How to Read Our Order Package and Commit to a Date in Ten Minutes

For Shops / 25 Sept 2026

An order package from SUS CNC is deliberately complete. A cover sheet with grade, part type, quantity, tolerance class, finish, documents required and the date we have committed to the buyer. The drawing, in the original language and with the notes that affect the process translated. The STEP file where there is one. The questions our engineer raised with the buyer, and the answers.

That is enough to answer the only question in front of you: can my shop make this well, at this price, by this date? Not “can I make it”, but “do I make money making it and will I hold the date”.

Here is how to answer that quickly and get it right more often.

The six items that decide it

Grade. The first filter, and the one most shops apply too loosely. Running SUS304 weekly does not mean you run SUS316L well. If the last 316L job you did was eight months ago and it cost you a set of inserts you did not plan for, that is information about this job too.

Part type. Turned, milled, thin wall, hardened. Check it against what is actually set up on your floor this month, not against what the machine is capable of.

Quantity. This decides which shop in the network should get the job, more than any other item. A prototype and a 500 piece run are different businesses. If your setup cost only amortises above 100 pieces, a job for 10 is one you will either lose money on or regret taking.

Tolerance class. The cover sheet names it, for example JIS B 0405-f with geometrical class K, and our engineer has already checked it against the features drawn. Read it against what you hold in production, not what you have held once. A job at plus or minus 0.02 mm on several features is a different job from a general tolerance part, and the gap between those two is where shops lose money.

Finish. Ra 1.6 costs nothing. Ra 0.8 costs attention. Ra 0.4 and below means an operation you may not have. If the cover sheet says electropolished and the processor is not already in the plan, say so before you quote rather than after.

Date. Against your actual queue, not your theoretical capacity. The date on the cover sheet is the date we have committed to the buyer, so it is the date we will hold you to.

The ten minute test

Run the package against four questions in order. A no at any point means tell our engineer, with the reason.

Have I cut this grade, to roughly this tolerance, in the last three months? If no, you are learning on the buyer’s part, and we would rather place it elsewhere.
Does the quantity sit inside the band where my cost structure works? Not “can I make ten”, but “do I make money making ten”.
Can I hit the date with what is already committed? Including the outside processes, which have their own queues and are usually the thing that slips.
If this repeats, do I want it? Repeat work is the whole point of the network. A job you would not want again at the same price is not worth taking once.

Four yes answers and it is worth quoting. Three and it is a maybe that usually should have been a no. Saying no to our engineer costs you nothing. Saying yes and slipping costs you the next order.

Signals worth reading closely

A grade and a finish that do not belong together. SUS303 with an electropolish call-out, for example. Sulphide inclusions pull out during electropolishing and leave pits, so one of the two is wrong. Our engineer should have caught it, and if the package still carries it, say so. A shop that spots this earns trust before it has cut anything.

A tolerance class the engineer has flagged as boilerplate. When the cover sheet says the general class looks like a company default and the buyer has confirmed it applies, it applies. When it says the buyer has relaxed it, the relaxed figure is the one you quote to.

A certificate requirement on a small quantity. EN 10204 3.1 on 10 pieces narrows which bar can be used and can make the material the largest line in the job. The package says who buys the material. If it is you, price it as a line, do not absorb it.

A heat treat sequence stated on the cover sheet. SUS630 has to be roughed, aged, then finished. SUS440C has to be roughed, hardened, then ground. If the sequence is on the sheet, our engineer has planned the contraction into the drawing dimensions. Quote two machining operations, not one.

“Buyer undecided” on any line. It happens on grade or finish at the quote stage. We quote the buyer both ways. You quote us both ways, and the cover sheet is updated when the buyer decides.

When to let a job go

Passing on jobs is not lost opportunity. It is what keeps your place in the network worth something. Let it go when:

The grade is outside what you run regularly and there is no volume to justify learning it
The tolerance is at the edge of what you have ever held, and the quantity is small
The date needs an outside process whose queue you do not control
The part is thin walled or has a deep hole ratio you have no tooling for
You would be quoting to fill a gap rather than because the work fits

A shop that takes five jobs that fit and holds every date is in a better position than one that takes twenty and slips four, and our engineer knows which is which.

What happens after you commit

You receive a purchase order from SUS CNC with the price and date you gave us. From that point three things decide whether the work keeps coming:

The first article. On the production setup, measured against every dimension on the drawing, with values. Our engineer reviews it before the run continues. A hand made sample proves nothing about the run, so we do not accept one.

The weekly status. Ten minutes: material in, first article done, run progress, outside process sent and back, final inspection, packed. If a date is at risk, we need it the day you know, not on the ship date, because the buyer hears from us every week too.

The final inspection. Measured values, not ticks, and anything out of tolerance stays on your floor. We measure again before packing. A part that reaches the buyer wrong is our problem with the buyer and your problem with us.

The mistake that costs the most

Committing to a job, cutting it fast, and discovering at the first article that the general tolerance class was tighter than you assumed. The part is legal against your reading and wrong against the drawing. You eat the rework, we eat the delay with the buyer, and the next job goes elsewhere.

The fix costs nothing: read the cover sheet and the title block before you price. The general tolerance tables and the drawing checklist cover what to look for. Shops that work this way quote slightly higher and lose far less, and they are the ones our engineer places work with first.

If you cut stainless to JIS grades and want orders that arrive already read, join the network. Registration costs nothing, there is no exclusivity, and you are paid on terms agreed in writing before your first order.

Questions shops ask

Why does the package not name the buyer?

Because the buyer is our customer, not yours. You contract with SUS CNC, the buyer contracts with SUS CNC, and neither side needs the other's name to do the job. It also keeps your shop out of a negotiation in a second language.

How much can I tell from the package?

Everything you need to commit to a price and a date. The drawing has been read, the title block resolved, the finish and certificate line settled with the buyer, and the Japanese notes translated. If something is still open, the engineer says so on the cover sheet.

What if the drawing turns out to differ from the cover sheet?

Tell our engineer the day you see it. A cover sheet that does not match the drawing is our error, and the quote and date are reset before you cut anything.

Should I take every job in my grade range?

No. The shops that do best in the network take a narrower slice than they are capable of. A job you win at a thin margin and deliver late costs more than the one you passed on, and it costs the relationship.

Cut stainless to JIS grades?

Join the network and the orders come from us: a purchase order from SUS CNC, a drawing that has already been read, payment on written terms. No listing fee, no exclusivity.

Join the network