Small Batch Processing: The Cost of 200 Stainless Steel Plates

The cost breakdowns of 200 real-world examples show the costs of stainless steel nameplates, including materials, processing, and labor, and help you clearly understand how small-scale processing costs are structured.It will be of use to small manufacturers and business start-ups who need to make a few signs, and will help you avoid hidden costs and control your budget.

Why is it more challenging to produce small batches?

A long-time customer who does restaurant equipment recently vented to me: "I just wanted 200 stainless steel nameplates, but I got a quote that left me cross-eyed!" In fact, the cost of producing small batches of a product is easy to get wrong: The material waste is high, and there are lots of minimum order quantities.Today we will break it down and show you exactly where every cent goes, using a real invoice.

200 stickers for the price of a box.

This particular sample was made of 304 stainless steel, 10 × 5 cm in size, and involved three processes: laser cutting, etching, and sandblasting.The final cost per tile was 10.9 NT dollars.Let's take a look at each of these "cases.

Materials: Don't underestimate the cost of scrap.

The price of the material is NT $ 380 per square meter, and a single sign uses 0.005 square meters of material.But here's the catch: With small batches, only about 70 % of the material can be utilized.The final 200 units consumed 542 NT dollars worth of material. This was nearly NT $ 200 more than the theoretical figure.

Cost of labor: There's a trick to the way they price it.

The starting price for laser cutting is NT $ 150, with an additional NT $ 60 for every additional 50 units.Because of the need to make a separate plate, the engraving process requires a NT $ 300 setup fee.There is a money-saving trick here: If the order is produced together with other orders, the cost of the etching can be cut in half.

Three tips for haggling.

Pooling orders saves on the costs of starting the machine.

Confirm with the factory if there are other orders of the same type that are already scheduled, and combine orders to spread out costs for things like setting up the machines.Last time, a customer combined a batch of etching orders, and the cost per piece dropped by NT $ 0.80.

A pleasant surprise.

Some factories allow you to use the leftover materials to offset part of the processing fee.For example, the stainless steel scraps left over from this job were calculated to be worth NT $ 45, which we deducted from the freight charges.

The price is negotiable.

Don ’ t be fooled by “ quoting 500 when you only need 200 ”! I boldly proposed a “ floating price range of 150-300, ” and the price for the laser cutting went from NT $ 280 to NT $ 240.

Avoiding the pitfalls: This money should not be saved.

I've seen many cases where people choose to use cheap inks on the surface, and then the colors fade away after only half a year. I recommend that you add NT $ 20 to the cost of transportation and packaging and use bubble wrap to separate each layer, rather than just a plain cardboard box.Finally, a word of warning to consumers: be sure to ask the manufacturer for a test report on the materials used. Some products advertised as 304 stainless steel may actually be made of inferior 201 stainless steel.

(For readers who want a free quotation template, please send a private message to the author with the subject line "Signage calculation" to obtain an Excel spreadsheet.)