Sheet metal RFQ checklist

Most quotation delays are missing information, not supplier capacity

A supplier who has to ask four questions before pricing adds three days to every round trip, and the price that comes back is built on assumptions the buyer never sees. Fifteen fields decide almost all of it. Four of them — material grade, finish, tolerance and quantity — move the number more than the other eleven combined, and they are the four most often left to a phone call.

The fifteen fields

Drawing revision control

A drawing without a revision is a drawing that will be quoted twice and made once. The minimum control is a revision letter or number, a date, a change note and a revision block on the sheet itself, with every page carrying the same revision string.

Three failures recur. The PDF is at revision C and the DXF is at B, because someone exported the flat pattern before the last change. The filename says "latest" and two files in the inbox claim it. And a change is issued as a new drawing number rather than a revision, so the supplier's program history has no link to the old part.

Tolerance: call out what matters, default the rest

A drawing covered in ±0.1 mm dimensions will be quoted high and inspected slowly, and most of those dimensions do not need it. The practical approach is a general tolerance note plus specific call-outs.

ISO 2768-1 covers general tolerances for linear and angular dimensions where the drawing does not call out a specific tolerance. Class m is the usual choice for metal parts and gives ±0.2 mm for a 30–120 mm dimension, ±0.3 mm from 120–400 mm. Anything the function depends on — a bearing seat, a mating hole pattern, a bend-to-hole distance — gets its own tolerance and a datum scheme.

Ganesh holds ±0.5 mm as a typical sheet metal tolerance, with tighter features by agreement. A call-out of ±0.2 mm on an assembly is achievable on the fixture, but it has to be inspected on the fixture, and that cost belongs in the quote.

Finish specification

"Powder coated, colour to approval" leaves powder chemistry, film thickness, gloss and masking open, which means three suppliers will quote three different processes. A finish specification that prices cleanly names:

• Powder chemistry — polyester for exterior, epoxy-polyester hybrid for interior.
• Colour as a RAL or an approved physical sample, with the sample retained.
• DFT range in µm, and the measurement standard.
• Gloss level at a stated angle.
• Masking list, marked on the drawing.
• Tests: adhesion by cross-cut, impact, and salt-spray hours if the part is exterior.

Inspection and documentation

Documentation is quoted as a fixed cost per part number and per lot, so it has to be asked for explicitly. The usual set is a first article inspection report with a ballooned drawing and measured values, mill certificates for each heat or coil, a dimensional report per lot if the part is critical, and a certificate of conformity. PPAP and FAI are available here; both take time at the start of a program and almost none afterwards.

If incoming inspection at your plant is sample-based, say so, and say what the sample plan is. A supplier who knows the AQL will plan the process capability around it.

Two RFQs, rewritten

Before: "Need 500 brackets, MS, powder coated."

After: "500 off bracket, drawing BRK-114 rev C dated 12-09-2026, CRCA IS 513 D, 2.0 mm ±0.10. General tolerance ISO 2768-m, hole pattern ±0.2 to datums A and B. Polyester powder RAL 7035, 60–80 µm, mask the two M8 weld nuts and the earth stud. FAI report with the first batch, mill certificate per coil. Packing: 50 per carton, layer separated. Delivery DAP Pune, first batch 6 weeks from PO approval. Annual volume 2,000, releases of 500."

Before: "Urgent requirement of 2,000 nos rack panels as per drawing, best rate."

After: "2,000 off 19-inch blanking panel, drawing BP-2201 rev B, 1.2 mm CRCA, 44.45 mm U pitch, general tolerance ISO 2768-m, flatness 1 mm over 450 mm. Finish: black polyester, 60–80 µm, no masking. Quantity split 500 per release, monthly. No FAI, certificate of conformity per lot. Packing: 100 per crate, edge protected. Ex-works Vasai."

The second rewrite takes four minutes and removes six questions from the quotation cycle. It also makes the two responses comparable line by line, because every assumption is now a stated number.

What Ganesh runs

The plant works from PDF, DXF, DWG and STEP, holds ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 14001:2015, and offers PPAP and first article inspection. Tooling for press parts is built in house and quoted separately from the piece price, so the RFQ can separate one-time cost from recurring cost.

Send the pack through the request a quote page, and read drawing for quotation and the DXF preparation checklist before the first send. The sourcing guides cover supplier selection once the quotes are in.

How to use the checklist

Tick each field against the pack before it goes out. Anything unticked will be asked, and the answer will come back as an assumption in the price rather than a question in the email. If a field genuinely does not apply — no coating, no tooling — write "not applicable" so the supplier knows it was considered.

Two RFQs for the same part number, and the quotation each one produces.

Incomplete: "500 brackets, MS, powder coated, best rate." The supplier cannot tell whether MS is CRCA or hot rolled, so it prices hot rolled because that is cheaper to buy. It cannot tell the thickness, so it assumes 2 mm. It cannot tell the tolerance, so it applies ISO 2768-m and hopes. It assumes a standard RAL from stock and 60 µm. Masking is not mentioned, so nothing is masked and the weld nuts fill with powder. The price comes back at a level that will not hold once the real drawing arrives, and the difference is 15–20%.

Complete: the same 500 parts with drawing rev C, CRCA IS 513 D at 2.0 ±0.10 mm, ISO 2768-m with a ±0.2 hole pattern, polyester RAL 7035 at 60–80 µm, two masked features, FAI with the first batch, mill certificate per coil, carton packing, DAP Pune, annual 2,000 in releases of 500.

Now the supplier can quote the real process: 2 mm CRCA cut on the laser, formed on the brake, coating with two masked features, one FAI at the start. The price is higher than the first quote and it is the price that holds. It is also directly comparable with the other two suppliers, because each line — material, cutting, forming, coating, masking, documentation, packing — is priced against the same specification.