Most factories say they're at capacity. Where can a small hardware team get bids?

When a contract manufacturer says it's at capacity, it usually means your job doesn't look worth the work of quoting, not that every line is full. A first run of, say, 1,000 units at $50 is about $50,000 of work, small next to the programs many electronics manufacturers are built for. For a small hardware startup, the realistic places to get manufacturing quotes are low-volume contract manufacturers, small final-assembly (box-build) shops, board assembly houses, and regional molders and machine shops, not large manufacturers or ODMs. "No minimum order" is common for boards and parts but rare for a whole product, and shops that take small runs charge setup fees and a higher unit price. To get bids, send a short, complete request that shows a real project, ask every shop that says no who takes jobs your size, and ask your state's Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) center, if it has one, about free supplier scouting. As a rough rule, two real bids from ten cold contacts is a normal result for a small first run.

What does "we're at capacity" usually mean?

"We're at capacity" is the politest no a manufacturer can give, and the hardest to argue with. It usually covers one or more of these:

• The job is small for them. Quoting is real work: pricing every line of the parts list, the molds, the labor and the test. The estimator's own work may take days, but the quote often takes weeks on the calendar, because parts and molds have to be priced by other suppliers first. One company that sells quoting software, and so has an interest in the point, puts a manual electronics quote at two to six weeks. The same source says many electronics manufacturers answer only about 60% of the quote requests they receive. A mid-size US electronics manufacturer told investors in 2016 that it targets programs of $5 million to $80 million a year. For a manufacturer built for programs of millions of dollars a year, a $50,000 first run rarely pays back the cost of quoting it.
• The request is unclear. No description of the product, no quantities, a range like "1 to 100,000", or "we're looking for the cheapest" reads like a price check, not a project.
• A first product is a risk. Design problems show up on the manufacturer's line, and demand for a new product is uncertain. In a turnkey build, where the factory buys the parts, it also pays for your parts weeks before you pay it, so a startup with no payment history is a credit risk. From one email, a manufacturer can't tell whether you'll come back for a second run.
• It's outside what they do. A shop set up for metal parts, or for boards alone, may say "capacity" rather than explain.
• Sometimes it's true. In one 2026 survey, twice as many US contract manufacturers were quoting work brought back from overseas as a year earlier, about a third of them, and most manufacturers called hiring skilled trades very difficult. A small new job joins a longer queue.
• Timing. Consumer electronics lines are often busiest from late summer to November with holiday builds, and factories in China and Vietnam slow down for several weeks around Lunar New Year, with a rush before it. A request that gets a no in October can get a yes after the holidays.

Which of these applies changes what you do next. If they never saw a complete request, fix the request. If the job is too small for them, look at a different kind of shop. If you can't tell, ask in one line: "Is it the size of the job, the timing, or not the kind of work you do?"

Which kinds of shops take small production runs?

Large electronics manufacturers and well-known ODMs (original design manufacturers, factories that build products on their own designs) are built for large programs and usually decline below their minimum order quantities (MOQs). The realistic pool for a first run is smaller and more specialized. The table shows six kinds of shops that take runs of a few hundred to a few thousand units, what each takes on, and what to watch for.

Published minimums for factories in Asia disagree: sourcing agents put small workshops at 100 to 300 units and mid-size factories at 500 to 2,000, while an expert quoted in 2018 put final assembly at low-volume, high-mix factories in China at 5,000 to 10,000.

"No minimum order" is common for board assembly and for parts from online platforms, but rare for a whole product, and shops that take small runs recover their setup through setup charges and a higher unit price. Other ways to bring a minimum down are in An ODM quoted a 2,000-unit MOQ, but we need 500, and the kinds of partners and how they charge in How to choose a partner to take your hardware into production.

How do you get a manufacturer to quote a small run?

• Call or write a short note first. Say what the product is and does, how many you need and when, and ask whether a job that size fits before you send files. One contract manufacturer, writing about bad first contacts, singles out a vague "we might have a project for you" as a fast way to be ignored.
• Then send one complete package, the same revision to everyone. What goes in it, and what can stay open, is in What should you send a manufacturer for a quote, if your design isn't locked down yet?
• Give an honest forecast: the first run and a realistic first year, not a range from 1 to 100,000.
• Give a target price, even a ballpark. It tells them quickly whether the job can work.
• Show you can pay. Say you expect to pay a deposit, or to prepay parts with long lead times or minimum buys.
• Say who decides, and by when. A decision date separates a project from a price check.
• Say why you picked them, such as work they've done that looks like yours.
• Offer to pay for engineering. A paid design-for-manufacturing (DFM) review or a small first job turns their quoting effort into paid work, and shows you how they work.
• Answer their questions the same day. Slow replies stall a quote or force them to guess.
• Don't send the same email to 30 shops. A long list of about ten for first conversations, narrowed to three or four for full quotes, is a common pattern. A blast reads like price shopping.

Where can you find manufacturers for a small run, besides online directories?

• Ask every no for a name. "Who would you send a job this size to?" Shops that turn down small jobs often know who takes them.
• Ask the suppliers you already have. Your board assembly house and your bare-board maker know which local assembly and box-build shops take small jobs.
• Ask component distributors' sales reps and field application engineers. They're paid when a design goes into production, and they see which contract manufacturers buy parts for small customers.
• Ask your state's MEP center, if it has one. The Manufacturing Extension Partnership, part of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), has centers in most states and in Puerto Rico. The network has changed since 2025, with some centers not renewed or re-competed, so check NIST's MEP map for an active center in your state. Its supplier scouting service costs nothing: you describe the product, the quantities and a target price, centers search their own states, and matches usually come back in 30 to 45 days. You get names to check yourself, not quotes, and some centers offer it free only on temporary funding, so ask your local center whether it's taking requests. The staff's own knowledge of who takes small jobs can be worth as much as the formal search.
• Use hardware incubators, trade shows and industry associations, and online supplier directories for the long list. Don't count on investors for introductions: in a 2018 survey of hardware founders, only 8% found their manufacturer through investors.

How many quotes should you expect, and how long does a manufacturing quote take?

• Expect few replies. As a rough rule of thumb, not a measured rate, two real quotes from ten cold contacts is a normal result for a small first run. Even board assembly houses, the easiest kind of shop to get a quote from, can go two for five: one founder who contacted five for a small run got two quotes; one never replied, one replied but never priced it, and one declined.
• A full quote usually takes two to four weeks for a product with molds, boards and assembly. Board-only quick-turn shops answer in hours or days.
• Finding a manufacturer takes months. In the same 2018 survey, founders took 3.5 months on average to find and choose a contract manufacturer. Start before you need the first parts.
• Two quotes can be enough to move forward, if both priced the same package and you compare them the same way: the landed cost per good unit, meaning the cost of one working unit delivered to your warehouse with freight and duty included, with one-time costs shown separately. Compare the payment terms, how long each quote is valid, the lead time to first units and who owns the molds too; for a small team, cash timing can matter as much as unit price. This matters most when one bid is domestic and one overseas. How to compare quotes line by line is in What's actually in a production quote.

Example: from one bid to three

This is an illustration, not a customer project. The product and the numbers are made up.

A team needs 800 units of a wristband with a molded case, one board and a small battery. They email the same two-line request to 12 contract manufacturers they found in online directories. Seven don't reply, three say they're at capacity, and two quote, one of them for the board only.

They change the approach:

• They call the three that said no and ask who takes jobs this size. Two give names: a low-volume contract manufacturer in their region and a box-build shop.
• They rewrite the request: what the product does, 800 units now and about 3,000 in the first year, a target factory price of $38, a deposit on the order, a decision within four weeks, and an offer to pay for a DFM review at the shop they choose.
• They ask their board assembly house who does final assembly nearby, and get a third name.
• They send their state MEP center a supplier scouting request at the same time.

Four weeks later they have three complete prices for the same package, replacing the first-round quotes. One is a full build from the low-volume contract manufacturer, which buys the molded parts from a molder it works with. The other two are split routes: each box-build shop quoted final assembly and test, and named a molder and a board assembler it works with, who quoted the case and the boards. The MEP matches arrive later and go on the list for the second run.

Where we come in

If factories keep saying they're at capacity, this is one of the situations Anamor takes on. We work on runs from pilot runs of dozens to production runs of thousands and more, and choose partner factories in the US and overseas by process and quantity. If we're not the right fit, we'll tell you plainly.

Anamor takes US hardware teams with a working prototype into their first production run: we redesign the product for production, line up partner factories and suppliers in the US and overseas, price it at your quantities, and run the build through to shipping.

Send what you have: photos of the prototype, CAD if you have it, the parts list, any quotes you've received, and how many you plan to make. Need an NDA? We'll send our mutual NDA, or review yours, before you send files. Within two business days, a real person on our team will reply with a free first look at your production run and a few times to talk.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a contract manufacturer with no minimum order quantity?

For boards and parts, often yes: many board assembly houses and online parts platforms have no minimum. For a whole product, with a case, boards, assembly and test, a true no-minimum is rare. Shops that take runs of a few hundred recover their setup through setup charges and a higher unit price, so compare total cost at your real quantity.

How many manufacturers should a hardware startup contact for quotes?

About ten for first conversations, narrowed to three or four for full quotes, is a common pattern. Sending the same email to dozens of shops reads like price shopping. As a rough rule for a small first run, two real quotes from ten cold contacts is normal, and two can be enough if both priced the same package.

Is there free help finding a US manufacturer for a small run?

Often, yes. Most states and Puerto Rico have a Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) center, part of NIST; check NIST's MEP map for an active one in your state. Its supplier scouting service is free: you describe the product, quantities and target price, and matches usually come back in 30 to 45 days. You get names to check, not quotes.