Is Bridge Production Right for Your Sheet Metal Parts? (Updated for 2026)

Last updated on February 2nd, 2026 at 02:31 pm

Are delays in tooling slowing down your entire production line? When you’re under pressure to cut costs and reduce lead times, tooling can be a major source of frustration. And if you only need a low volume of parts, there’s a good chance it’s not worth the upfront investment.

The next time you find yourself hamstrung by tooling limitations, rely on Approved Sheet Metal to help you save money and speed up production with our bridge production services.

The Benefits of Bridge Production

Bridge production (also known as bridge manufacturing or bridge-to-production) is a practical bridge between prototyping and mass production. The goal is to keep your project moving by producing low-volume parts quickly, without waiting on long tooling lead times or committing to full-scale production before you are ready.

Bridge production is often the fastest path to market when you need production-intent parts for validation, early demand, or launch readiness.

There are a couple of standard use cases when bridge manufacturing is an excellent solution for sheet metal fabricated parts:

Use Case #1: You’re stuck waiting 6+ weeks for tooling to come in, but you still need parts to keep pushing your production process forward. This is a great time to iterate, conduct prototype testing, validate fit and function, or begin early-stage production. If you need an urgent solution, Approved Sheet Metal can hand fabricate a low volume of parts (think 100 instead of 10,000) quickly, getting you parts in hand so you can move to next steps and go to market faster.

Use Case #2: Your product hasn’t yet gone to market or undergone critical testing, so you’re wary of investing $30,000 for tooling. A stamping house can make your part in one piece and reduce price per part in the long run, but if you only need a low volume of parts right now, bridge production helps you delay that investment until the design and demand are proven. Rather than investing in tooling up front, rely on Approved Sheet Metal to produce the initial parts you need to move forward with confidence.

In addition to resolving common tooling problems, bridge production reduces the need for extensive inventory. It’s a strong solution for product relaunches or new releases of existing parts. You can keep momentum while you wait for tooling to arrive, or if your volume is low enough, forgo tooling altogether.

Identifying Opportunities for Bridge Production

The distinction between “prototype” and “production” is often open to interpretation, so we use an advanced algorithm to differentiate between the two. Our algorithm converts 3D CAD models into runtimes, telling us how long it will take to run a line item. If it takes 8 hours or less, it’s a prototype. Anything over 20 hours is production.

The sweet spot in between is likely a candidate for bridge production. If you have a project that's waiting for tooling or needs a fairly low volume of parts, we can help. Request a quote from our metal fabrication shop today.