Sample lead time versus production lead time in Longgang

Three clocks

White structure sample: board, wrap, and fit, often without final print. Printed sample: Kodak CTP plus Heidelberg on the wrap or carton. Production: materials, print, converting, pack, and booking. Wenzhou Taishan Printing Co., Ltd. runs these as separate sequences in Longgang, not as one calendar copied from a trading desk.

A structure sample answers cavity and lid. A printed sample answers colour and finish on the sheet. A production lot answers the container. Do not treat sample days as production days. This article does not publish day counts as a guarantee — the RFQ reply carries the calendar.

If you need a structure sample before a sea lot, say so on the first RFQ. Silent sampling is how a vessel is booked against a white box that has not been approved.

• Clock 1: white / structure / fit.
• Clock 2: printed wrap or carton sheet.
• Clock 3: production materials, converting, pack, booking.
• Write which clocks you need before anyone names a ship week.

What stretches a sample

Special paper, holographic wrap, magnet placement, EVA tooling, and a new heptagon or star dieline. Stock wrap on grey board is faster than a mill-order specialty sheet. MDF cores (catalog 1.5–7 mm) are a different bench than 1.5–3 mm grey board.

Artwork that is still RGB, missing bleed, or mixing foil into a JPEG filter will pause the printed sample. Structure can still proceed if you approve a white box first. Confirm that split on the RFQ.

• New steel-rule die versus a locked blank.
• Mill-order paper versus wrap already in the plant.
• Magnet, window, or EVA as extra tooling.
• Whether colour must match a coated target on the first sample.

Do not book the vessel on the sample date

Ask for two dates: sample ex-works and production ex-works after approval. We will not invent a day count in this article. The RFQ gets the calendar. Destination and board lot can move both clocks.

Air samples and sea lots are different bookings. A courier carton is not a 20-foot load. Write the destination country and whether you expect air for the sample and sea for the lot.

What the Longgang plant actually sequences

Catalog path: design → materials → Kodak CTP → Heidelberg sheetfed → lamination or varnish → converting → pack. Heidelberg 8-open 4/5-color, XL-75 4/5-color, and CDX102 4/5/6-color print wrap and cartons in-house. Die-cut, folder-gluer, and warehouse sit in the same Cendong Road plant — more than 20,000 m² production and 3,500 m² warehouse, 200+ staff, 50+ machines.

White samples may skip CTP. Production does not skip materials. If the wrap is still being ordered, production cannot start from the sample photo. Manufacturer since 2000, not a desk that forwards dates from an unnamed factory.

Materials and destination

Board lots change. A grey-board core approved in a white sample should be named again on the production PO. Destination can add packing, pallet, and document time after converting. None of that belongs on the sample clock.

Food-contact or FSC claims, if they will appear on the carton, need current scans requested on the RFQ — not a catalog logo pasted as a contract. Those documents can sit on the production clock even when the white box is already approved.

• Ship-to country on the RFQ.
• Air sample versus sea production, stated separately.
• Whether packing must match a retailer inbound spec — confirm, do not assume.

Approvals that pause production

Colour on screen is not a Heidelberg sheet. If you must sign a printed wrap, say the production clock starts after that sign-off. Foil and spot UV on a mock-up are not stamps. Ask for a sample with the actual pass if those finishes are audited.

Changing inner size after a white sample is a new structure sample, not a note on the production PO. Changing only a spot colour may still need a new plate. Write what is locked: cavity, wrap print, finish map, or all three.

How to write dates on the RFQ

List the three clocks and which ones you need. Do not paste a single “lead time” from another supplier’s website. Confirm dates on our reply. Send the RFQ via taishanprint.com (EN/ZH/ES), [email protected], or WhatsApp +86 138 6598 7984.

If a launch week is real, write it as a need, not as a factory promise already made. We will answer with sample ex-works and production ex-works after approval — still not a day-count table in this article.

• Need a white sample before print: yes/no.
• Need a printed sheet before the lot: yes/no.
• Production may start only after named approval: yes/no.