To some, tooling may appear to be simply one more non-recurring engineering (NRE) cost in a product development process. However, in medical disposables manufacturing, it is also the single most important item in ensuring that quality and cost objectives are met. The quality of the tooling design and fabrication process dictates the amount of secondary processing options needed for the product, the contractor’s ability to control key parameters in the process likely to affect product quality, production throughput and the life of the tool. Is there an advantage in selecting a contractor with in-house tool design capability rather than a utilizing a separate tooling manufacturer? This paper looks at five reasons why the answer to that question should be “yes.”