What order confirmation
actually means

The lead time clock starts at order confirmation, not at first
contact. Order confirmation is the point where the format list, the
carton count per format, and the destination are all agreed and the
order has been placed. An enquiry, a quotation, and a round of questions
about formats can all happen before that point, and none of that time
counts against the 14 to 21 day window.

This distinction matters most when a buyer works backward from a
delivery date. Counting the window from the wrong start date is the
single most common way a delivery lands later than expected, and the
delay is rarely inside Foliware’s process at all.

Inside the
window: what the 14 to 21 days covers

Once an order is confirmed, four things happen in sequence before
dispatch: the order is scheduled into current production, the formats
are pressed and produced, the output is checked and tested, and the
finished units are packed into inner packs and cartons and prepared for
dispatch. Foliware does not publish a fixed day-by-day split of the
window across these four stages, because the split moves with order size
and current production loading. The total window, 14 to 21 business
days, is the figure a buyer can plan against.

Outside
the window: where a buyer’s own process adds days

Three points sit before or alongside the production window and are
controlled by the buyer, not by Foliware.

Specification confirmation. Finalising the exact
format mix and carton count, and for a custom format, the mould
specification, happens before order confirmation. An order cannot be
confirmed, and the clock cannot start, until this is settled.

Artwork approval, where relevant. Any custom
branding or mould artwork that needs sign-off adds the time that
approval takes on the buyer’s side. This sits outside the standard lead
time and is separate from the custom mould development timeline
below.

Payment terms clearing. Whatever payment arrangement
applies, whether an advance transfer or another agreed term, the time it
takes for that to clear on the buyer’s side sits before the production
window opens, not inside it.

None of these three is a delay Foliware introduces. All three are
steps that happen on the buyer’s side of the order, and all three can be
shortened by having the format list, artwork and payment process ready
before the quotation stage rather than after.

Custom mould
development runs on a separate clock

A genuinely new format, one that needs a mould that does not already
exist, does not run on the standard 14 to 21 day window at all. Custom
mould development takes 30 to 45 days from specification approval to the
first production run, and tooling costs are borne by the buyer. This is
a one-time development period for that mould. Once the mould exists and
the first run is produced, subsequent orders of that format move through
the standard order and dispatch process like any other format in the
range.

Buyers introducing a new custom format should treat the 30 to 45 day
mould development period and the 14 to 21 day order lead time as two
separate clocks, run one after the other, not as a single combined
window.

Working
the two clocks together for a fixed delivery date

For a standard format, count back 14 to 21 business days from the
required delivery date to find the latest order confirmation date, then
add whatever time your own specification, artwork and payment steps need
before that.

For a new custom format, count back 30 to 45 days from the point
production needs to start for specification approval, then add the 14 to
21 day order lead time for the first production run and dispatch after
that. A custom format introduced against a fixed launch date needs this
full sequence planned from the outset, not discovered partway
through.

Frequently asked questions

Related reading

• current formats and lead times
• custom mould
  development and contract manufacturing
• how timing fits
  into a first order sequence

References