- TCO, not unit price — the number that matters. ±0.003 mm milling / ±0.002 mm turning; ±0.002 mm grinding.
- Ppk ≥ 1.67 initial — quality that cuts scrap and rework.
- MOQ 1 piece, lead times of roughly 3 / 7 / 30 days.
- ISO 9001 · IATF 16949 · ISO 14001.
What types of machined parts can you produce with low TCO?
The floor covers the full metal-cutting range, and the process is matched to the part so quality is built in, not inspected in, which is what keeps TCO low.
| Process | Capacity | Max workpiece |
|---|---|---|
| 3-axis milling | 50+ centers | 1300 × 700 × 600 mm (milling) |
| 4-axis milling | 20+ centers | |
| 5-axis milling | 20+ centers | |
| CNC turning | 25+ lathes | Ø720 × 1280 mm |
| Mill-turn | Multi-task centers (Mazak / Brother class) | Single-setup complex geometry |
| Grinding | 7+ (surface / centerless / cylindrical) | ±0.002 mm finishes |
Which materials can you machine, and verify to cut TCO?
| Material family | Grades we run | Notes for buyers |
|---|---|---|
| Aluminum | 6061, 6063, 6082, 7075, 2014 | Fastest to machine; the default for prototypes and production |
| Stainless steel | 303, 304, 316, 316L, 17-4PH | 303 for free-machining; 316L for corrosion; 17-4PH for strength + aging |
| Carbon / alloy steel | 1018, 1045, 4140, 4340, 12L14 | Carburizing or nitriding available for wear parts |
| Brass / copper | C360, H62, C110 | For electrical and thermal conductivity |
| Titanium | TA2, TC4 (Grade 2 / 5) | Stress-relief above 500 °C is outsourced to a qualified partner |
| Plastics | ABS, POM, nylon, PTFE, PEEK | For insulators, non-metal prototypes, and low-friction parts |
XRF verification at the door removes the substituted-alloy field failure — the most expensive class of TCO.
What tolerances can you hold, and how does that cut TCO?
| Process | Held tolerance | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| CNC milling | ±0.003 mm | Housings, brackets, prismatic parts |
| CNC turning | ±0.002 mm | Shafts, pins, bushings, round parts |
| Precision grinding | ±0.002 mm | Bearing seats, roundness-critical surfaces |
A capable process — Ppk ≥ 1.67 initial — produces so little scrap that rework and re-measurement disappear from the TCO equation.
How does delivery reliability cut TCO?
A late shipment stops a line. Reliable delivery comes from capacity — over a hundred machines — and honest lead times that account for complexity. We quote a lead time we can keep, which is the cheapest thing a supplier can promise.
How are parts verified before they ship?
- Hexagon GLOBAL S CMMs (2) for dimensional verification, plus vision measuring machines and a gear measuring center.
- KEYENCE VK-X3000 laser microscope and SURFCOM 1800D for surface finish and profile.
- XRF (iCHEQ) spectrometer for incoming material composition checks against the mill certificate.
- HVS-1000A micro-Vickers hardness tester, Fischer coating thickness gauge, salt spray and tensile testers.
- SPC: control charts on key characteristics, with Ppk ≥ 1.67 at the initial study on critical characteristics and Cpk ≥ 1.33 in production on general characteristics.
Which secondary operations affect TCO?
Surface finishing and heat treatment add process steps and cost, but bundling them with one accountable supplier reduces hand-offs and the risk they carry. We bundle finishing and heat treatment so TCO stays controlled.
What should you check before ordering parts?
- Can they show the actual machine list, not a stock photo? A manufacturer names models and counts; a trading company recycles brochures.
- Do tolerances come with measurement evidence? Ask for a CMM report or SPC chart from a real job, not a capability statement.
- Is the certificate number verifiable? Real ISO/IATF certificates have numbers you can check with the registrar.
- Who owns the secondary operations? If anodizing or heat treatment is outsourced, the shop should say so and name the partner.
What carries over to the second order, and what you pay for twice
First-order price and reorder price should not be the same, and the difference tells you whether a supplier is set up for repeat work.
| Asset from the first order | Effect on a reorder |
|---|---|
| Proven CNC program and setup sheet | No re-programming, and the same cycle that produced the accepted parts |
| Retained fixture | Setup labor is not repeated, and part location repeats with it |
| Control plan and capability history | Inspection is aimed by data rather than by guesswork, against Ppk ≥ 1.67 at the initial study on critical characteristics |
| Lot record in the MES and ERP system | A question about the earlier batch has an answer, including material source and operator |
| Verified material source | The same grade, XRF-checked against the mill certificate at incoming |
Because prototype and production run on the same 100+ machines under one quality system, none of that has to be rebuilt when volume rises. Ask any supplier what happens to the fixture and the program after the first batch, and whether a reorder is quoted as a new job.
Packing, transit and the cost line most quotes ignore
A part that is correct in Dongguan and damaged at your dock costs you the full price twice. Three details are worth stating on the purchase order rather than leaving to habit: how machined and finished surfaces are protected in transit, what corrosion protection travels with steel parts on a sea route, and how many parts sit in one layer so a heavy component does not mark the one beneath it. Precision parts with a fine finish or a ±0.002 mm ground surface need protection that matches their tolerance, not the packaging a general shipment gets.
Documents matter for the same reason. Shipping paperwork is issued in the name of Dongguan Zhuohang Ltd with business registration 91441900MA4UWT6X39, so the manufacturer of record agrees with your contract and your customs entry. A mismatch there is a clearance delay, and a clearance delay is an inventory cost with a demurrage charge attached.
How material choice moves the total, not just the quote
Material is priced as a purchase and paid for as a process. Aluminum machines quickly and finishes well, so it usually carries the lowest total for housings and brackets. Stainless steel costs more in cycle time and tool life than its bar price suggests, and work-hardening grades punish light finishing passes. Carbon and alloy steels are cheap to buy and can need heat treatment, which adds a step and distortion to plan around; grinding after hardening is the order that survives. Titanium is slow to cut and demands a stress-relief route above the 500 °C in-house range, which is placed with a qualified partner. Engineering plastics including ABS, POM, nylon, PTFE and PEEK bring their own cost pattern, since dimensional movement with temperature and moisture matters more than cutting force.
Whatever the grade, incoming lots are verified by XRF spectrometer against the mill certificate before machining, and hardness is confirmed on the HVS-1000A where condition is part of the specification. That step is what stops the cheapest possible cost saving, a substituted alloy, from becoming your most expensive field failure.
Which part families leave the floor, and what each demands
Different part families stress different things — one asks for concentricity, another for flatness, another for weight. Knowing which family your part belongs to tells you which hidden cost to watch, which is the first step to pricing it.
| Part family | What it demands | The TCO risk if it is not met |
|---|---|---|
| Housings and enclosures | Flat datum faces, threaded and bored features | Mating faces that do not seal or locate cause assembly scrap |
| Brackets and mounts | Hole patterns that relate across faces | Misaligned holes mean the bracket cannot be fitted |
| Shafts and pins | Concentricity and surface finish | Runout or a rough journal fails in service |
| Bushings and flanges | Bore tolerance and sealing faces | A loose bore or a scratched face leaks or binds |
| Gears and splines | Profile accuracy and pitch | Noise, wear, and a shortened transmission life |
| Complex single-setup geometry | Concentric turned-and-milled features | Re-fixturing error that a mill-turn setup would have removed |
The floor covers the full range because the process is matched to the part rather than the part forced onto the process. That matching is what keeps quality built in and TCO low, rather than inspecting the cost back out of a part that was made the wrong way.
How part geometry maps to the process that makes it cheaply
The cheapest way to make a part is almost always the process that fits its shape, and the routing is decided before the first cut. The mapping below is the short version of what the review does.
| Part geometry | Process | Why it is the cheap route |
|---|---|---|
| Prismatic, flat faces, pockets, holes | 3-axis milling | One direction reaches the features; no extra axis to pay for |
| Features on several faces | 4-axis milling | Indexing removes a setup and its alignment error |
| Compound angles and deep geometry | 5-axis milling | One fixturing reaches what several setups would risk |
| Round, symmetric, concentric | CNC turning | A lathe holds roundness and runout in a single fixturing |
| Round with timed or concentric milled features | Mill-turn | One setup relates them instead of two machines |
| Fine finish or roundness beyond cutting | Precision grinding | Grinding reaches ±0.002 mm and a fine Ra on the surfaces that need it |
Getting this mapping right the first time is the difference between a part that costs once and a part that costs once plus a rework. The review makes that call before cutting, and your job is simply to provide a print that lets the routing be chosen honestly.
What a machined part looks like across industries
The same floor produces very different parts for very different buyers, and the industry decides which TCO term dominates. A few examples make the pattern concrete without naming any customer.
| Industry | Example part | Dominant TCO term | What the floor does about it |
|---|---|---|---|
| E-bike / light mobility | Motor housing, drivetrain shaft, gear | Delivery into a seasonal ramp | Capacity redundancy and honest lead-time tiers |
| Medical devices | Instrument housing, titanium fixture | Material verification and traceability | XRF at the door, lot records, clean finishing |
| Robotics / automation | End-effector, joint, bracket | Concentricity and weight | Mill-turn in one setup, 7075 aluminum where stiffness-per-gram matters |
| Semiconductor test | Fixture plate, probe mount | Flatness and stability | Grinding to a fine Ra and a flat datum |
The part that fails in the field is always more expensive than the part that cost more to make correctly, whichever industry it ships to. The industry only changes where the failure is most likely to happen, and therefore where your verification effort should sit.
How to read a part drawing so the quote matches the function
A part drawing is a contract written in geometry, and the supplier can only quote what the print says. Three habits on the buyer side keep the quote honest and the part correct.
- Mark the critical characteristics. The bores, datums, and mating surfaces that actually locate the part should be flagged, so capability and measurement concentrate there instead of spreading evenly across features that do not matter.
- Give datums, not just sizes. A relationship stated as a size stack forces conservative machining and heavier inspection; a datum structure lets the machinist hold the relationship the way the part actually functions.
- Separate functional from cosmetic finish. A fine Ra called across the whole part adds process steps everywhere; a fine Ra on one sealing face adds it only where it earns its cost.
A print built this way lowers the total twice: once in machining, because effort follows function, and once at your goods-in bench, because the paperwork that arrives is the paperwork you asked for. The drawing is the cheapest place to buy a cost reduction, and the most overlooked.
What this shop actually runs
Ask for capability evidence and the answer should be specific. The facility behind this guide runs 100+ CNC machines on a 6,800 m2 floor in Dongguan, China, with 100+ staff. The machine list, by category:
- 5-axis machining centres (10+) - Mazak VARIAXIS I-600 (510/910/510 mm travel, 12,000 rpm, 22 kW, 71.6 N·m, 30-tool BT40) and Mazak INTEGREX I-250H S (B-axis 0.0001°, 24 kW, 124 N·m, 38-tool HSK-A63). Run on compound-angle parts, single-setup multi-face prismatic work, and aerospace fittings where datum transfer loss is unacceptable.
- 3-axis / 4-axis machining centres (50+) - Brother SPEEDIO S500Z2N / S700Z2N (10,000 rpm, 14/21-tool ATC, 0.7 s tool-to-tool, Z-axis 2.2 G) and Mazak VCE-430A L / VCE-570C L (10,000 rpm, 118 N·m, 24-tool ATC). Run on prismatic parts, plates, brackets, housings.
- Swiss-type turning centres (10+) - Citizen Cincom A20-3F7 (Φ20 mm, 10,000 rpm), TSUGAMI B0206-III / B0205-III (Φ20 mm, 0.1 µm), STAR SR-32JII / SR-32J Type N (Φ32 mm, 8,000 rpm). Run on long, slender rotational parts at ±0.002 mm.
- CNC turning centres (20+) - HEADMAN T70M/1250 (720 mm swing, 117 mm bore, 3,000 rpm, BMT75 12-station turret). Run on shafts, bushings, flanges up to ±0.002 mm.
- Wire EDM (5+) - Sodick AQ535L (550/350/300 mm travel, ±20° taper, 800 kg workpiece). Run on hardened tool steel, internal splines, sharp internal corners that milling cannot reach.
- Inspection: Hexagon CMM + 20+ gauges - Hexagon CMM for coordinate measurement, plus vision system, profilometer, hardness tester, coating thickness gauge, XRF for material verification. The 10:1 rule (gauge 10x more accurate than the band) is applied to every feature.
- Machine highlights - VARIAXIS I-600: one-setup multi-face 5-axis + MAZA-CHECK auto-calibration; INTEGREX I-250H S: DONE-IN-ONE mill-turn, B-axis 0.0001° + Ai thermal shield; SPEEDIO S500Z2N / S700Z2N: Z-axis 2.2 G + 0.7 s ATC; Swiss-type: guide-bush switchable + 0.1 µm resolution.
Tolerances held: milling ±0.003 mm, turning ±0.002 mm, grinding and wire EDM ±0.002 mm. Capability: Ppk >= 1.67 initial and Cpk >= 1.33 in production on key characteristics.
Certifications: ISO 9001:2015 (116024/A/0001/UK/En), IATF 16949:2016 (131941/A/0001/SM/En, clause 8.3 design excluded, disclosed openly) and ISO 14001:2015 (116024/B/0001/UK/En), issued to Dongguan Zhuohang Ltd, USCC 91441900MA4UWT6X39, established 2005.
Service area: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom in Europe; Brazil, Canada, Mexico and the United States in the Americas; China, Israel, Japan, Singapore and Sri Lanka in Asia; Australia and New Zealand in Oceania; and South Africa in Africa — built in China, shipped worldwide.
Contact: Felipe Iglesias, [email protected], +86 13126536955.
Send your drawing for a quote.
Email [email protected] or call +86 13126536955 for a review and quote.
Frequently Asked Questions
What types of CNC machined parts do you manufacture?
We manufacture prismatic milled parts, turned and mill-turn components, and ground precision parts — housings, brackets, shafts, pins, bushings, flanges, and complex single-setup geometry, machined to your print in metal or plastic.
What is the total cost of ownership?
TCO is piece price plus freight, duties, incoming inspection, rework, scrap, delay, and risk. A cheap piece price that arrives late or wrong is more expensive, not less.
How does quality lower TCO?
A capable process — Ppk ≥ 1.67 initial — produces so little scrap that rework, re-measurement, and schedule slip essentially disappear, removing the hidden costs at the source.
What tolerances can you hold?
±0.003 mm on CNC milling, ±0.002 mm on CNC turning, and ±0.002 mm for precision grinding. We verify critical dimensions on Hexagon CMMs, with process capability Ppk ≥ 1.67 at the initial study on key characteristics.
Which materials can you machine?
In short, Aluminum, stainless steel, carbon and alloy steel, brass, copper, titanium, and magnesium, plus engineering plastics including ABS, POM, nylon, PTFE, and PEEK. Incoming lots are XRF-checked against the mill certificate so the grade you specify is the grade you receive.
What is your minimum order quantity?
Our MOQ is 1 piece. We take prototype and single-part orders as well as production runs, so you can validate a design before committing to volume.
How do I get parts quoted with TCO in mind?
Email your STEP, IGES, or 2D drawing to [email protected] with the quantity and destination. We return a review and a quote, and can help you model landed cost.
What part families can you produce?
Housings and enclosures, brackets and mounts, shafts and pins, bushings and flanges, gears and splines, and complex single-setup mill-turn geometry — matched to the process that makes each one cheapest to produce correctly.
How does part geometry affect the process choice?
Prismatic parts route to milling, round parts to turning, round parts with timed milled features to mill-turn, and fine-finish or roundness-critical surfaces to grinding. The review matches the process to the shape before cutting so you pay once.
How do I make my drawing produce an honest quote?
Mark the critical characteristics, give datums rather than only sizes, and separate functional from cosmetic finish. A drawing built this way concentrates effort where function lives and keeps the quote matched to what the part actually needs.
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Standards referenced on this page
- ASTM B211/B211M-19 — Standard Specification for Aluminum-Alloy Rolled or Cold Finished Bar, Rod, and Wire
- ASTM A276/A276M-17 — Standard Specification for Stainless Steel Bars and Shapes
- ISO 9001 — Quality management systems — Requirements