How to Reduce Tooling Costs and Lead Times in Contract Manufacturing

Every procurement and engineering team knows the sting of upfront capital expenses. Tooling is often the biggest hurdle to getting a new product off the ground, quickly chewing up budgets and stretching out project timelines. If you’re constantly searching for ways to reduce tooling costs while accelerating your time to market, you aren’t alone.

The secret to keeping those capital expenditures in check, without sacrificing the quality of your finished components, lies in a concept you probably already know, but might not be fully leveraging: Design for Manufacturability (DFM).

The Power of Design for Manufacturability

What exactly does DFM look like in practice for complex components? Designing for Manufacturability is all about optimizing the design of a product so it can be manufactured more easily, efficiently, and cost-effectively from day one. It serves as the bridge between an engineer’s ideal vision on a screen and the physical reality of the factory floor.

When implemented correctly, DFM minimizes part complexity, reduces the number of custom machining operations required, and ultimately slashes both your upfront tooling bill and your tooling lead times.

Collaborate Early to Simplify Stamping and Hydroforming

The biggest mistake we see producers make is finalizing a design before consulting their contract manufacturing partner. At Intran, we’ve been supplying the automotive industry since 1969. When you bring our engineering team in during the early CAD stages, especially for complex processes like sheet metal stamping or tube hydroforming, we can quickly spot opportunities to simplify your tooling requirements.

For example, in sheet metal stamping, where our facility operates 30 presses ranging from 10 to 350 tons, a minor adjustment to a bend radius, hole placement, or flange design can make a big difference. A slight tweak can mean the difference between utilizing a simple, standard progressive die and requiring a complex, multi-stage, custom-tooled setup that costs twice as much and takes weeks longer to build.

The same principle applies to tube hydroforming. We use more than 400 KPA of fluid pressure and precision tooling to shape metal bellows and corrugated tubes for the automotive, aerospace, and oil industries. By working with our experts early in the design phase, you’ll be certain your parts are designed to work within the natural capabilities of the hydroforming process. This prevents the need for overly intricate, expensive tooling and reduces the need for secondary machining operations.

Standard Materials Mean Faster Tooling

Another major factor in extending tooling and production lead times is material selection. It is often tempting for engineers to spec out a highly specialized alloy or a highly specific metal thickness for a new component. But does the application actually demand it?

By standardizing material grades, such as utilizing common thicknesses of cold rolled steel (CRS), stainless steel, or aluminum (from 0.15mm to 6.35mm), you can eliminate the wait times associated with sourcing custom metal coils. Standard materials generally utilize standard tooling tolerances and die clearances. This means our tooling engineers can get your dies, jigs, and fixtures built, tested, and running on the line significantly faster.

Lower Costs with Contract Assembly

Beyond the raw fabrication of metal parts, DFM also extends to how parts are put together. Because we specialize in contract assembly and subassembly manufacturing, we know how to reduce process complexity. By designing parts that integrate easily, whether they are wire harnesses, brackets, or fuel sender assemblies, we minimize waste and reduce assembly costs, all while leveraging our highly skilled, globally competitive labor force.

Partner with Intran Today

You shouldn’t have to choose between a precision-engineered part and a reasonable tooling budget. By embracing DFM principles early and leaning on a partner with over five decades of manufacturing expertise, you can bring superior products to market faster and with significantly less upfront capital.

Plus, because of our strategic location, your parts can be trucked to the USA fast once production begins. No overseas shipping delays, just efficient, high-quality manufacturing backed by our IATF 16949:2016 and ISO 9001:2015 certifications.

Are you ready to optimize your next production run, lower your upfront expenses, and cut weeks off your schedule? Let’s talk about how we can streamline your designs and elevate your manufacturing strategy. Contact us online today to discuss your next project with our engineering team!

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Note: This article is for informational purposes; not all processes referenced are provided by Intran. Connect with our team today to discuss our manufacturing capabilities and how we can work together to meet your production needs.