Product Manufacturing RFQ Form Template
A request for quotation runs in the opposite direction to a quote: the buyer states what they need made, and the supplier prices it. This form collects the specification a supplier actually quotes from, including material grade, tolerances, finish, certification, quantity, whether the requirement repeats, and how firm the delivery date is. Target unit price is optional and clearly labelled as a benchmark. There is no budget field, because an RFQ is priced from a specification.
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Fields in this template
- Company Namerequired
- Contact Namerequired
- Email Addressrequired
- Phone Number
- Your Role or Department
- Part or Assembly Namerequired
- Your Part Number or Drawing Reference
- What Stage Is This At?required
Concept: no drawing yet · Sketch or CAD in progress · Full drawing pack ready · Existing part, currently made elsewhere · Sample part available to copy or reverse engineer · Repeat of a part you have made for us before
- Describe the Part and What It Has to Dorequired
- Which Manufacturing Process Do You Need?required
CNC machining · Turning · Sheet metal fabrication · Welded assembly · Injection moulding · Casting · Extrusion · Laser or waterjet cutting · 3D printing or additive · Assembly only: we supply the components · Not sure: please advise the best process for the volume
- Material and Graderequired
- Tolerancesrequired
- Surface Finish or Treatmentrequired
- What Certification or Documentation Do You Need With the Parts?required
None · Material certificate · Certificate of conformity · First article inspection report · Dimensional inspection report · RoHS or REACH declaration · Country-of-origin documentation · The supplier must hold ISO 9001 certification · Something else, described below
- Quantity Requiredrequired
- Is This a One-Off or a Recurring Requirement?required
One-off or prototype · One-off now, production to follow if it works · Recurring: repeat batches · Blanket order with scheduled call-offs · Annual contract
- If Recurring, Expected Annual Volume and Batch Size
- Do You Want Prices at More Than One Quantity?required
Yes: please quote break quantities · No: the quantity above only
- Target Unit Price, If You Have a Real One
- Required Delivery Daterequired
- How Firm Is That Date?required
Hard: a line stop or a contractual commitment · Firm, but a week's slip is survivable · A target we would like to hit · Flexible: quote your standard lead time
- Delivery Locationrequired
- Who Arranges Shipping?
Ex works: we collect · FCA · DAP: delivered to us · DDP: delivered, duty paid · Not sure: please quote your standard terms
- Link to Drawings, CAD or a Specification Pack
- Is an NDA Needed Before Drawings Are Shared?required
No · Yes: please send us yours · Yes: we will send ours to sign · One is already in place
- Anything Else the Supplier Should Know?
- Confirmationrequired
I confirm this is a request for quotation and not an order, and I am happy to be contacted about it.
Who uses this template
About this template
A request for quotation is a buyer's document. It travels from the company that needs a part to the supplier who might make it, and its job is to carry enough specification that the supplier can put a real number against it. That is the opposite direction to a quote request form, which collects a customer's wishes so that a vendor can propose a service, and it is why an RFQ needs different fields. It is also worth saying plainly, because the two are constantly confused: submitting this form is not placing an order, and it is not a quotation. Nothing is committed and no money moves.
The fields follow what actually determines a price. Material grade rather than material family, because 316L and mild steel are different objects. Tolerances, which are usually the largest single cost driver in a machined part and the thing most often tightened out of caution rather than need, so the field explicitly permits "general tolerances, nothing critical". Finish, including the answer "as-machined". Certification, as a checklist, with a warning that every certificate adds cost and lead time. Quantity, and separately whether the requirement recurs, which is the field that most changes a unit price and is asked least often. And how firm the delivery date is, because suppliers price expedite into a hard date and a customer who admits a date is aspirational usually gets a better number than one who defends it.
There is no budget field. The template follows the same reasoning as a freight rate request: when a price can be computed from measured facts, asking what the buyer hoped to spend adds an anchor and no information. A target unit price field is offered instead, optional and clearly labelled, because a real target genuinely helps a supplier tell you that the process you have specified cannot reach it and to propose one that can. An invented target does the opposite, and the field description says so. Every form built with formformform is hosted in the EU and handled under GDPR by default, and optional end-to-end encryption can be switched on per form, which is worth considering for a form that will carry unreleased product information.
12 form ideas you can build with this template
CNC Machining RFQ Form
Machined parts where tolerance and material grade carry the price, and the finish field distinguishes as-machined from anodised.
Sheet Metal Fabrication RFQ
Folded and welded work priced from material, gauge, quantity and finish, with the drawing pack link doing most of the specification.
Injection Moulding Quotation Request
Volume-driven enquiries where the recurring requirement and annual volume fields decide whether tooling can be amortised at all.
Prototype Manufacturing RFQ
Single-piece and small-batch work, using the stage field to flag a concept that still needs design input before it can be quoted.
Casting and Foundry RFQ Form
Cast parts where material grade, certification and dimensional inspection requirements dominate the quotation.
Contract Assembly RFQ
Assembly-only work where the buyer supplies components, captured by the process option of the same name and the packaging notes.
Procurement Team Internal RFQ Form
Used inside a buying organisation so engineers submit complete, comparable specifications before an enquiry goes to a supplier list.
Second Source Supplier RFQ
Qualifying an alternative supplier for an existing part, where the stage field reads "currently made elsewhere" and certification requirements are already fixed.
Hardware Startup First Production Run RFQ
A first batch beyond prototypes, where "one-off now, production to follow" and the price-break request shape the whole conversation.
3D Printing and Additive RFQ
Additive work where process, material and finish are quoted together and lead time is often the deciding factor.
Spare Parts Reverse Engineering RFQ
Obsolete components remade from a sample, using the stage option for a sample part and the description field for the working environment.
Annual Contract Manufacturing Tender
Blanket orders and call-offs, where the recurring field and expected annual volume turn a single enquiry into a supply agreement.
What's included
How to create a product manufacturing RFQ form
- 1
Click "Use this template" to load the manufacturing RFQ form into your free formformform account.
- 2
Cut the process dropdown to what you actually do. A machine shop should remove moulding and casting; a moulder should remove turning and fabrication. Leaving processes you do not offer produces enquiries you have to decline.
- 3
Adjust the certification checklist to the standards your customers ask for and your sector recognises, and remove any you cannot supply.
- 4
Rewrite the intro paragraph with your quoting turnaround and your minimum order quantity, if you have one. An RFQ below your minimum is a wasted submission for both sides.
- 5
Decide whether the target unit price field stays. Some suppliers want it, some prefer to quote blind. It ships optional so either choice works without editing the field.
- 6
Turn on end-to-end encryption for your copy if RFQs will carry unreleased product details, so submissions are sealed to your key before they are stored.
- 7
Add an Upload field beside the drawing link if you would rather buyers attach STEP files and PDFs directly. formformform supports uploads on any form, up to 2 MB per file, which suits a drawing but not a large CAD assembly, so keep the link field for big packs.
- 8
Add conditional logic in the editor if you want the recurring-volume questions to appear only for repeat requirements. The editor supports branching; this template ships flat so it works immediately after cloning.
- 9
Embed it on your "request a quote" page and link it from your capability pages, where an engineer has just confirmed you can make their part.
Best practices for your product manufacturing RFQ form
Keep the direction unmistakable. The intro and the confirmation checkbox both state that this is a buyer's request and not an order. Buyers and suppliers genuinely confuse RFQ with quotation, and a form that is vague about which end it sits at generates disputes rather than business.
Ask for grade, not material. "Aluminium" is not a specification. The field description tells a buyer who does not know the grade to describe the working environment instead, which is a question they can answer and which lets you propose a material.
Let buyers say tolerances do not matter. Over-specified tolerance is the most common avoidable cost in a machined part. Giving "general tolerances, nothing critical" as an acceptable written answer saves your customers money and saves you a conversation.
Treat "not sure, advise the best process" as a good lead, not a weak one. Those buyers are the ones you can most help, and process substitution is where a supplier adds visible value early.
Always ask whether the requirement repeats. It changes what you are willing to invest in tooling and setup, and therefore the unit price. Quote the one-off honestly and show what the repeat price would be.
Ask for break quantities as a default. A buyer who sees the price at 250, 500 and 1,000 orders more often than one who sees a single number, and it costs you one extra line in the quotation.
Do not add a budget band. A specification-driven price is computed, not negotiated against a hoped-for figure. The optional target unit price field covers the legitimate case, where a buyer has a real benchmark and wants to know whether the design can reach it.
Settle the NDA on the enquiry. Asking on the form rather than after the first reply is often the difference between quoting this week and quoting next month.
Do not ask for a full delivery address to quote. Town and country prices freight and duty. The full address belongs on the purchase order, and collecting it earlier means holding data you have no use for if the quote is declined.
Never claim a certification you do not hold. The certification checklist describes what the buyer requires of a supplier and of the parts. It says nothing about this form, and neither should your reply.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between an RFQ and a quote request form?
Direction. An RFQ is issued by a buyer who knows what they need made and wants a supplier to price it, so it carries specification: material grade, tolerances, finish, quantity, dates. A quote request form is filled in by a customer describing a problem so a vendor can propose a service. They need different fields, which is why this is a separate template rather than a renamed one.
Is submitting this form an order?
No. It is a request for quotation. The intro paragraph and the confirmation checkbox both say so explicitly. Nothing is committed by submitting it, and no payment is taken or requested anywhere on the form.
Why is there no budget field?
Because the price is computed from the specification. Asking a buyer what they hoped to spend anchors the quotation without adding information. The optional target unit price field covers the case where the buyer has a real benchmark and wants to know whether the specification can reach it.
Should buyers fill in the target unit price?
Only if it is real. A genuine target lets a supplier say straight away that the process you have specified cannot get there, and propose one that can. An invented figure just produces a quotation shaped around a number that means nothing, which is why the field is optional and why its description says so.
Can buyers attach drawings and CAD files?
This template ships with a link field, because templates cannot arrive with an upload field pre-built. Add an Upload field to your copy in the form editor for direct attachments. formformform supports file uploads on any form, up to 2 MB per file, which suits a drawing PDF but not a large CAD assembly, so it is worth keeping the link field for full packs.
How should confidential drawings be handled?
The form asks whether an NDA is needed before drawings are shared, and the link field's description tells buyers to use an access-controlled link rather than a public one. If your RFQs routinely carry unreleased product information, switch on end-to-end encryption for your copy of the form so submissions are sealed to your key before they are stored.
What if the buyer does not know which manufacturing process they need?
"Not sure, please advise the best process for the volume" is one of the options, and it is often the most valuable submission you will get. Process choice depends heavily on quantity, and proposing a different route is where a supplier can most obviously save a customer money.
Can this be used internally, for sourcing rather than sales?
Yes. Procurement teams use the same form the other way round, as a standard internal RFQ that engineers complete before a package goes out to a supplier list. It gives every enquiry the same specification fields and makes the quotations comparable.
Is this RFQ form free?
Yes. Clone it, customise it, and collect unlimited submissions at no cost, with no per-submission fees.
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