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The RFQ guide: prepare a drawing package that gets quoted in half the time
Published 2026-07-23
Slow quotes are rarely a slow factory — they are information making round trips. Every item missing from the package costs one more email loop. This guide lays out the process from the other side of the desk: what we do with your drawing first, what stops us, and how to prepare an enquiry that is readable the day it arrives.
The first hour after your drawing arrives: three reads
A drawing entering engineering review passes three reads. The section read: can this profile be extruded, does it need new tooling, are there features — a thin wall butted to a thick one, say — that want adjusting. The machining read: which operations the holes, slots, threads and end faces call for, and whether datums and tolerances contradict each other. The finishing read: anodize or powder, in what order relative to machining, and what must be masked.
When all three reads pass, the enquiry moves to scheduling and pricing. When any read stalls, it generates a question list that goes back to you. Preparing an RFQ well is, at bottom, the art of keeping that question list empty.
File formats: the PDF carries the requirements, the STEP carries the shape
The strongest package is a pair: a fully dimensioned PDF drawing that owns tolerances, surface and material requirements, and a STEP (or X_T) model that owns the exact geometry for programming. Each checks the other. Either one alone still works — but slower: a PDF alone means manual modelling on our side, a model alone means a round trip to settle tolerances.
Sketches and photographs are welcome too, especially at prototype stage — just budget one confirmation loop, because we will redraw what we understood and ask for sign-off before quoting and cutting.
Five pieces of information that speed everything up
Alloy and temper, written in full (6061-T6, 6063-T5) — temper drives both mechanics and machinability. Quantities, first batch and annual outlook — a process planned for 200 pieces and one planned for 20,000 are different processes, starting from the tooling. Critical tolerances, marked where the fit really lives (our tolerancing guide covers how). Finish, in one complete line: treatment, colour reference or sample, film class, masked areas. And an honest target date — it tells us whether to propose sampling first or head straight for production, which 'ASAP' never does.
The four gaps that stall quotes most often
One: material given as just 'aluminium', or a grade without a temper — the process cannot be fixed, so a question goes back. Two: 'make it like the sample' with no sample on the way — a photo cannot be measured. Three: one tight tolerance blanketed across the whole drawing — review stops to ask which features actually need it, a loop that never had to happen. Four: no quantity — tooling, fixturing and inspection all hang on it, and without it every answer can only be a range.
Close those four gaps and, in most cases, the feasibility read lands the same day and the quote inside one to two working days.
When quotes come back: compare them fairly
Quotations from different factories rarely cover the same scope, and comparing numbers alone compares the wrong thing. Walk the table below to make sure everyone priced the same job:
| Item | The question to ask |
|---|---|
| Material | Same alloy and temper? Mill certificate included? |
| Scope of operations | Extrusion only, machining only — or extrusion, machining and finish in one line? |
| Surface treatment | In-house or subcontracted? Film class stated? |
| Inspection & documents | Dimensional report and first-article sign-off included? Against which drawing revision? |
| Packing & delivery | Export packing spec? Lead time counted from sample approval or from order? |
The one-line summary
Drawing, quantities, alloy with temper, finish spec, target date — send them together and the enquiry starts as work, not as a conversation. The review, the suggestions and the confirmations are our job. A factory that gives you a same-day feasibility read on a clean package is a factory that respects your time; that is the standard we hold ourselves to.