What tooling actually is
A set of dies that cut and form the sheet into a specific shape at a specific size. It is machined steel, it is made once, and after that it can run for years.
Every size of every format has its own. That is why a range of ten sizes is ten sets of tooling, not one adjustable machine.
Why it costs what it does
Because it is precision machining before a single unit exists. The cost is the same whether you then run five thousand tins or five hundred thousand, which is what makes it the awkward number in packaging.
It is also why minimums exist at all. A run has to be big enough to be worth setting the tooling up for.
Why you probably do not need to pay for any
Because we already hold it. Seventy sizes across six formats, all tooled, all tested. Picking one of those means the tooling question never comes up.
That includes the shapes most people assume are custom. A hexagon is expensive to tool and only justifies itself on a statement product, which is exactly why we hold it rather than asking each brand to fund it.
When a new shape makes sense
When the shape itself is the point of the product, and nothing that exists does it. That happens, and it can be cut.
If you have a form in mind that nothing on the market makes, that is a conversation rather than a form to fill in.
Hold one before
you specify it.
Tell us what you're packing and we'll send the formats that suit it.