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Notes from a Shanghai hardware plant.

Costing, process and sourcing, written by the people who run the machines. No trend pieces, no "top 10 suppliers" listicles — the numbers, the test methods and the failure modes we would want if we were the buyer.

Cold-chamber die casting machine with the die closed and the extraction robot in position

Latest · Costing

What a die-cast part really costs in China: a 2026 breakdown

Tooling, unit price, finishing and freight, separated. The four cost blocks behind a die-casting quote, with real ranges at 500, 5,000 and 50,000 pieces.

8 min read · 2026-10-21

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