Comparing quotes across categories is not comparing numbers. A plastic part is a tooling and cycle-time story; a garment is a fabric and minutes story; a PCBA is a component and yield story. Benchmark the drivers, not the headline unit price.
What actually drives the price
| Category | Dominant cost drivers | What to ask for |
|---|---|---|
| Metal fabrication | Material weight, cutting time, welding hours, finishing | Nesting yield, coating spec, scrap allowance |
| Plastics injection | Resin grade, part weight, cycle time, cavities | Shot weight, cycle seconds, tool cavitation |
| Electronics / PCBA | BOM cost, placements, test time, yield | Line-item BOM, first-pass yield, test coverage |
| Textiles | Fabric consumption, standard minutes, trims | Cutting yield, SAM, trim sourcing |
| Food / ingredients | Raw material index, packaging, batch size | Yield, packaging spec, MOQ per batch |
Use open-book structure, not a single figure
Ask every factory in the basket for the same breakdown: material, labour, overhead, tooling amortisation, packaging, margin. When the format matches, differences become visible — and a padded overhead line stops hiding inside a round number.
Sanity checks that expose a bad quote
- Material cost that does not move when the market index moves
- Tooling amortised into the unit price and invoiced separately
- Packaging quoted as a percentage instead of a bill of materials
- A price that improves 30% the moment you push — it was never a cost-based quote
- No scrap or yield assumption stated anywhere
Benchmark against landed cost, not FOB
A lower FOB with poor packing density, a heavier part, or a different HS heading can land more expensive. Run every candidate quote through landed cost per SKU — freight, duty, inspection, financing — before you award. The landed cost calculator does this per line.
Re-benchmark on a schedule
Set a review cadence: quarterly for commodity-driven categories (steel, resin, food inputs), semi-annually for labour-driven ones. Tie material-linked lines to a published index so both sides adjust without renegotiating the whole programme.
Where TUSKO fits
We collect quotes in one comparable format across every category, challenge the cost drivers with the factory in Thai, and give you a single landed price per SKU. Our fee is built into the price of each order. You only pay when you place one.
FAQ
How many quotes per category? Three comparable ones. Two is a coin toss; five wastes engineering time.
Should I share my target price? Share a target cost structure rather than a number — it invites cost engineering instead of corner cutting.
Do prices drop with consolidated volume? Across one factory, yes. Across categories at different factories, the saving comes from freight and overhead consolidation instead.