Custom Shaped Wire: MOQ, Tooling and Sample Lead Time | ERQI WIRE

Three numbers shape every custom shaped wire quote before the unit price is even discussed: the MOQ, the tooling fee, and the sample lead time. Buyers who understand what each one pays for negotiate the right things. Buyers who do not, negotiate the wrong ones and end up paying anyway.

MOQ: what the minimum actually is

A shaped-wire MOQ is not a policy number — it is arithmetic. Every new section consumes fixed work: die cutting, pass schedule development, first-article pulls and gauge setup. That work costs roughly the same whether the order is 30 kg or 300 kg. The MOQ spreads it over enough kilos that the added cost per kilo stays sane. Ours starts around 50 kg for a new section, and less for a section already in the die library.

What moves it down: reusing an existing die (the biggest lever — check the sections catalogue before assuming your section is new), accepting a close standard section instead of an exact one, and combining two sections in one enquiry so setup work is shared. What does not move it down: asking politely.

Tooling fee: what it covers

The die fee pays for cutting and proving a shaped bore — carbide die stock, wire EDM hours, and the first pulls that prove the pass schedule actually produces the section. It is a real, itemised cost, and it is why a “free tooling” offer usually just means the fee is hidden in the per-kilo price.

Two things worth knowing. First, the die is section-specific, not size-specific: a die proven for your 4×2.5 trapezoid is a sunk cost only for that section, so if your product line will use the same section in several sizes, negotiating the die fee against a multi-size plan is reasonable. Second, die fee and MOQ trade against each other — some mills waive the fee and raise the MOQ. Decide which one you would rather carry: capital up front, or inventory for months.

Sample lead time: the two routes

Existing die: days. The section is already proven; sampling is pulling and cutting. New section: 10–20 working days, and the breakdown explains why it is not compressible by much — die cutting (about half the time), first pulls and gauge verification (a third), sample approval and packing (the rest). Compressing it usually means skipping the gauge verification, which moves the risk from our schedule to your first batch.

The full sampling policy — what is free, what carries the fee, what a sample proves — is on the custom shaped wire samples page, and the step-by-step sequence from drawing to approved sample is in the walkthrough.

Putting the three together

A realistic first engagement looks like this: existing-die sample free and fast, new-section sample at 10–20 days with the die fee quoted transparently, MOQ around 50 kg, and a pilot batch of 50–100 kg between sample approval and production. Send the drawing and your annual quantity — the quote will show the three numbers separately, so you can see exactly what each one is doing.