Field notes

Notes from the factory floor.

Posts on contract manufacturing, sourcing, and the mundane reality of moving product from first unit to consistent batches.

June 3, 20266 min
The 10-minute drawing audit that catches the three most expensive tolerance mistakes
Before you send a drawing to a shop, run this checklist. Three tolerance mistakes account for 80% of quote inflation and first-article failures. All three are visible in ten minutes.
May 20, 20263 min
Send the drawing, not the description
A photo and a paragraph get you a number that means nothing. The quote you can actually act on starts with the drawing. Here is what changes the moment a real spec lands on the table.
May 6, 20265 min
The fastest quote is the one you can't trust
A manufacturing marketplace returns a CNC quote in four minutes. Eleven weeks later the actual delivered cost is 67 percent higher. The first number is not a lie, but it is also not a number that means anything until the spec has been pressure-tested.
April 28, 20267 min
When to skip PPAP
Full PPAP is overkill for small production runs. Three leaner alternatives that still produce a defensible first-article package without the 18-element overhead.
April 21, 20266 min
Prototype to production: the six-week gap
A prototype CNC machined bracket costs 180 euros and ships in four days. The 500-unit production run is quoted at 11 euros per piece and eight weeks. Three months later the parts are still not shipping. Here is what actually happened between those two numbers.