Start with the production problem, not the technology label
Before anything about sensors, robots or dashboards, write down the line you are changing and the outcome you expect from it. A demonstration built around a generic reference case answers a question you never asked. Bring your own product mix, your real batch sizes and your actual takt time, and ask the integrator to map their proposal onto that picture.
- Which product family, and which station, is the pilot line supposed to improve first?
- What is today's cycle time, changeover time and scrap rate at that station, and what number would make this project worth funding?
- Is the goal throughput, yield, labour relief, traceability or flexibility across small batches? Pick one primary goal and name the others as secondary.
Ask how the line is actually configured and integrated
Most demonstration lines hide their integration work behind a tidy cell. Ask where the equipment stops and the rest of your factory begins. Who supplies the conveyors, fixtures, safety fencing, utilities and air? Which controller platform is used, and what protocol carries data out — OPC UA, Modbus TCP, PROFINET, EtherNet/IP or a vendor-specific driver? Get the interface list in writing, including what each side of the interface owns.
Then ask about your existing systems. What has this integrator connected to an MES, an ERP or a historian, and which layer did they build themselves versus configure out of the box? Ask to see a data flow diagram that shows where a work order enters the line, how a recipe is downloaded, and how a rejection is recorded. If the demonstration has no integration at all, the interesting work is still unwritten.
Test changeover and downtime, not just steady-state running
A video of a line running one SKU for an hour tells you very little. Ask the vendor to switch between two of your part numbers in front of you and to time it. Ask what the operator touches during that changeover, whether recipes are versioned and locked, and what happens when the wrong recipe is loaded.
- How many stops and alarms did the demonstration line have in a normal shift, and what were they?
- When a station faults, does the line keep running around it or does the whole cell stop, and who has to be called?
- What spare parts, tools and software licences must sit on your site to keep the line alive?
Ask what the data is used for on the shop floor
Dashboards are the easiest part of an Industry 4.0 project and the least valuable unless someone acts on them. For every metric on the screen, ask who reacts, within what time limit, and what action they are expected to take. Traceability deserves the same scrutiny: can the system follow one unit from its component lot through every station and rework loop, and can it answer a recall question in minutes rather than days? Ask for an audit trail that a customer or regulator would accept.
Cover the housekeeping items buyers forget to price
Electrical safety marking, machine guarding, local codes, operator training, and the language of the manuals all become expensive after contract signature. Ask who performs commissioning and acceptance testing, what the acceptance criteria are, and what evidence closes the project. Ask what engineering support looks like after handover: response times, remote access rules, on-site engineer availability, and the cost of the first year of support.
Ask for two references where the line has been running for at least twelve months, and call them. Ask those customers what they would change, what the integrator got wrong, and whether the promised numbers held up under real order patterns.
What PowerDe can bring to a pilot line
Shenzhen PowerDe Automation Precision Equipment Co., Ltd. was founded in Shenzhen in 2007 and works on equipment research and manufacturing, system integration, customised configurations and technical support. Its Industry 4.0 demonstration factory sits inside a wider range of process and automation equipment: semiconductor process equipment such as laminating, bonding and debubbling machines, thin-film solar and perovskite line equipment, and non-standard automation equipment built around a customer's own process. Cleaning is part of the same catalogue, with industrial steam cleaning equipment for machinery and maintenance work that keeps that equipment serviceable between campaigns.
Because much of this work is engineered to order, PowerDe's engineering services pages describe what an engagement covers: hardware testing before a design is frozen, product development, and integrated engineering team services for customers who need engineering capacity alongside the machine. If your evaluation depends on a prototype run, a feasibility test, or a line that only works with your fixtures, that scope belongs in the same conversation as the price.
Turn the answers into a written requirement
Send the answers back as a one-page requirement before you ask for a quotation. State the target station, the primary goal, the changeover time you will accept, the protocols and systems the line must talk to, the acceptance test you will run, and the support terms you expect. A vendor who can answer those questions in writing is a vendor who has already thought about your factory. A vendor who answers with a tour video is selling you a tour.
