Cycle time

Where it comes up

• Plastic injection moldingMolten thermoplastic injected into a steel or aluminum mold. Lowest piece price for plastic parts at 5,000+ a year.
• Production machining, turning, and sawingCNC milling, turning, and production sawing from bar, plate, castings, and forgings, from prototype to production.
• Zinc and aluminum die castingMolten zinc or aluminum injected into steel dies at high pressure. Thin walls and net shape at 2,500+ parts a year.

Related terms

Cavity

A cavity is the hollow in a mold that forms the part's shape, typically the outside or cosmetic side. A mold may have one cavity or many; a 4-cavity mold makes four parts per cycle. More cavities raise tooling cost and lower piece price.

Setup

Setup is the work needed to prepare a machine to run a specific part: loading tooling, fixtures, and programs, then running and inspecting first pieces. Setup cost is fixed per run, so it is spread over the lot size and is a main driver of MOQ.

Should-cost

Should-cost is an estimate of what a part should cost to make, built bottom-up from material, machine time, labor, overhead, tooling, and margin. Buyers use should-cost models to judge quotes and find cost-down targets, and suppliers use them to explain where a price comes from.