Question for shop owners and quoters. I am a new CNC job shop. Like many I started off with aluminum and soft steel. Now I am moving into SS like 304. My question is, got a job for 304 and I have to order tooling. Is it wrong to pass on the cost of tooling to the customer? It’s just a couple of end mills designed for SS. I am worried that there might be a reasonable expectation for my customer to assume I have all tooling for his job. It should be noted that it’s a large company feeling me out, and just purchasing the tooling for their small job puts me upside down unless I pass on the cost. Should I eat it in hopes of…?
Your large company feeling you out, provide them a quote with multiples, eg. 5 parts, 50 parts 500 parts, 5000 parts. etc. A small shop cannot stay in business losing money on quotes in the hope of. If you have an “in” relationship with a purchaser, maybe, but if this is a blind quote, you can state on your quote. Piece part cost and then an added line item. “One time tooling charge of $xxx.00”
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@SeanGold for the most part tooling like cutter tools are built into the quote and not a separate line item. If customer sees a separate line item on bill they may ask fir it when the job is fnished.
I really appreciate the advice. Thank you for taking the time. Sean
That makes perfect sense. Thank you… Sean
@SeanGold If they paid for it, they should get it if they want it. If you don’t get a repeat order then you have a boat anchor. If they want a repeat, they must then supply the tooling or any other misc. cost that is specific to that quote… As a previous job shop engineer that was responsible for all quotations to customers, I used this method a lot. It is upfront and informative to the customer, it worked well with my medical device companies that were seeking R&D product design work. I ended up with millions of dollars in contracts for production work as a result of being the shop that prototypes the work. It was also a requirement when quoting DOD work or at least it was a self inflicted requirement when I quoted DOD jobs.
Thank you for taking the time to help me out. I am immediately implementing your advice and others. Thank you for taking the time. Sean