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If you are sourcing machined components from China, the honest answer is: most orders are ready to leave the factory in one to five weeks, depending on part complexity and order volume. A simple aluminum prototype can leave the factory in 2 to 7 working days, a small batch usually needs 7 to 15 working days, and a first production run of several hundred parts typically takes 15 to 25 working days before it is ready to ship. Add transit time on top: 3 to 5 days by express courier, about a week by air freight, or 25 to 35 days by sea.
Those ranges are wide because "lead time" is not a single number. It is the sum of three separate phases, and understanding each one is the key to planning a realistic schedule.
The biggest driver of lead time is where your order sits on the scale from one-off prototype to repeat production. The table below shows what buyers typically experience when working with an established Chinese machining factory.
| Order Type | Typical Production Time | What Extends It |
|---|---|---|
| Prototypes (1–10 pcs) | 2–7 working days | 5-axis geometry, tight tolerances, special materials |
| Small batch (10–200 pcs) | 7–15 working days | Mixed materials, batch finishing, CMM reports |
| First production run (200+ pcs) | 15–25 working days | Fixture building, first-article inspection, certified materials |
| Repeat production orders | 10–18 working days | Shorter, because programs and fixtures already exist |
When a factory quotes you "15 days," it usually means machining only. Your actual delivery date depends on all three of the following phases.
1. Machining. This covers material procurement, CAM programming, fixturing, and cutting time. Simple turned or milled aluminum parts may only need 1 to 3 days on the machine, while complex 5-axis parts or difficult materials take considerably longer. Titanium Ti-6Al-4V, for example, machines much more slowly than aluminum because of lower cutting speeds and higher tool wear, and certified aerospace-grade stock can carry its own procurement delay before cutting even starts.
2. Finishing and inspection. Anodizing, plating, powder coating, heat treatment, and passivation each add 2 to 5 working days, and these steps run sequentially rather than in parallel. If your drawing calls for a full CMM dimensional report, first-article inspection, or material traceability certificates, budget another 3 to 7 days for documentation.
3. Shipping. From a factory in Shenzhen, express couriers such as DHL, FedEx, or UPS deliver in roughly 3 to 5 days, standard air freight in 5 to 7 days, and sea freight in 25 to 35 days depending on the destination port. For prototype and small-batch orders, express or air freight makes the total door-to-door cycle surprisingly competitive with local suppliers.
Two orders placed at the same factory on the same day can finish weeks apart. These are the variables that matter most:
Most delays are avoidable, and many of them start on the buyer's side. A few practical habits make a measurable difference:
The most reliable way to pin down a lead time is to send your drawings to a factory that can quote from real capacity data. At ANOK Precision Manufacturing, a Shenzhen-based factory founded in 2007 and certified to ISO 9001:2015, we provide CNC machining services in China covering milling, turning, surface grinding, WEDM, coating, and assembly in one facility. With more than 50 machining centers, turning machines running 20 hours a day, and tolerances down to ±0.002 mm, we routinely deliver prototypes in days and first production runs in three to five weeks.
Whether you need precision CNC machining for a handful of prototypes or custom CNC parts in repeat production volumes, send us your drawings and target date. We will come back with a lead time broken down by phase, so you know exactly when your parts will ship and when they will arrive.