When You Have to Quote Low to Win the Job: How Michigan Tool Shops Use Offshore Mold Inserts to Rescue Program Margin Without Giving Up Capacity

A Michigan T1 supplier received a $20,000 bill for a single engineering change correction loop — a modification that would have cost $5,000 in China. That figure is not an anomaly. On a representative $100,000 mold program, domestic maturation runs $70,000–$80,000. The same program, with cavity and core inserts built and matured at rapidmachinedinserts.com in Zhongshan, runs $30,000. This case study is about where that difference comes from — and what it means for the tool shop pricing a competitive bid.

CASE STUDIESCAPACITY OVERFLOWCOST RESCUESUPPLIER CHAIN EXPANSION