How a custom packaging order runs: from drawing to container

What “OEM” means at this factory

Custom packaging covers three quite different jobs, and they cost very different amounts of time:

• A catalogue item in your colour or with your print. The mould exists, the carton data exists, and the only new work is colour matching or artwork. This is the fastest route to a first container.
• A modified catalogue item. A new lid profile, a different compartment split, an embossed logo, a heavier wall. Usually a new mould on one part of the assembly.
• A new part from a drawing. Nothing in the catalogue is close, so the shape is designed, tooled, trialled and sampled.

Most successful first orders start with the first option and move to the second on the repeat. That gets your listing live, and it gives us a real production sample to compare against when we quote the new mould.

Stage 1 — The brief: five things we need

1. Capacity and dimensions — millilitres or ounces, plus length × width × height in centimetres. If you already buy the container, a physical sample or a clear photograph with a ruler is the fastest brief we can get.
2. The lid interface — snap-fit flat cover, dome, vented, straw slot, hinged, or no lid at all. The lid is what decides whether the pack is stable in a delivery bag.
3. Material and colour — PP, PET, PS or lined paperboard, and the colour reference: a Pantone number or a physical chip, not “dark green”.
4. Print — print area, number of colours, artwork in vector format, and whether the print runs on the body, the lid or a sleeve. On paperboard containers, full-colour print typically starts at 50,000 pcs.
5. Volume, destination and date — pieces per size, destination port, Incoterm, and the date you need the goods in your own warehouse. Work backwards from that date: it decides whether you need a new mould or an existing one.

Stage 2 — Drawing and the tooling decision

If the part is new, we turn the brief into a drawing for approval. The drawing carries the dimensions that matter: overall size with tolerances, wall thickness, draft angles for release from the mould, nesting height so cartons pack efficiently, the lid interface, and the flat print area. You approve it before any steel is cut — changing a drawing costs a meeting; changing a mould costs a mould.

Two commercial questions belong at this stage, not later: who owns the tool if you move the part to another supplier, and what happens to the tooling cost if you place a repeat order. Put both in writing with the quotation. Tooling is quoted per part and includes the trial run; a new mould always adds weeks to the schedule, so confirm the tooling lead time in writing rather than assuming it matches the production lead time.

Stage 3 — Quotation: make sure these lines are in it

A usable quotation is a specification with prices attached. Ours carries the following, and you should ask any supplier for the same list:

• Unit price by quantity break, and the currency
• Material and grade, colour, and gram weight per piece
• Capacity in millilitres and ounces, plus dimensions
• Pieces per carton, carton dimensions, CBM per carton, cartons per 40HQ
• Lid item number and its own price, carton size and pieces per carton
• MOQ per size and per colour, and printing minimums where they apply
• Lead time from deposit and approved artwork, and the sample schedule
• Incoterm, port of loading and port of destination
• Payment terms and quotation validity

Our typical commercial defaults are MOQ 20,000 pcs per size, lead time 20–30 days after deposit and samples in 5–7 days for an existing mould. Those are typical defaults only — every quotation states the figure for your actual part, and your quotation is the document that counts.

Stage 4 — Samples and approval

A sample from an existing mould is normally ready in 5–7 days (typical default). A new mould produces trial samples after the tool has been cut and tried, which is why the tooling schedule matters more than the production schedule on a new part.

When samples arrive, do not just look at them. Measure ten pieces against the drawing, fit and remove the lid twenty times, fill the container with the real dish at the real temperature, put it through your normal delivery route, and check the print against the artwork under shop lighting. Then sign the specification sheet and keep one sealed reference sample. That approved sample is the reference for every later production batch and for any inspection you commission — without it, “not as agreed” is an argument instead of a fact.

Stage 5 — Production and in-line QC

Production starts when the deposit clears and the artwork and approved sample are confirmed. Our typical default is 20–30 days to goods ready, and it applies to repeat orders as well as first orders — a new mould is additional.

During the run we check the parameters that cause complaints: unit weight, key dimensions, lid fit, leak behaviour, colour against the approved chip, and print register. Batch records stay with the order. Before shipment you receive carton data and loading photographs, and if your market requires independent laboratory reports, third-party testing can be arranged on request against your specification.

Stage 6 — Packing and the container plan

Packing is where a good price becomes a good landed cost. Confirm pieces per carton, inner bagging, carton dimensions and gross weight, carton marking, and whether the order ships loose or palletised. If you are mixing several SKUs, ask for a loading plan rather than a cartons-per-40HQ figure alone: mixed loads almost never reach the theoretical maximum, and it is better to know that before you book.

Stage 7 — Documents and shipment

The shipping file for a disposable packaging order normally contains a commercial invoice, a packing list and the bill of lading, plus origin paperwork where your destination has a trade agreement — usually issued through a Chamber of Commerce. If the load is palletised on wood, the pallets carry the international wood-packaging treatment mark. Third-party test reports, where your market asks for them, travel with the same file. Keep the invoice, packing list and bill of lading describing the same goods in the same units; mismatched documents are the most common cause of a customs delay on a first shipment.

Stage 8 — After arrival

Write down what happened on the first container: any lid that leaked, any carton that crushed, how the print looked on the shelf, how the pack performed in your own customer's hands. Send it back with the next enquiry. The second order is always the one that fits your market, because by then the specification is built from evidence instead of a photograph.

A realistic first-order calendar

Mistakes that cost a container

• Approving a sample without a signed specification sheet.
• Quoting the lid separately and then leaving it out of the purchase order.
• Changing artwork after the print plates are made.
• Forgetting that lids and bodies pack in different carton counts — do the SKU maths before you commit volumes.
• Leaving the carton marking, barcode and pallet height until the goods are ready.
• Agreeing a price before agreeing the Incoterm.

Bring us the drawing, the sample or the menu and we will tell you honestly which stage you are at — and whether a catalogue item gets you to market faster than a new mould. Start from the catalogue or read about our moulding capabilities.