Quantity break: A quantity break is a point at which the unit price of a part drops because a larger order spreads fixed costs, such as setup, over more pieces.
Quantity breaks are the familiar table at the bottom of a quote: 1 off, 10 off, 50 off, 100 off, each with a lower unit price than the one before. They exist for two reasons. The first is arithmetic: setup cost, file checks and handling are fixed per batch, so each extra part shares them. The second is efficiency: larger batches pack a build chamber or a sheet more fully and need less operator time per part.
Example: a part has €50 of fixed cost per batch and €8 of variable cost per piece.
- 1 off: €50 + €8 = €58 each
- 10 off: €5 + €8 = €13 each
- 100 off: €0.50 + €8 = €8.50 each
The unit price falls fast at first and then flattens towards the variable cost. That flattening is why discounts beyond a few hundred pieces are usually small, unless the process itself changes (a mould instead of printing, for example).
A common mistake is to set breaks as fixed percentages (“10% off at 50”) with no link to the cost. That gives money away on parts with low setup and loses money on parts with high setup. Breaks that come from the cost model avoid both. Read quantity pricing and batch discounts for more.
Go deeper: Quantity pricing: how set-up and batching shape the price curve