Skip to content

Guides / Choosing a Supplier

Presenting your stamping capability so a buyer can act on it

October 15, 2026

Most shop profiles are written for the wrong reader. They open with company history, years in business and a photo of the building, and put the press list on page four. The buyer looking at that page is scanning for four numbers, and if they are not visible in the first thirty seconds the profile gets closed.

What a buyer is actually looking for

In order, and usually within a minute:

  • Press tonnage and bed size. Can the die physically run here.
  • Die types run in house. Progressive, transfer, deep draw, fourslide, single stage. These are different disciplines, not different settings.
  • Material range and thickness. What you run weekly, in the gauges you run it.
  • Volume band. Whether their annual quantity is a good use of your line or a nuisance to you.

Everything else, including your history, your values and your building, is read only after those four clear. Put them at the top.

Specific beats broad

“We stamp all types of metal parts” tells a buyer nothing and reads as a shop that has not thought about its own positioning. “60 to 400 ton progressive, mild and stainless to 4 mm, 50k to 2M pieces a year” tells them in one line whether to keep reading.

Narrowing sounds like losing work. In practice it wins more, because the enquiries you get are ones you can actually price well and deliver on. A shop that says yes to everything gets quoted against on price alone.

The things buyers quietly check

Consistency. If the press list says 400 ton maximum and a case study describes a part that clearly needs more, the whole profile becomes suspect.

Currency. A profile dated three years ago, or one listing equipment you have since sold, is worse than no profile. Put a revision date on it and keep it true.

Honesty about gaps. A shop that writes “plating is managed through a qualified outside processor” is more credible than one that implies it plates in house. Buyers assume outsourcing happens; what they punish is finding out late.

Evidence over adjectives. “High quality” is noise. A first article report, a capability study, a photo of a real part on a real press is signal.

What to include, in order

  1. Press list: tonnage, bed size, type, quantity of each
  2. Die capability: types run in house, maximum die size, whether you build or buy tooling
  3. Materials and gauge range, with the ones you run weekly marked
  4. Secondary operations, split into in house and managed outside
  5. Quality system: certification held or in progress, inspection equipment, PPAP experience
  6. Volume bands you want, and the ones you do not
  7. Lead time you actually hit, not your best case
  8. Two or three representative parts with photos, redacted if the customer requires it

What to leave out

Stock photos of factories that are not yours. Mission statements. Logos of customers you cannot name as references. Claims of certification you hold “equivalent to”. Any superlative at all.

The version that gets used

Send a one page PDF with the eight items above, plus a longer profile only if asked. Name the file with your shop name and the revision date so it is findable in an inbox six months later. Keep a plain text version you can paste into an email, because a surprising number of first contacts never open an attachment.

If your capability is registered with us, keeping it accurate is what keeps the previews you see relevant. Send updates to partner@stampingvendor.com whenever presses, die types or volume appetite change.

Frequently asked questions

Should I list every press I own?

List the presses you run weekly, with tonnage and bed size. A press that has been idle for two years is not capability, it is inventory, and a buyer who finds that out mid-program stops trusting the rest of the list.

Do I need certifications to be taken seriously?

For general industrial work, no. For automotive PPAP work, IATF 16949 is usually the gate. If you are working toward a certification, say so with the stage you are at rather than implying you already hold it.

How long should a capability profile be?

One page of specifics beats five pages of prose. A buyer is scanning for tonnage, die type, material range and volume band. Everything else is read only after those four match.

Need a quote for this part?

Send the print. We match you with up to 3 stamping shops and reply within 24 business hours.

Send my RFQ

Keep reading