When a factory asks for a machine that does not exist on any catalogue, the quote arrives as one number and a delivery date. That single figure hides a great many decisions, and two buyers quoting the "same" job can end up with quotations that differ by a wide margin. Comparing non-standard automation equipment on price alone is therefore the fastest way to make an expensive mistake. This guide sets out what to line up side by side so a custom automation quotation becomes a decision you can defend to your management, not a guess.
First, compare the same scope of supply
Before any number means anything, put every quotation on the same basis. Most gaps in price come from differences in scope rather than differences in skill, so write down, line by line, what each supplier includes:
- Is the quotation for the machine only, or for design, fabrication, assembly, commissioning, operator training, and spare parts as one package?
- Does it include on-site installation and run-off at your plant, or does that stop at the supplier's own workshop?
- Which consumables, fixtures, tooling, and changeover parts are supplied, and which must you buy separately?
- What utility connections must your team prepare — power, compressed air, water, extraction, floor space?
- Are software licences, vision components, robots, and purchased sub-assemblies inside the price or passed through as extras?
Ask each supplier to confirm the exclusions in writing. A quotation that looks low often excludes the commissioning visit and a set of spare wear parts that a fuller quotation already contains. Normalising scope first makes the rest of the comparison worth doing.
Compare how the design risk is handled
In custom machinery the design phase is where cost is either created or avoided. Compare the suppliers on process, not on promises:
- Who prepares the concept, and who signs it off — a draftsperson, or an engineering team that also builds and services the machine?
- Is there a documented design review where you can challenge the cycle time, the changeover method, and the reject handling before metal is cut?
- Does the supplier show previous work in your process, such as laminating, bonding, coating, or assembly of similar parts?
- What happens if a prototype stage fails — is there a stage gate where you can stop before full fabrication cost is committed?
A supplier of non-standard automation equipment that has built comparable equipment before will usually quote a longer design phase and a shorter build phase. That pattern is a good sign; the opposite usually means your workshop becomes the testing ground.
Compare the technical specification, not the label
Two machines described as "automatic" can be years apart in substance. Put the specifications in a table and compare item by item:
- Required cycle time and the assumptions behind it — part tolerance, orientation, and upstream feeding.
- Alignment or positioning accuracy, and how it is verified: mechanical stops, sensors, or CCD vision.
- Process parameters that matter to your product, such as pressing force, working temperature, and vacuum level.
- Fitting error tolerance, and the method used to hold it during continuous production.
- Availability target and the cycle used to measure it, plus the recovery path after a stop.
Where your process is genuinely sensitive — bonding and laminating work is a good example — insist that the numbers appear in the contract text rather than only in a slide. The published figures for PowerDe equipment show how specific this can be: a membrane electrode hot press bonding machine is listed with a fitting error of 0.2 mm or less, a working temperature up to 150 °C, a 2 t press pressure, and a production cycle of at least 1.5 pieces per minute. Any of those values, left out of the contract, is a value you will pay for later in rework.
Compare the quality of the build, which sets your real cost per year
Purchase price is a small share of what a machine costs over its service life. The build details decide the rest, so compare:
- Frame and wetted or loaded parts in materials you can specify, for example SUS304 stainless steel where moisture, cleaning, or hygiene is part of the duty.
- Brand and availability of purchased components — drives, sensors, PLC, and vacuum pumps that your maintenance team can source locally.
- Protection features appropriate to the process: for heated or wet equipment, leakage, short-circuit, over-temperature, high-voltage, and water-shortage protection.
- Whether the machine tolerates being cleaned in place, and to what standard its controls and wiring are arranged.
- Access for routine servicing: how long a wear-part change takes, and whether it needs a specialist visit.
This is where a cleaning-duty example shows the principle. A Fixed Steam Cleaning Machine PowerDe HW02 is specified at 220 V with 6 kW heating power, steam at 160 °C, 0.8 MPa vapour pressure, and an 80 L SUS304 tank, with dry steam, wet steam, and vacuum functions on one unit. Those four numbers tell you what you are buying, what it can actually do, and what it will cost to keep running — the same discipline you should require from every custom machine quotation.
Compare service, spare parts, and the changeover burden
Ask each supplier the same service questions and record the answers in the comparison sheet:
- Response time for a breakdown, and whether remote diagnosis is offered before a visit is arranged.
- Spare-parts pricing and lead time, plus a recommended stock list for wear items.
- Warranty scope and what voids it — third-party components and in-house modification are common traps.
- Whether documentation is delivered in your language, including wiring diagrams and a parts list with order codes.
- Changeover time for the next product you expect to run, not only for the parts in this order.
Also compare capability for the second and third machine. If you plan more than one cell, a supplier offering integrated engineering team services and documented manufacturing automation support is usually a better fit than one that hands over a single machine and moves on.
Compare total cost in a simple, honest way
Build one small table for the shortlist and keep it plainly labelled. For each quotation record: machine price; commissioning and installation; consumables per shift; estimated labour attending the machine; planned maintenance cost per year; expected scrap or rework reduction, taken from the supplier's own stated cycle and accuracy figures rather than from your hopes; and the residual value or upgrade path after the product changes. Three years of running cost will reverse the ranking of most quotations. Where a supplier is reluctant to discuss running cost at all, treat that as information.
Common comparison mistakes to avoid
- Comparing headline price while the cheaper offer excludes installation, training, and spares.
- Accepting a cycle time quoted on ideal parts, with no allowance for your actual incoming tolerance.
- Ignoring changeover time when your order mix changes each month.
- Choosing the supplier with the shortest lead time and no design review stage.
- Signing without a defined acceptance test, measured on your own parts, over a stated continuous run.
A short checklist for the comparison meeting
Before you sign, confirm that each quotation answers the same questions: what is included and excluded; who owns the design sign-off; which performance figures are contractual; what materials and components are specified; how the machine is accepted on your site; who supports it, at what cost, after handover. If any of these is missing, the quotation is not yet comparable and the price is not yet meaningful.
If you want to test a quotation against what an equipment supplier can actually document, start the conversation with your process data — drawings, tolerances, target cycle time, and your changeover pattern — at PowerDe's contact page. That is the fastest way to find out whether a supplier is designing your machine or simply repricing one.
