Free tool
Prototype to Production Readiness Check: Your Unit Cost at First-Run Volume
The deck says $180 a unit: the BOM, the assembly quote and a line called misc. The first run adds yield, test time, freight, duty and changes after tooling, at a volume smaller than the quotes. This check rebuilds your unit cost at the volume you’ll actually order and shows which scaleup gaps to close first.
For hardware companies between prototype and first production run. About 10 minutes, or 5 for a first estimate. Free, and nothing you enter leaves the page.
Why use it
The unit cost in the plan is rarely the cost of the first run
Plans are built from prototype quotes and a BOM. The first run is smaller, slower and carries costs the BOM never shows.
“Our unit cost is the BOM plus the CM’s quote.”
Yield, test, freight, duty and warranty sit outside both.
Caught byCost build-up
“The quotes came back at 1,000 units and our first order is 500.”
Prices and minimum orders set at 1,000 rarely hold at half the volume.
Caught bySupplier assumptions
“Only our lead engineer can calibrate it.”
The first run needs steps someone else can follow from a written instruction.
Caught byWork instructions and people
“Failed units go to an engineer’s bench.”
Without a test station and pass limits, nobody can measure the true yield.
Caught byYield and test
If any of these sound familiar, the check puts a number on each and ranks what to fix first.
Who it’s for
Scaleup readiness for early hardware teams
Founders
The week before a raise.
Heads of operations
Before signing a CM contract or placing the first PO.
Engineering and NPI leads
Before DVT and hard tooling.
Accelerator program managers
At cohort intake, before manufacturing office hours.
Investors
During diligence on the unit economics slide.
How it works
Three steps, about 10 minutes
Enter your plan cost and how it was built
The unit cost in your plan, the BOM and assembly quotes behind it, and your first-run and year-one volumes. Add yield, test, freight, duty and the other lines as you have them.
Check eight readiness areas
One card per area, from cost basis and suppliers to change control and your contract manufacturer. Answer Yes, Partly, No or Don’t know.
Take both numbers to your next CM or investor conversation
You get two numbers, the unit cost in your plan and fully loaded at first-run volume, the gap by cause with one action each, a readiness strip, the readiness gaps ranked, and a one-page result card. For Tidewell’s sensor buoy: $180 in the plan, $243 fully loaded at 500 units, and the biggest gap, $17, from quotes at 1,000 units. Copy it, email it or print it.
The method
Five checks between the prototype and the first run
Each check tests one assumption behind the unit cost or the build. The examples come from Tidewell Instruments, the sample company in the tool below.
Cost build-up
What’s in the unit cost in your plan?
DoD MRL Deskbook 2025Cost and FundingPasses whenThe unit cost includes yield, test, freight, duty, packaging, warranty and expected changes at first-run volume.
Why it mattersThe BOM is one part of the unit cost. Bolt’s extended BOM and Framework’s full cost model both build the rest around it.
Passes$243 fully loaded with every line priced.
FailsTidewell’s plan: $142 BOM + $18 assembly + $20 misc.
Supplier assumptions
Do your quotes, MOQs and lead times fit the first run?
DoD MRL Deskbook 2025Materials; Technology and Industrial BasePasses whenQuotes match the order volume, MOQs fit the run, and the longest lead time fits the build date.
Why it mattersQuotes at 1,000 units don’t hold at 500, and MOQs leave excess stock.
PassesThe 500-unit re-quote is in the plan.
FailsThree single-source parts and a 16-week probe lead time.
Yield and test
How will you know which units are good?
DoD MRL Deskbook 2025Process Capability and Control; Quality ManagementPasses whenThere is a test station with pass limits, every unit is serialized and every failure is analyzed.
Why it mattersTest stations with limits are how true yield gets measured. Instrumental builds its EVT and DVT gate criteria on them.
PassesThe written test plan with limits.
FailsFailed units go to the CTO’s bench.
Work instructions and people
Can someone else build it?
DoD MRL Deskbook 2025Manufacturing Workforce; Process Capability and ControlPasses whenEvery build step is written down and someone other than the design engineer can build, test and calibrate a unit.
Why it mattersThe first run outgrows the people who built the prototype.
PassesThe CM has built marine electronics before.
Fails2 of 9 steps written; only the CTO calibrates.
Change control and landed cost
Are changes and duty under control?
DoD MRL Deskbook 2025Design; Manufacturing Management; Cost and FundingPasses whenEngineering changes are approved and tracked with the CM, and the HTS code and duty rate are known.
Why it mattersChanges after tooling cost more than changes before it. Duty depends on classification and country of origin (USITC, CBP).
PassesTidewell knows its HTS code.
FailsChanges agreed by email.
Try it
Check your first production run
Open the example to see finished results, or start with the unit cost in your own plan.
Get started
Pick a starting point
Have your cost model and latest quotes in front of you. Your numbers stay in this page and clear when you close it. Nothing is stored or sent anywhere.
Common questions
Unit cost, readiness and where the methods come from
What’s the difference between fully loaded unit cost and BOM cost?
BOM cost is what the parts cost. Fully loaded unit cost adds assembly, yield, test, freight, duty, packaging, warranty and each unit’s share of engineering changes, at the volume you actually order; Bolt’s extended BOM and Framework’s full cost model both treat the BOM as one part of it. Tidewell’s $142 BOM becomes $243 fully loaded at 500 units. Bunnie Huang’s practitioner rule of pricing at about three times the BOM exists for the same reason.
What is a manufacturing readiness level, and does a startup need one?
Manufacturing readiness levels come from the US Department of Defense: the DoD MRL Deskbook 2025 rates a program from 1 to 10 across nine threads, such as Cost and Funding, Materials and Manufacturing Workforce. A startup rarely needs a formal level, but the threads make a useful checklist. This tool uses the thread names and does not assign a level.
What’s the difference between EVT, DVT and PVT?
They’re the three validation builds, as Instrumental describes them. EVT (engineering validation test) proves the design works, DVT (design validation test) proves it meets its requirements on production-intent parts, and PVT (production validation test) proves the line can build it at rate. Tidewell is at EVT, so test limits and work instructions are due before DVT.
What first-pass yield should I expect?
There’s no single published figure that fits every product, so treat any target as practitioner guidance. Early builds usually run below a mature line and climb as the top failures get fixed. Use your own EVT or pilot numbers: Tidewell’s 3% scrap and 14% rework add $10 a unit.
How does test time affect unit cost?
Test cost per unit is test minutes times the station rate. Tidewell’s 14 minutes at $60 an hour add $14 a unit, most of the size of its $18 assembly quote, because the CM quote leaves test out. Ask whether your quote includes test and calibration.
How do tariffs and duty change landed cost?
Duty is the rate for the product’s HTS classification and country of origin, applied to its dutiable value, as US Customs and Border Protection assesses it. Tidewell’s 25% on $32 of dutiable value adds $8 a unit. Look up your code in the USITC Harmonized Tariff Schedule and check the current schedule, because rates change; this tool has no rates built in.
What if I don’t know my yield or test time yet?
Leave it blank or tick Don’t know yet. The line shows as not priced yet and stays out of the total, the result reads fully loaded so far, and it lists what to find out.
How much does an engineering change cost after tooling?
Enter how many changes you expect after tooling and their total cost; the tool spreads the total over the first run. Tidewell expects 2 changes at $4,000 in total, $8 a unit across 500 units. Costs rise as the design is locked in, because a late change can touch tooling, stock and test.
My quotes are at 1,000 units and I’m ordering 300.
Ask for a re-quote at 300. Prices, MOQs and setup charges at 1,000 units rarely hold at a third of the volume. Until it comes back, the tool keeps the BOM at the quoted price and marks the line Re-quote at your run volume.
Why does early-run labor cost more than the quote?
The first units take longer to build. Wright’s 1936 learning curve has the time per unit fall by a fixed percentage each time output doubles, and Stewart puts repetitive electronics assembly at 90 to 95%. At 90%, a 500-unit run against a quote at 1,000 gives a factor of 1.310, so Tidewell’s $18 becomes $23.58.
Is my cost data stored or shared?
No. Everything you enter stays in this page and clears when you close it. Nothing is stored or sent anywhere; the email link only opens your own mail app with the summary in it.
Read the companion article: Prototype to Production: Where Hardware Margins Get Decided
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