Start with the process, not the equipment list
Most custom automation projects begin with a request for a line layout and a quotation. The risk review should begin one step earlier, with the product and the process that forms it. A supplier cannot size handling, fixturing or vision steps if the part tolerance, cycle profile or material variation has not been shared.
Ask the product team for the sample set that actually represents production: early lots, the loosest parts within tolerance, and any variant planned for the line's first year. A line tuned to one golden sample is the most common cause of a commissioning phase that drags on. If the product is still moving, write down which parameters are frozen and which are expected to change, because that answer determines how much adjustment room the mechanical design needs.
Capacity, takt and the assumptions behind them
Quoted throughput is only useful when the conditions that produced it are stated. During the review, check the takt time against three things: the number of parallel stations at the slowest step, the changeover time between products, and the handling time in and out of the line. A station time that fits the takt on paper can still fail once material presentation, unloading and rejects are counted.
Fix the acceptance basis in writing. State the output figure, the shift pattern, the mix of products and the scrap allowance the line is expected to hold. Where the customer also needs cleaning or degreasing steps built into the flow, that requirement changes station time and utility demand, so it belongs in the same calculation. PowerDe's automated production line solutions are scoped against the customer's stated cycle and layout rather than a standard machine catalogue, which is exactly the kind of scope that needs a clear capacity definition before it is signed.
Non-standard design: where flexibility turns into risk
Custom lines are built from non-standard automation equipment, and that is where the review earns its keep. Each purpose-built station has fewer field hours behind it than a proven module, so the review should ask what the closest existing reference is, what was different, and which failure had not been seen before.
Flexibility carries the same trade-off. A line designed to accept five product variants needs change parts, sensor adjustment and recipe handling for all five. Reviewing that list early — how long one changeover takes, who performs it, and whether the line can prove it still meets takt — prevents a flexible design from becoming a line that runs well only on one product.
Utilities, cleaning duties and the facilities question
Production lines consume more than electricity. Compressed air quality and flow, water supply and drainage, extraction, floor loading and available footprint all have to match what the equipment will draw at full output, not at commissioning. Facilities constraints found after installation are expensive: they usually mean rerouting services, adding a compressor, or relocating a station that was placed by layout convenience.
Cleaning duty is often left out of the equipment list entirely, then discovered during the first shutdown. Grease, cutting fluid residue and dust build up on frames, conveyors and fixtures, and manual scrubbing stops the line. Reviewing this duty early decides whether the plant will clean around running equipment or plan a dedicated step. Where the process needs oil and grease removal from machinery between campaigns, industrial steam cleaning equipment is one option the review can compare, since high-temperature steam loosens grease with far less water than hose washing and avoids flooding the area around electrical enclosures. Fixed installations can be placed at the line itself; mobile units cover several areas with one machine.
Change control and interface ownership
A custom line joins an existing plant: material feeds upstream, the product transfer downstream, the MES or historian that expects data, the spare-parts stockroom, and the maintenance crew who will work on the machine at night. Each interface needs a named owner on both sides. When nobody owns an interface, it is discovered as an unplanned integration task late in the build, and it is billed as a variation.
Then review how changes will be handled after the contract is signed. A custom line without a written change-control route absorbs changes quietly, and each one moves the delivery date and the cost. Agree the sequence — request, engineering impact assessment, price and schedule impact, then written approval — so that a small product revision is visible while it is still small.
Commissioning, acceptance and the spare-parts gap
The riskiest phase is the one most contracts describe in a single sentence: acceptance. Define it as a test the customer can actually run, with a pass figure, the product mix it is run on, and the duration. "Runs as specified" cannot be signed off; a defined run-rate test can.
Handover closes the review. Ask what arrives with the machine: the wear-part list with actual part numbers, the drawing set the maintenance team can order from, the recipe and parameter backup, the fault-code reference, and who answers the phone in the first three months. A line that clears acceptance and then waits six weeks for a sensor is not available to production, and the review should push spare-parts coverage into the contract for the start-up period.
A short review checklist before you sign
- Product samples: production-representative parts and planned variants available for build and tuning.
- Capacity basis: takt, changeover time, mix and scrap allowance stated as the acceptance condition.
- Reference check: closest proven machine, what differed, and which failure modes were new.
- Utilities and footprint: power, air, water, drainage and floor loading confirmed at full output.
- Cleaning duty: who cleans the line, how often, with what equipment, and how much downtime.
- Interfaces: one named owner on each side for feeds, transfers, data and spares.
- Change control: written route with impact assessment before any revision starts.
- Acceptance test: run-rate, duration, product mix and pass figure defined in the contract.
- Spares and support: wear-part list, drawings, parameter backup and start-up support period.
None of these items take long to settle at the review stage. All of them take weeks to settle after the equipment is built. Bringing them into the design review — including the cleaning and maintenance duties the plant has to carry for the life of the line — is the practical way to convert an attractive quotation into a line that holds its numbers.
