Send Steelcrest Precision an RFQ by email or submit an online Inquiry Form. A complete package brings a quote back in 24 to 48 hours. From there: optional DFM collaboration with our engineers, line-by-line PO verification, material sourced with full traceability, machining across 100+ CNC machines, first-article inspection, and delivery scheduled to your in-hand date.
You have read the buyer's guide on choosing a machine shop. This is the other side of it: what actually happens when you send us a drawing, step by step, from the first email to the part on your dock. If you want the equipment behind each step, our full capabilities page covers it.
RFQs reach us by email or through the website, and a member of our sales team reviews it first, the same person who becomes your technical contact if we work together. You can send as little as a sketch and a phone number, but a complete package gets quoted fastest:
If your data is sensitive, start with the NDA. We will sign yours, or send our mutual NDA if you do not have one. No drawing? Still send it. For lost prints and obsolete parts, our sales and engineering teams can work from the physical part to recreate the model, the drawing, and a manufacturing plan.
Most quotes turn in 24 to 48 hours once your package is complete. Your quote is built by estimating with input from operations on current lead times and engineering on cycle times and tooling, so the price and lead time on the quote are ones production actually agreed to.
Two things about how we quote that you will not find on every shop's website. First, before pricing anything, estimating confirms we are technically capable of the work. If we are not the right shop for your part, we tell you and no-quote it: a fast honest no beats a slow expensive maybe. Second, the quote you receive is our commitment to meet every requirement on it. Any assumption or exception is stated on the quote itself, not discovered after the PO.
Tell us what kind of number you need. A firm quote is standard, but if you are doing early program planning, say so, and we will scope a budgetary number accordingly.
24–48 hrs
Quote Turnaround
100+
CNC Machines
FAI
First-Article Inspection Built In
Print review: where cost drivers get found before they get machined
Before or after the quote, you can sit down with our engineers on manufacturability and affordability. Sometimes a minor change takes real cost out of a part without touching how it performs: a tolerance relieved where it is not functional, a radius matched to a standard tool, a material swapped for a faster-sourcing equivalent. We point out the cost drivers we see; you decide what is worth changing. It is your design, and the feedback is free either way.
Throughout the process, your point of contact stays the same. Questions go to your sales contact, who works the answer internally with estimating, engineering, or operations and comes back to you. You ask one person; we chase the answer.
We do not just book it. We check it. Every PO is compared against the quote line by line: part number, description, revision, quantity, price, and any notes or exceptions carried on the quote. If anything does not match, we raise it with you before the order moves forward. A mismatch caught at order entry costs an email; the same mismatch caught at inspection costs a delivery.
Contract review also locks in your quality requirements from day one. Material certs, Certificates of Conformance, DFARS compliance: whatever your PO and drawings call for is flagged on the job before the first chip is cut. Everything contractual about your order lives in one controlled job folder that sales, engineering, quality, and the floor all work from, so there is exactly one version of the truth about what you ordered.
Inside the lab: tolerances verified, not assumed
Material. We source raw material against your spec with full traceability: heat and lot numbers tied to certs, certs tied to your parts. Supplying your own material is common and welcome. Outside processes like plating, coating, and heat treat run through our vetted partner network, performed to your specifications and managed by us, so you are never coordinating a second vendor.
Machining. Your part routes through whichever of our departments the work demands, across 100-plus CNC machines. That depth protects your date: multiple machines can run most jobs, so a down spindle reroutes work instead of rescheduling it.
Inspection. First-article inspection is built into our process, not an upcharge and not by request. Dimensional verification runs through our in-house metrology lab, with in-process checks on the floor during the run. Where a part needs NDT or specialized inspection, our partner network turns it fast. Our quality system is compliant with AS9100, and we are working toward certification as we build out our aerospace work.
We schedule production against your in-hand date, not our ship date. Transit time is built into the promise, so on time means on your dock, not on our truck. Parts ship packaged to protect finished surfaces, with the documentation your requirements call for: packing slip, Certificate of Conformance, material certs, and inspection records as specified. If a date is ever at risk, you hear it from us early, with a recovery plan.
Every Steelcrest customer gets a named structure, not a queue: an outside sales technical contact for applications, new quotes, and business reviews, plus an inside sales contact for orders, fulfillment status, and urgent factory requests. Behind them, our management, quality, and engineering teams are accessible when a conversation needs them. Repeat parts re-order against proven routings and tooling, which is where the real economics of a machining partnership show up. The second run is always smoother than the first, and the tenth is smoother still.
Yes. Send yours and we will route it for signature, or we will provide our mutual NDA if you do not have one. Fully executed copies come back to you before technical data changes hands.
Yes. For lost prints, obsolete parts, or reverse-engineering needs, our sales and engineering teams can work from the physical part to recreate the model, drawing, and manufacturing plan.
Yes. Customer-supplied material is common. Tell us in the RFQ, and we will enter it on the job and schedule production around its expected arrival.
Yes. Plating, coating, heat treat, and specialized inspection run through our vetted partner network, performed to your specifications and managed by Steelcrest. You issue one PO and receive a finished part.
Whatever your requirements specify: packing slip, Certificate of Conformance, material certifications with heat and lot traceability, and first-article or inspection reports. Quality requirements are captured at contract review, so documentation is built alongside the order.