A buyer often arrives with a part that already works and a request that sounds small: a different colour, a logo, a softer compound, a printed box. Those four requests sit on the light-customization line, separate from tooling.

The four that do not need steel

  • Colour. A new pigment against an approved master, sampled as a physical chip before the run.
  • Laser marking. A logo, a size code or a batch reference marked on a flat or gently curved face.
  • Durometer. A different hardness within the compound family the tool was designed around.
  • Packaging. Polybag, printed carton, insert, label and barcode layout to your artwork.

What is not on the list: any change to geometry. A longer tab, a thicker wall or a new undercut means a tool change and belongs on the OEM/ODM line with a 30-day window.

Why 300 pieces

Changing colour on a silicone line is not a matter of swapping a bucket. The press, the compound path and the tooling have to be cleaned down, the new pigment has to be dispersed and cured into a sample, and the first shots are spent proving the colour rather than making saleable parts. That setup is what the 300-piece minimum pays for — below that, the per-part cost of the change starts to look like a tooling project.

The same logic applies to laser marking: the fixture has to be set, the marking parameters proved on the actual surface, and the first articles inspected before the run continues.

Where the three days go

  • Day 1: colour chip or marking sample approved, packaging artwork checked against the dieline.
  • Day 2: setup, cleaning, first articles measured and checked against the master.
  • Day 3: run and pack, with the lot documents completed.

Three days is added to the standard lead time, which remains 10 working days from approval to shipment. Everything stays MadeToOrder: the variant is built after the order, not pulled from a shelf.

Combining changes

Changing colour and packaging in the same order does not triple the setup, because both are already in the plan. Changing colour twice in one order does, which is why a programme is usually quoted per variant rather than per piece.

The private-label case

For milking liners and bakeware, light customization is the whole product: the part carries a customer's brand on the box and often a mark on the part. That is why packaging artwork sits in the same review as the drawing — a mould that is finished ahead of an unapproved carton is not a finished programme.

Build a variant inquiry with the part family, colour and packaging, or read how a new tool runs.