The primary consideration for customers when it comes to soft tool vs. hard tool fabrication is the cost impact, which is closely tied to the overall demand volume. Soft tooling has a higher cost per piece because it is a labor-intensive process. However, the total cost may make sense if you are building prototypes or other low-volume parts, especially since little to no upfront investment is required to get a customized final product. As volumes increase, however, soft tooling becomes more expensive. Parts with high volumes are best built by hard tooling because the process may be automated so suppliers can offer a lower cost per piece. Though customers need to invest in customized tools, a typical return on investment in the sheet metal industry is only about 6 months.

        Another factor is the standard production lead time. Soft tooling is far quicker when building low volumes because different machines are run at different times. Therefore, production can start without waiting for all machines to be available to use. The set-up time to program those machines is relatively short as well. On the other hand, hard tooling requires a series of stamping presses to be available to use at the same time, so scheduling is more critical. Then, custom tools need to be set up on each stamping press. Once tools are up, however, the actual production run is quick and can efficiently stamp out high volumes.

        Production flexibility is also important to some customers. Soft tooling is the standard process for building prototypes, not only due to the low volume but also because the parts are still in development. That means changes may still be made before a design is finalized. Soft tooling is a more flexible fabrication process as custom features are formed by simply programming them into various machines before the build. This means changes can be made any time before production begins without extra expense. Whereas customizations in hard tooling are achieved through investments in custom made tools. Design changes that impact those physical tools would require tooling modifications and lead to additional costs, so hard tooling is best for building parts with firm designs.

        The final major difference between the two fabrication approaches is precision due to the fundamental nature of how the parts are built. Since soft tooling involves different types of machines and different operators, there can be more opportunities for inconsistencies. Therefore, it is important to work with an experienced supplier with a well-established quality control process in place. In contrast, hard tooling easily achieves tight, repeatable tolerances as the stamping process is more automated and runs relatively seamlessly from one press to the next.