What is Turnkey Manufacturing?

The manufacturing environment can be difficult to understand and negotiate, especially for startups or businesses that rely on specialised fabrication, machining, and assembly. Turnkey manufacturing offers the level of knowledge, support and efficiency that many businesses require to compete successfully. 

What is Turnkey Manufacturing?

Turnkey manufacturing involves a single company managing all stages of a project, from design and production to packaging, shipping, quality assurance, and vendor coordination. The term “turnkey” refers to the company acting as the project manager, rather than performing all tasks in-house.

A turnkey contractor handles the entire process, supporting design, machining, tooling, quality assurance, production, and delivery. Clients can still collaborate by providing input at various stages, such as equipment selection or material changes, while most work is carried out by the contractor.

This approach is particularly useful in industries with complex production requirements, such as medical devices, aerospace, life sciences, and semiconductors. Turnkey contractors must comply with strict industry regulations and maintain thorough documentation and records.

Benefits of Turnkey Manufacturing

Turnkey manufacturing brings a number of benefits to project owners in terms of costs, time, quality and efficiency, allowing them to focus on their core business operations. 

Single point of contact

Engaging a turnkey contractor can significantly reduce time and effort spent on communication and administrative tasks such as invoicing and tracking. Reports indicate that SMEs spend an average of 120 hours annually on manual administration. By working with a turnkey manufacturer, companies only need to contact one supplier, who manages the rest, including equipment design and production. This centralisation simplifies task organisation, reduces misunderstandings, and streamlines the entire process.

Save production times

Long lead times often result from organisational issues, miscommunications, and variability when multiple parties are involved in a project. Without a turnkey manufacturer, companies must coordinate separately with designers and manufacturers for each design change, leading to delays and increased risk of miscommunication.

In turnkey projects, a single company manages the entire production process, enabling faster, more accurate manufacturing through better coordination and streamlined communication. With a commitment to high-quality standards and efficient workflows, turnkey manufacturers can significantly reduce time to market and improve productivity.

Cost savings and Price certainty

Using a turnkey manufacturer helps businesses avoid the high costs of setting up manufacturing facilities, hiring staff, managing supply chains, and storing materials. Experienced turnkey manufacturers can negotiate lower supplier rates, leverage economies of scale, and reduce the need for multiple contracts, ultimately lowering project costs.

Additionally, turnkey manufacturers are more likely to offer fixed lump sum pricing at the start of a project, minimising cost overruns, reducing financial uncertainties, and enabling clients to accurately assess their return on investment (ROI).

Again, as “time is money”, the shorter time to market benefit as mentioned above means that companies not only save money from fewer mistakes, less production length, but also they can start selling to the public earlier and making money.  

Quality assurance  

Compared to traditional project delivery methods, turnkey projects often result in higher-quality work due to reduced misunderstandings and errors, as the turnkey manufacturer controls both design and production. Turnkey manufacturing also facilitates easier, more accurate design and process updates. Additionally, the manufacturer can set quality standards upfront, ensuring consistency across teams. This seamless collaboration boosts project owners’ confidence in successful outcomes.

Micro Systems boasts over 20 years of expertise in micro moulding for the medical, pharmaceutical, and optics sectors, specialising in mould design, manufacture, micro metrology, and micro moulding. All moulds are produced in-house, utilising advanced diamond cutting techniques to achieve ultra-precision micro features, including integrated optical areas and surface finishes as fine as 5-7 Nm Ra. Crucially, we are fully equipped with the necessary metrology tools to accurately measure feature sizes and surface finishes, providing comprehensive inspection reports. We also have a dedicated mould testing and development facility, where we can integrate customer injection moulding machines, inspection systems, robotics, and assembly equipment, offering a complete turnkey solution from start to finish.

• High standards of control – ISO Class 7 Cleanrooms. 
• ISO 9001 and ISO 13485
• Pilot moulds to 32 cavity production moulds
• In-house production 
• Fast-cycling medical moulds
• Fully validated production moulding 

Micro Systems specialises in the design, manufacture and validation of ultra precision micro moulds for the medical, pharmaceutical and optical markets, at the same time, the development and use of micro and nano technologies in the design and manufacture of injection moulded components. We have a dedicated micro moulding facility, and have ISO13485 and ISO9001 certifications, and an ISO Class 7 Cleanroom. For more information, please Contact us or visit our website.