10/28/2026
Before any production tooling is cut, there should be a prototype in your hands.
This is the step many people try to skip to save money, but it’s almost always the wrong call.
There are two approaches we typically take: a ren prototype mold or an aluminum one. The right choice depends on what you need to learn.
Ren is faster and less expensive. You get a physical tray to evaluate fit, see how your product sits, and assess how the walls support it. It’s often enough to catch obvious fit issues before investing in production tooling.
Aluminum takes longer and costs more, but it allows us to produce production quality parts. You can send samples to a buyer, test the tray on your production line, and evaluate how it fits into cases and stacks on a pallet. You learn how the tray performs in the real world, not just how it looks on a desk.
Why does this matter? Once production tooling is cut, changes can become expensive and time-consuming. A wall that’s slightly too tight, a fl**ge that doesn’t work with your production line, or a stack that nests poorly in a case is a manageable adjustment during prototyping. With production tooling, it can become a much bigger project.
That’s why we ask an important question early in the process: What do you need to learn before we cut the production tool?
Answer that honestly, and the rest of the process can become a lot more efficient and cost-effective.
