A customer calls and says, "I need 5 parts to test a design." Two months later, they call back: "Design works — now I need 500." Same part, same drawing, completely different job. Here's why.
Prototype Mindset
Prototyping is about speed and flexibility. The shop uses general-purpose fixturing, standard tooling, and programs that might not be fully optimized. The goal is to get you functional parts fast so you can test, iterate, and finalize your design.
Production Mindset
Production is about efficiency and repeatability. The shop invests time upfront — dedicated fixtures, optimized tooling, refined programs — because that investment pays off over hundreds or thousands of parts. Cycle times drop. Consistency goes up. Per-part cost drops significantly.
The Pricing Curve
Here's the part most people don't realize: the price per part doesn't drop linearly with quantity. The biggest drop happens between 1 and 25 parts — that's where setup cost gets diluted. After that, the curve flattens. Going from 100 to 1,000 parts might only drop the per-part price 15-25%.
The sweet spot depends on the part. Simple parts see diminishing returns quickly. Complex parts with expensive setups benefit more from volume.
Planning the Transition
The smartest approach: tell your shop upfront that prototypes are headed toward production. Even if you're only ordering 5 today, knowing that 500 are coming lets the shop make better decisions about fixturing and programming. They might invest a little more upfront to save significantly later.
Blanket Orders and Releases
For ongoing production, consider a blanket order — commit to a total quantity over a period (say, 1,000 parts over 12 months) and release in batches (100/month). You get production pricing without carrying all the inventory at once. The shop gets predictable work. Everyone wins.