This is what a buyer checks before they shortlist metals and metalworking suppliers.
What does a buyer check before sending you a drawing or an RFQ?
They check that the standard, material grade and property class you work to match their drawing, and that you can issue the test certificate their inspection process needs. Naming the standard number and the certificate type you supply resolves both questions before they attach a file.
A design engineer has a drawing in hand and three supplier sites open, deciding which one to send it to first.
Last corpus review: 4 August 2026 · Written for industrial component manufacturers selling to business buyers
What does a buyer check before sending you a drawing or an RFQ?
What buyers check in metals and metalworking
Three things, in order: what the product is, what the paperwork proves, and when each document gets asked for.
Chemistry and mechanical properties — type…
Material test certificate to EN 10204
Asked at: with shipment, and often specified on the purchase order
That the produced part matches the drawing
Dimensional inspection or First Article Inspection report
Asked at: first production run
Production part approval for automotive cus…
PPAP package
Asked at: automotive sourcing
First, what the product is
The fields a buyer scans before deciding whether you are worth contacting. Missing one of them usually ends the visit without an email.
- 1
Standard and standard number
"As per DIN" is not a specification; DIN 933 is.
- 2
Material grade
The buyer's drawing names a grade, and the match is binary.
- 3
Property class or strength grade
8.8, 10.9, A2-70 and A4-80 are the shorthand every buyer scans for.
- 4
Size and thread range
Tells the buyer in one line whether their part is inside your envelope.
- 5
Finish and coating
Plating, passivation and coating change corrosion performance and lead time.
- 6
Tolerance class
Decides whether your process can hold their drawing.
- 7
Made-to-drawing capability
A catalogue supplier and a job shop attract different enquiries.
Then the paperwork
Naming the documents you can issue is what separates a supplier who can be audited from one who cannot.
| Document | What it proves | Where it belongs |
|---|---|---|
| Material test certificate to EN 10204Asked at: with shipment, and often specified on the purchase order | Chemistry and mechanical properties — type 3.1 is issued by your own inspection function, type 3.2 is countersigned by an independent inspector | Per shipment |
| Dimensional inspection or First Article Inspection reportAsked at: first production run | That the produced part matches the drawing | Per shipment |
| PPAP packageAsked at: automotive sourcing | Production part approval for automotive customers, at a stated submission level | Name it, share on request |
| ISO 9001 or IATF 16949 certificateAsked at: vendor approval | Quality system, with certificate number and certification body | Publish it |
| Salt spray test report (ASTM B117)Asked at: when the application is outdoor or marine | Corrosion performance of the coating you quote | Name it, share on request |
| Hardness and tensile test reportsAsked at: technical evaluation and incoming inspection | Mechanical conformance to the property class | Per shipment |
| RoHS and REACH declarationAsked at: by eu and electronics buyers | Substance compliance for the destination market | Publish it |
The shortlist moment
A buyer lines up a few suppliers and keeps the ones whose proof is easy to check. The rest get a closed tab, not an email.
The buyer asks: What does a buyer check before sending you a drawing or an RFQ?
A few suppliers get compared side by side:
A supplier with ISO 9001 or IATF 16949 certificate on the page
Quality system, with certificate number and certification body
A supplier with RoHS and REACH declaration on the page
Substance compliance for the destination market
A supplier with PPAP package ready to send
Production part approval for automotive customers, at a stated submission level
Is one of them you?
What Plact does for metals and metalworking suppliers
Four jobs, done on your site. Each one is a document buyers in this industry already ask for.
Put the ISO 9001 or IATF 16949 certificate on the page buyers check
Quality system, with certificate number and certification body
Put the RoHS and REACH declaration on the page buyers check
Substance compliance for the destination market
Name the PPAP package and share it on request
Production part approval for automotive customers, at a stated submission level
Name the Salt spray test report (ASTM B117) and share it on request
Corrosion performance of the coating you quote
What a useful enquiry looks like
A form that collects these fields can be answered properly the first time. A form that collects a name and a message cannot.
Enquiry form · industrial components
Enough to reply usefully, short enough that a buyer finishes it.
- Drawing or part reference
- The single most useful thing on the form.
- Standard and material grade
- Determines whether you can quote.
- Property class and finish
- Changes both process route and price.
- Quantity and call-off pattern
- One-off, annual and scheduled volumes price very differently.
- Certificate type required
- 3.1 and 3.2 have different costs and lead times.
- Destination and required date
- Freight and capacity planning.
An enquiry from this search asks for
- Drawing or part reference
- Quantity and call-off pattern
- Destination and required date
- Standard and material grade
Questions suppliers ask
What is the practical difference between EN 10204 3.1 and 3.2?
A 3.1 certificate is validated by the manufacturer's own inspection representative, independent of the manufacturing department. A 3.2 certificate is additionally validated by the purchaser's representative or an independent inspector. Some purchase orders require 3.2 and cannot accept 3.1, which is why buyers look for the statement before enquiring.
Should we publish a capability matrix with our maximum sizes?
Yes. The most common reason an RFQ wastes both sides' time is that the part was outside the supplier's envelope all along. A size, tolerance and material matrix filters those out before the drawing is sent, and it signals a shop that knows its own limits.
Do we need to show the factory to win an RFQ?
Photographs of a shop floor help less than a machine list with makes, sizes and counts. Buyers are trying to work out whether you can hold the tolerance and the volume; a list answers that, a wide-angle photograph does not.
Documents and standards named here are the ones buyers in this industry commonly ask for; requirements vary by market, customer and contract, so treat this as a starting checklist rather than a compliance list. Clearer pages can help discovery and evaluation. They do not guarantee rankings, AI citations, enquiries or revenue.
Plact Research. Plact's editorial desk for buyer-evidence research. Industry standards, documents and buyer questions are researched and drafted with Plact's AI tools, then reviewed by Praveen Kavuri before publication. Every claim cites the standard, regulation or public source it rests on.
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