PC to ABS cuts resin 32% and puts the penalty on cold impact.

Travel Case Production: navy hard case resting on an aircraft seat, lid closed, draw latches clipped, folding handle folded, grey-blue leather seats behind

Soak at -25℃ for 72 hours, then drop from 1.2 m: PC corners whiten, ABS splits. At room temperature the two look identical, so the test runs cold.

PC/ABS alloy, the usual Travel Case Production compromise, sits between them on price and impact. Below that only regrind is left: 30% regrind saves 7 yuan a case while colour drift and cycle time rise, 68 seconds to 75.

Material	Resin index	-25℃ impact	Fits
PC	100	whitens, holds	Air check-in, north
PC/ABS	82	whitens, holds	Most export orders
ABS	68	splits	Warm, short-haul
30% regrind	61	splits, drift	Domestic economy

5. Three orders that should not go upscale

Upscale is not a default. Three order types pay for features they never use.

One-off projects lead: an exhibition case works 5 days, and a wheel set rated 3,000 cycles sees under 200, so a 60 mm wheel buys nothing. Fast replacement comes second: a new design every 6 months leaves a 520,000 yuan tool at 87 yuan a case, retired half amortised. Light short-haul comes third: a cabin case under 8 kg does not need a 1.3 mm handle wall.

Set the line by order life: under 2 years upscale parts never enter the payback window, over 5 low-spec rework returns the difference. That is how Travel Case Production options are graded.

Conclusion

Spread the three accounts and the Travel Case Production decision gains edges: tooling follows volume, labour follows output, rework follows order life. Below 15,000 units go vacuum or outsourced, above 20,000 talk steel. The 74 yuan gap then becomes three price tags.

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.