The short answer

Two tracks, two timelines

One question decides which process applies: are you buying parts, or making them? A buyer's entry step is a file transfer. A factory's entry step is evidence. Neither costs money, and neither is a formality, but the two timelines differ by an order of magnitude, so it is worth knowing which one you are on before a launch date is fixed.

If you are buying, joining means you are inside the quotation workflow, and nothing else changes: one project manager and one point of contact from the first enquiry through to the shipment. If you are making, joining means your records, your equipment and your output have been checked against a specification that a third party can audit, and the first order is deliberately small for exactly that reason.

What we do not do is charge for the door. There is no application fee, no listing fee and no subscription on either side, which is why the honest answer to how long it takes is about paperwork and sample parts rather than about money.

The buyer track: four steps from enquiry to released order

The buyer path is short because the checks happen on the part rather than on you.

1. Share the files. A STEP or IGES model plus a 2D PDF drawing with tolerances is enough to quote. A physical sample can stand in for a model where no CAD exists, but a drawing with tolerances is what makes two quotations comparable.
2. DFM review. Geometry, tolerances, wall thickness, bend radius, draft and material are reviewed against the process route before price is discussed. This is where cost is usually found: a wall that is too thick for the cycle time, a tolerance no process holds at that size, or a bend that needs a relief cut.
3. Quotation. Unit price, tooling, inspection, lead time and the assumptions behind each of them, in writing. Anything the price depends on that has not been stated is a change order waiting to happen.
4. Release. Sample or first article, approval against the drawing, then production. Repeat orders skip the first two steps.

What to send with the first message

Most of the delay in a first quotation is a missing file rather than a slow engineer. This is the short list, and each item changes a number that appears on the quote.

The factory track: what has to exist at each gate

For a factory, joining is a sequence of six gates, and each one asks for evidence rather than a promise.

1. Application. What the factory makes, in which processes, on which equipment, and at what tonnage or envelope limits.
2. Entity and scope check. Legal entity, registered scope, facility location and ownership of the machines, so that capacity claimed is capacity controlled.
3. Document review. Quality manual and records, gauge calibration status, material certificates, inspection capability and the list of sub-tier suppliers.
4. Audit. One day on site against a checklist shared in advance, or a remote process review with live video where travel is not practical. For orders above roughly USD 50,000, published guidance treats the on-site audit as mandatory rather than optional.
5. Sample and first article. Trial parts produced against a frozen drawing and reported dimensionally, which is the only step that tests the claims made in the first four.
6. Approved status. Entry on the routing list, an agreed escalation path for quality issues and the first production order.

How long it takes, and what makes it slip

The published numbers for custom parts are consistent. Qualification and quality-system review take about two to four weeks. The first-article and production-part approval stage adds two to six weeks after tooling is ready, which puts eight to fourteen weeks between first contact and an approved production part when a new die or mould has to be built. Measured on its own, an approval package takes three to four weeks to assemble for simple stamped or moulded parts, six to eight weeks for medium-complexity parts that need multi-stage processing and third-party testing, and ten to sixteen weeks for safety-critical parts.

Why applications stall, and what stops the clock

The findings that delay a first approval are almost never about machining capability. They repeat, and they are administrative:

• Gauges without current calibration. A measurement without a calibration certificate is an opinion, and an inspector will treat it as one.
• An uncontrolled quarantine or material review area. If non-conforming parts are not physically separated, nothing downstream can be trusted.
• Incomplete training records. Key operators and inspectors need traceable qualification, not verbal seniority.
• Sub-tier suppliers outside the system. Plating, heat treatment and coating are where most stamping and machining defects are actually created, and they are often not in the factory's own quality system on paper.
• Broken material traceability. A mill certificate that takes three weeks to appear is a warning sign rather than a formality.

Two practical habits cut most of the delay. Send the checklist two weeks before the visit so the factory prepares the right evidence instead of guessing, and agree the approval submission level before tooling is released rather than after samples ship. Neither is expensive, and both remove the most common cause of a slipped date, which is surprise.

Limits, and how to start

• Not every applicant is accepted. A network is only as good as its worst member, so capability, capacity and record discipline are all part of the decision.
• Joining does not guarantee volume. Work is routed on capability, capacity, price and past performance, in that order.
• The audit does not replace your customer's audit. If your own customer requires their own visit, their own checklist or their own approved vendor list, that runs on top of this one.
• Regulated and export-controlled work needs more. Medical, aerospace and defence programmes carry documentation and control requirements that are assessed case by case before anything is quoted.
• No certification claims are made here. Which quality system a factory holds, and to what scope, is confirmed per programme and per factory in writing rather than assumed from a website.

To start on either track, send what you already have. A buyer needs a model and a drawing. A factory needs a capability list, a licence and the process it wants to be considered for. From there the next step is a free design review on a live part or a scheduled audit, and both are quoted in weeks rather than in fees. See the partner programme for the factory side, CNC machining for the most commonly routed process and sheet metal fabrication for formed and welded work.