If you've ever requested a quotation for a bespoke aluminium profile, you've probably been asked one question very early in the process: "What is your annual volume requirement?"
The concept of a Minimum Order Quantity (MOQ)—especially for first-time buyers of bespoke aluminium extrusions—can seem arbitrary. Why can't a manufacturer simply produce 200 metres or 500 pieces?
When aluminium extrusion is involved, especially when it is bespoke, MOQs are imposed due to material efficiency and commercially viable manufacturing.
In this article, we’ll explain the technical reasons behind bespoke aluminium extrusion MOQs and how your profile design directly influences the minimum quantity that can be produced economically.
First off, what is an MOQ?
A MOQ is the smallest production quantity a manufacturer is willing to produce for a particular aluminium profile.
For bespoke aluminium extrusions, MOQs are largely driven by technical production constraints, although commercial considerations like tooling costs, secondary operations, or production scheduling can also play a role, but we won’t get into that here and instead focus on the extrusion process and its associated imposed MOQ.
The economics behind bespoke aluminium extrusion
Extrusion is a continuous manufacturing process. Before production begins, the extruder must:
• Prepare the bespoke extrusion die
• Heat the billet
• Set up the press
• Run trial pieces
• Verify dimensions
• Stabilise the process
The beginning and end of each extrusion run also generate scrap material. If only a very small quantity is produced, the setup and scrap costs become disproportionately high compared to the value of the finished parts.
MOQs help spread these fixed costs across enough material to make production economically viable.
The biggest factor influencing your aluminium profile MOQ
The most important factor affecting MOQ is the extrusion press required to produce the profile.
Every aluminium extrusion press is designed to process a specific billet diameter and generate a specific extrusion force.
Generally speaking, smaller profiles can be produced on smaller presses, while larger profiles require larger presses. As profile size increases, the press size required often increases too, and with it, the MOQ.
But how can you estimate the relative press size and therefore potential MOQ for your profile? Well, bespoke aluminium extrusions are generally influenced by the profile's:
• circumscribed diameter
• weight per metre
• and geometry / complexity
Because these factors directly affect the extrusion process and the press required to extrude the profile.
Understanding your bespoke aluminium profile’s circumscribed diameter
So one of the key measurements extruders look at when assessing a profile and the extrusion press required is the circumscribed diameter, which is the diameter of the smallest circle that completely encloses the profile cross-section.
A larger circumscribed diameter generally requires a larger extrusion die and often a larger billet diameter and extrusion press. A profile with a 40 mm circumscribed diameter may be suitable for a relatively small production run, while a profile with a 180 mm circumscribed diameter may require larger quantities to justify a production run.
It is therefore typical for larger profiles to require larger production runs and, thereby, higher MOQs.
Why the weight per metre of your profile matters
Another critical factor playing a direct role in determining press size and therefore, MOQ, is the profile's weight per metre.
Two profiles may have identical circumscribed diameters but very different wall thicknesses, and therefore very different weights. If your profile weighs 0.2 kg/m or 2 kg/m, the amount of material produced during a single press run changes a lot.
Extrusion presses are not operated by producing a certain number of pieces. They process aluminium billets weighing hundreds of kilograms at a time. They purchase and process billets of fixed diameters and lengths. So, the more efficiently a profile utilises the available billet and press capacity, the easier it is to manufacture economically at lower volumes.
When you cannot meet the MOQ
If you cannot meet the MOQ, the manufacturer will often either decline the project or increase the price per kilogram to recover the fixed setup, tooling, and production costs that would normally be spread across the minimum order quantity.
But, in certain cases, it is possible to work around MOQ requirements. At ALUCAD, for example, we can sometimes accommodate annual volumes below the required MOQ by spreading production across a longer period of time, so long as the client commits. Or in other cases we’ve seen, customers choose to purchase the full MOQ while only taking delivery of the quantity they need. This usually only happens when the profile is very small and the additional quantities imposed within the MOQ are simply not needed, and there are no other extruders doing it at reasonable costs.
How your profile design can affect the MOQ
As you can expect, since circumscribed diameter and the weight per metre affects MOQ, your profile design decisions matter. Larger circumscribed diameters and longer, heavier profiles will affect MOQ.
There is also the case of using solid sections when a hollow profile would do, which we explain in our Designing with Aluminium guide. There is also the case of imposing very tight tolerances when they aren’t technically required, which would slow the extrusion process and not only add to the MOQ, but to cost as well.
Designing your aluminium profile with manufacturing in mind—and following your selected supplier’s design guidance for aluminium extrusions—can help streamline your costs and improve manufacturability.
It is also a reason why working with a responsive and experienced bespoke aluminium profile manufacturer early in the design process can provide substantial value, because they’ll immediately be able to spot where added complexity is only working towards bumping up costs and the MOQ, and nothing towards the bespoke aluminium profile's performance.
To summarise, when you're sourcing a manufacturer for your bespoke aluminium profile, remember that factors like circumscribed diameter, weight per metre, and geometry all influence the extrusion process and therefore the MOQ. Understanding these factors will help you align your design decisions better with your needs, as well as manufacturing costs.
If you are looking to get your bespoke aluminium profile manufactured but you aren’t sure about the MOQ, send us your drawings and specs, and we’ll get back to you with an MOQ and a quote.
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