From brief to first production run: the 10-week timeline
Ten weeks sounds long until you map out everything that has to happen. Here's how the time actually gets spent, and where you can buy back days.
The 10 weeks, mapped
When we quote 10 weeks lead time, here's where it actually goes:
- Week 1: Kickoff, confirm specs, neck finish, decoration scope, ship-to
- Week 2: Material reservation, color match (Pantone or custom)
- Week 3: Artwork dieline + proofs round 1
- Week 4: Proof revisions and final artwork lock
- Week 5: Decoration plate / screen / cylinder production
- Week 6: Resin extrusion, tube/bottle forming
- Week 7: Decoration run (silkscreen, hot stamp, offset or labels)
- Weeks 8–9: Assembly, capping, in-line QC
- Week 10: Final QC, packout, palletization, ship
Where teams accidentally add weeks
The clock starts when artwork is approved, not when the PO is signed. Every revision round on artwork pushes everything else right. The fastest projects we run are the ones where the brand shows up with locked, print-ready artwork on day one.
Custom color matching adds 3–5 days vs. running stock white or stock natural. A custom neck finish or custom mold adds weeks of tooling. New decoration techniques (foil + emboss + screen on the same tube) compound setup time.
How to buy back time
If you need to compress, three levers actually work: lock artwork before kickoff, run a stock color, and limit decoration to one or two techniques. Done well, that can bring 10 weeks down to 7–8.
What doesn't work: pressuring QC. We don't ship out-of-spec product to hit a date.
Takeaway
Our standard lead time is 10 weeks from approved artwork. Most of that is decoration setup and QC, not extrusion. Locking artwork early is the single biggest accelerator.
Ready to spec a run?
MOQ from 5,000 units per SKU. 10-week lead time. Tell us your format and we'll come back in 48 hours.
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