QuotedPartAnswers · Updated 2026-10-30
What is a normal lead time for machined parts, and how do I quote one I can hit?
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There is no single normal lead time; there is the queue in front of the job, the hours the job itself needs, the outside processing, and shipping. Add those four, in working days, and quote the total. For a 6061 housing that's anodized, a 10-day shop queue plus 1 day on the machines plus 5 days at the anodizer gives 16 working days for one piece. At 100 pieces the machines need about 41 hours, 6 more working days on one shift, and the quote becomes 21 days. At 500 the job is 145 hours: 21 shifts on one mill, which only fits a 30-day promise if you split it across machines or shifts. A buyer would rather have a date you meet than a short one you miss, so build the number, don't guess it.
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The four parts of a lead time
Quote in working days from receipt of the PO and an approved drawing, and say so on the quote. A lead time from "today" starts slipping the day a PO sits in someone's inbox.
- Queue: how long until the job can start. Material arrival, programming, and the work already ahead of it. Our pricing engine starts every milled part with 10 working days, turned parts with 8 and laser parts with 5. Use your own backlog, measured in days of work on the bottleneck machine.
- Machine time: setup and run hours for the whole lot, divided by the hours a day the job will really get. One 7-hour shift is the default here; a job that shares the machine gets less.
- Outside processing: the finisher's or heat treater's turnaround plus the trips there and back. Two processes in sequence add both.
- Ship and paperwork: packing, certs, first-article reports and the carrier's transit time if the promise is a delivery date rather than a ship date.
Worked example: the housing at four quantities
The part is a fictional 6061-T6 aluminum housing, 5 × 3 × 1.5 in, with one 3.5 × 2 × 0.75 in pocket, four 1/4-20 tapped holes on top, four Ø.266 through holes from the bottom, two 8-32 tapped holes on one side, ±.005 in general tolerance, Type II anodized. Machine hours include setup and the run for the whole lot, with run time falling as the lot grows. Our pricing engine caps machine days at three weeks, assuming a long job is split across machines or a second shift; the last column shows what one shift on one machine would really take.
| Quantity | Queue | Machine hours | Machine days | Anodize | Quoted lead time | Days on one machine, one shift |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10 | 3.7 | 1 | 5 | 16 | 1 |
| 10 | 10 | 7.1 | 2 | 5 | 17 | 2 |
| 100 | 10 | 40.7 | 6 | 5 | 21 | 6 |
| 500 | 10 | 145.3 | 15 | 5 | 30 | 21 |
Why lead times get missed
When a date is missed, look for which of the four parts was assumed rather than checked. Often the queue was quoted from memory while three big jobs were landing the same week. The finisher's turnaround was the brochure number. The job was quoted at full machine hours, as if it would have the machine to itself, when it shares it with a repeat customer's release.
The capacity check matters most on large lots. At 500 pieces this housing needs 145 machine hours: 21 single shifts. If you only have one suitable mill and it's half booked, the honest lead time is longer than the formula's, and the quote should say so or offer split deliveries.
Partial shipments and blanket orders
When the full quantity can't fit the buyer's date, offer a split: a first shipment that covers their immediate need and the rest on a stated schedule. It keeps one setup and one material order while giving the buyer parts sooner. For blanket orders, quote a lead time per release from the release date, and say how much finished stock you'll hold.
If a rush is possible, price it: overtime, bumping another job, or paying for expedited finishing all cost money. A rush fee printed on the quote is better than a quiet promise you can only keep by upsetting another customer.
What to do next
For the next month, write the quoted lead time and the actual ship date on every job. Sort the misses by cause: queue, machine time, outside processing, or something else. Fix the input that's wrong. QuotedPart quotes a lead time on every quantity break from the routing's hours, a base queue per process and each finish's days, all editable, so the number on the quote always shows where it came from.
Assumptions behind the example
- • Part: a fictional 6061-T6 aluminum housing, 5 × 3 × 1.5 in, with one 3.5 × 2 × 0.75 in pocket, four 1/4-20 tapped holes on top, four Ø.266 through holes from the bottom, two 8-32 tapped holes on one side, ±.005 in general tolerance.
- • Queue: 10 working days; one 7-hour shift a day; machine days capped at 15.
- • Anodize: 5 working days including the round trip.
- • Rates and setup minutes: QuotedPart's US starting catalog (3-axis VMC $95/h, CAM programming $95/h, deburr $55/h, inspection $75/h). Every shop replaces these with its own.
- • Markup: the catalog default of 30% on cost, with a $65 minimum per line.
- • The part is fictional and stated on the page. The numbers are what the engine computes from these inputs, not a market average or a supplier quote.
| Quantity | Working days |
|---|---|
| 1 | 16 |
| 10 | 17 |
| 100 | 21 |
| 500 | 30 |
Sources and limits
Claims are dated where they can change. Product calculations are examples from the stated inputs, not a promise about a customer's quote. Competitor wording is attributed to the source shown.
- Lead days are computed by QuotedPart's pricing engine for the stated fictional housing: a 10-working-day base queue for milled parts, machine hours in 7-hour days capped at 15, and 5 days for Type II anodize. They are starting values, not an industry average.
Questions
Should I quote calendar days or working days?
Working days from receipt of PO is the clearest, because it doesn't shift with weekends and holidays. If the buyer's system needs calendar days, convert it and say so.
What if the material has a long lead time?
Quote the material's lead time as part of the queue, or quote two dates: one if stock is available when the PO arrives, and one if it has to be ordered. Check the distributor before you quote any unusual alloy.
Is it better to quote short and expedite later?
No. A missed date costs you more with a buyer than a longer quoted lead time. Quote what you can hit and offer a rush option at a price.
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