You’ve found a toll processor you want to work with. You put together an RFQ and sent it over. Then, instead of a quote, you get a list of questions.
This is more common than most buyers realize, and it’s not the processor being difficult. A quote is only as accurate as the information behind it. When key details are missing, the number comes back with assumptions baked in, and those assumptions can unravel once processing starts.
In this episode of the Toll Manufacturing Minute, Charlie Casale, Senior Business Development Manager at Custom Processing Services, gets specific about what a complete tolling RFQ looks like — and what’s almost always missing.
An RFQ gap doesn’t always surface immediately. Sometimes it shows up early in a conversation. Sometimes it shows up mid-production, when a customer sends in 20-pound bags instead of the 1,000-pound bulk sacks the quote assumed. Suddenly what was planned to be a one-person job ends up requiring two.
“The packaging is probably the single biggest effect,” Charlie noted. “There are so many different details in any tolling project that we really need to spend the time, ask the questions, and get the answers so we can build an accurate scope, meet your requirements, and provide you an accurate proposal.”
Budget numbers can be provided despite incomplete information — but those numbers naturally come with caveats. The goal of a complete RFQ is to reduce the gap between the budget estimate and the final production cost.
Beyond the obvious question of what the material is, there are properties that significantly affect not only how a toll processor can work with it, but how they price that work.
Every new project at CPS starts with an EH&S review of the safety data sheet. It’s not optional, and an RFQ without it can’t move forward.
From a safety standpoint, the two primary considerations are combustibility and toxicity. CPS has combustible dust handling systems rated for specific levels of combustibility. For toxic materials, the plant uses enclosed stations with dedicated dust collection to protect operators.
In the battery and energy materials space specifically, highly reactive metal alloys can be a limiting factor. CPS evaluates each material on its own merits — 95% of submissions clear the EH&S review — but the SDS is how that determination gets made.
Particle size targets are where RFQs most often fall apart. “I want it at 200 microns” is not a specification; it’s a starting point for a conversation.
A complete particle size specification includes:
The difference between bulk packaging and small bags isn’t just a logistical question. It’s a labor question. Opening 50 twenty-pound bags to get the same feed as one 1,000-pound sack requires more people and more time, and that shows up directly in the per-pound processing cost.
The same applies on the output side. Pack-out in 10-pound bags costs more than pack-out in 50-pound bags. CPS will always flag this for customers who don’t realize there’s a cost implication — because sometimes a requirement that looks fixed turns out to be flexible.
CPS will always define a sampling plan and certificate of analysis (CoA) requirements for any project. But when customers specify their own requirements, those details belong in the RFQ.
Testing once every five sacks and testing twice per sack are not the same cost. Putting one label on a package and putting four or five labels on a package are not the same cost. Lot traceability and lot integrity requirements add documentation and handling time.
None of these details are unreasonable to ask for, but all of them have a meaningful impact on what it costs to deliver.
Annual volume forecasts affect equipment allocation. When a large customer signals significant volume, CPS plans production capacity around it. Significant forecasting errors in either direction create operational disruptions.
Campaign structure also matters: one large annual run is more efficient than the same volume split across quarterly campaigns. Where flexibility exists on the customer side, it often translates to lower per-unit cost.
For customers transitioning from lab or pilot scale to production, Charlie was direct: lab-scale data is useful context, but it’s not directly transferable to a quoting foundation. Equipment differences change the particle size distribution. What a customer’s lab mill produces and what a CPS production mill produces may have the same D50 but a meaningfully different shape of distribution. CPS requires its own trial data before committing to a production quote.
When asked for his single piece of advice, Charlie put it plainly: the devil is in the details. A complete RFQ covers:
CPS’s processing specification document captures all of this before production begins regardless of what the original RFQ contained. But the closer the RFQ is to complete, the more accurate the initial quote — and the fewer adjustments required down the line.
Putting together a tolling RFQ and want to make sure you haven’t missed anything? Reach out to CPS for a consultation to get started today.