Manufacturing and Engineering Service Terms

Enquiries and order confirmation

Send your drawings or models to request a quote. If you only have photos, sketches, information about a physical part or a problem to solve, we can discuss the approach first. Tell us what you want to receive and any known quantities, timing, delivery destination and contact details. It is fine to say what is still undecided. Please discuss confidentiality arrangements with us before sharing sensitive information.

We will let you know whether we can move to a quote, what information is missing, or whether agreed sample or engineering work should come first. An enquiry is not an accepted order. We proceed as agreed once the scope, acceptance requirements, price and lead time are confirmed. If we find an incompatibility or a difference from the agreed delivery requirements, we explain the impact and your options first. We do not substitute materials, processes or acceptance requirements without agreement.

Manufacturing service scope

We normally supply the agreed materials and manufacture the parts. If you want to supply your own materials, have existing parts processed or commission engineering work only, we agree those arrangements separately.

3D printing: Standard plastics, flexible materials, multicolour and continuous-fibre printing, resin and nylon powder printing, and metal laser powder bed fusion. We confirm the material and process for your intended use. Include any hole machining, inserts or surface treatment in the same enquiry.

CNC and precision machining: Turning, milling and suitable finishing operations to your drawings, including holes, threads, mating features and power transmission features. You can also specify anodising, passivation, plating or other surface requirements. Finished parts are assessed against the requirements for their final condition after treatment.

Sheet, tube and profiles: Sheet cutting and bending, tube processing and agreed welding; cutting stock profiles to length, drilling, tapping and machining; or custom cross-sections. For a new cross-section, we confirm the tooling and forming separately from any subsequent machining.

Casting and moulding: Metal casting and forming, injection moulding, polyurethane casting for replica parts, and rubber, silicone or composite moulding. Tell us whether you need unfinished blanks or finished parts. We confirm the process, materials, tooling and what needs to be validated for your project.

Industrial soft materials and soft goods: Cutting foam, tape, film and flexible sheets to shape, adhesive backing and laminating, plus suitable pattern making, cutting and sewing. You can enquire about these services on their own. Please specify thickness, what the material will be bonded to and the operating environment.

PCBs and electronics assembly: Printed circuit board and solder paste stencil fabrication, component assembly and wiring harness fabrication to your documentation. Programming and testing follow agreed procedures. Circuit or firmware development, and developing test methods, need separate assessment.

Specialist services you can request separately

Design and improvement: Drawings and models, scanning and reverse engineering, structural adjustments to specific areas of a design, and improvements within an agreed scope. Before work starts, we agree what you will receive, which revisions are included and how the results will be assessed. You do not need to place a manufacturing order afterwards.

Moulds, tooling, fixtures and inspection gauges: We can work to your drawings or provide design within an agreed scope. We confirm the scope of design, fabrication, mould trials or trial use, and handover separately. Mould changes are limited to the agreed scope; unlimited revisions are not included by default.

Measurement and validation: Specified dimensional checks, comparison of scans with the reference geometry, and validation using agreed methods. Tell us what you need to establish, which reports you need and how you will use them.

Assembly and kitting: Preparing complete sets of parts to your list, installing inserts or assembling agreed components. A complete parts kit, an assembled product and functional verification are separate deliverables. These services can also be requested independently.

Finishing and delivery requirements

Tell us the result you want using the table below. You can combine requirements or simply request manufacture to drawing without extra treatment. If you know the treatment name or specification, include it. There is no need to select every process step or repeat requirements already shown on your drawings.

Not every finishing or delivery requirement adds a charge. Where needed, cleaning, support removal, curing, deburring, basic inspection and protection are included in the agreed manufacturing quote. The manufacturing plan also explains any required heat treatment. Operations needed to meet the agreed delivery requirements cannot be removed simply to reduce the price.

Services requiring further assessment

For a transparent finish, chemical smoothing or vapour smoothing, we first check the material, shape and reference finish. You can request these for standard plastic prints, but not all materials are suitable. A clear appearance does not mean optical grade. We also assess how load-bearing holes, trimming that cuts fibres and inserts affect continuous-fibre parts, and how special coatings or bonding affect flexible parts.

For sealing, corrosion resistance or other performance goals, we first agree the operating conditions, acceptance criteria and what will be validated. Tell us about special tests, required accreditation or qualifications, and safety-related uses. A material or treatment name alone does not guarantee performance or certification.

Have parts that only need finishing, further machining or repair? You can request a separate assessment. Send photos, the current condition, quantity and intended result, and say if the material or old coating is unknown. Please do not send the parts until we confirm that we can take on the work. We agree any samples, damage risks, transport and how problems will be handled before proceeding. If your requirement is not listed, describe it; we will confirm a feasible approach or explain why we cannot take it on.

Agreeing the finished result

If you need inserts fitted after smoothing, or precision fits maintained after surface treatment, we review the material, process sequence and final acceptance requirements together. When samples or a first article are needed, we agree when your confirmation is required. Results measured before treatment cannot stand in for the finished results. If deep cavities or internal channels cannot meet the necessary cleaning and acceptance requirements, we need to change the approach or decline the work.

Quotation scope and charges

What is included

Your quote identifies what will be delivered, the file revision, quantity, materials, manufacturing, extra treatments and required checks. It also states whether engineering, samples, tooling, additional reports, packaging, transport and taxes are included or excluded. We do not charge twice for the same operation already included. If work takes place at different stages or additional work is needed, we explain the scope and cost before confirmation. Routine checks of your information and clarification before quoting are not, by themselves, separately charged design services.

Inspection and reports

The agreed basic checks are included even if you do not buy an extra report. Requesting a record or report already included in the original quote does not add a charge. If valid existing data only needs a different format or language, we confirm any reporting work not yet included; we do not charge again for the same measurement.

If you add inspection points, samples or test methods, or change the condition in which the parts must meet acceptance requirements, we agree the inspection and reporting scope separately. For destructive tests, we explain the sample quantity and cost beforehand. We do not take those samples from the finished quantity due to you without your agreement. Material certificates, measurement reports, third-party reports and product certification serve different purposes and cannot replace one another. Please confirm availability and suitability for your intended use with us first.

Samples and first articles

You can agree to review engineering results, samples or a first article before deciding on further manufacturing. For each stage, we specify what you will receive, the quantity, charges and conditions for continuing. Any inclusion or credit of sample charges towards later work is as stated in the quote. A sample passing inspection does not guarantee the results of the full batch or remove later inspection requirements. If first-article approval is required, we wait for it before proceeding with subsequent production.

Split deliveries and changes to your order

Shipping in instalments is different from manufacturing in separate batches. If only the shipping arrangements change, we review the actual effects on packaging, transport, storage and related arrangements. Extra shipments alone do not mean paying the original manufacturing charge again. If production is split into batches, we reconfirm the production arrangements and costs. We also review any original work that has not been carried out and can still be cancelled, including replacement or credit.

If you add inserts or reports, change drawings or revise delivery batches, we explain the changes and their effect on price, lead time and how the finished work will be assessed. We check the original quote, payments received and cancelled items, then make clear what is due now and how any other differences will be handled, so you are not charged twice.

We do not start production on additions or changes until they are confirmed. Work already carried out that cannot be cancelled, refunds and any problems are handled according to the circumstances and the original agreement. Rework caused by an issue we are responsible for is not automatically billed to you as extra work.