A purchase order for non-standard automation equipment does not end when the machine leaves the factory. For the buyer, the delivery date is only the start of installation, commissioning, training, maintenance and after-sales support — and all of that depends on paper. In our experience as Shenzhen PowerDe Automation Precision Equipment, the difference between a smooth handover and a two-week argument usually comes down to one question: what documentation was in the crate, and did both sides agree on the list before shipment?
This article sets out the document set we consider a complete delivery package for a custom-built machine, and how a purchaser should use it to protect the investment.
1. The signed technical agreement comes first
Everything else in the package is interpreted against this document. For non-standard equipment there is no catalogue datasheet, so the technical agreement — the specification both parties signed during the design review — is the contract of record. It should state the process the machine must perform, the cycle time or throughput it is expected to reach, the footprint and utilities it needs, the materials of construction, the control platform, and the acceptance criteria that will be used at final inspection.
A practical tip for buyers: if the agreement describes performance only in vague terms ("high precision", "stable operation"), ask for numbers before signing. On our own listings we publish the figures we can be held to — for example a membrane electrode hot press bonding machine specified with a fitting error of ≤0.2 mm, a working temperature ≤150 °C and a production cycle of ≥1.5 pcs/min. The same discipline belongs in your agreement.
2. General product documentation
- Nameplate data and a general arrangement drawing, so the plant engineering team can verify footprint, service access and lifting points
- Utilities schedule: supply voltage, heating power, compressed-air, water inlet and drainage requirements
- List of bought-in components (PLC, drives, sensors, pumps, heaters, valves) with make, model and datasheet
- Transport and unpacking instructions, including packing list, centre-of-gravity marks and any removal-of-transit-fixtures notes
The bought-in component list matters more than it looks. A line that stops because a sensor has failed stops for days if nobody knows the part number. Keep it as an editable file, not a scanned page.
3. Mechanical, electrical and software drawings
Ask for the as-built versions, not the design-issue versions. Custom machines change during build, and a drawing that no longer matches the machine is worse than no drawing at all. The set should include assembly and exploded views with part numbers for wear items, hydraulic or pneumatic circuit diagrams, and electrical schematics with terminal and cable schedules matched to the panel labels.
For the software side, agree in advance what you receive: HMI project source, PLC program, recipe structure, alarm list and the method for backing up and restoring machine data. Many buyers only discover after the warranty expires that they hold a running machine but no way to recover it after a controller failure.
4. Inspection records and the acceptance protocol
A factory acceptance test (FAT) report should record how the machine was tested, with what workpiece or material, and what was measured. Attach the calibration certificates of the measuring instruments used. Where a custom process is involved, the report should show real run results, not a checklist of visual checks.
Then define the site acceptance test (SAT) before shipment: who attends, over how many production hours, against which of the criteria in the technical agreement, and how outstanding items are closed. This is the point where many disputes are won or lost, and it costs nothing to write down properly at the ordering stage.
5. Operation, maintenance and training material
Operating manuals should be in the language your operators actually read, and they should cover start-up, changeover, normal stopping, emergency stopping and the fault codes they will see on screen. Alongside them, a maintenance schedule with intervals — what to inspect daily, what to replace at a set running time, and what to lubricate — keeps a custom machine from being treated as a black box until it fails.
A recommended spares list, priced and with lead times, is worth requesting explicitly. Our own cleaning-equipment range illustrates why the detail matters: for the hand-pushed steam cleaning machine series the published parameters cover machine dimensions, heating power, tank volume, water inlet type and working power supply, while steam temperature, battery runtime and accessory list are not published. A buyer who needs those numbers for a procurement file must ask for them — and the same gap appears, in different form, on almost every custom machine quotation.
6. Safety, conformity and after-sales terms
Include the risk assessment, the declaration of conformity or certificate relevant to the destination market, guarding and interlock descriptions, and the residual-risk instructions that go on the machine itself. For process equipment with heating, high pressure or high voltage, protective functions should be described rather than assumed. The HW02 fixed steam cleaning machine page, for example, lists leakage, short-circuit, high-temperature, high-voltage and water-shortage protection — and because the site's wording on how many items are covered has varied between pages, we describe the protection functions without stating a count.
Finally, the after-sales section: warranty start date and scope, response time, whether remote diagnosis is available, spare-part supply commitment and its duration, and the contact route that a shift engineer will actually use at 2 a.m. Documentation that names a person and a working channel is used; documentation that names a general mailbox is not.
A checklist to put in the purchase order
- Signed technical agreement with measurable acceptance criteria
- As-built general arrangement, utilities schedule and bought-in component list
- As-built mechanical, pneumatic/hydraulic and electrical drawings, plus control software terms
- FAT report with measured results, calibration certificates, and a written SAT plan
- Operator and maintenance manuals in the operators' language, recommended spares list
- Risk assessment, conformity documents, and after-sales response terms
Make that list a contractual annex. It is the cheapest insurance available on a custom machine, and it changes the conversation from "what did you promise?" to "here is what we agreed to inspect". If you are specifying a built-to-order line or a purpose-built cleaning station for your facility, send us your process requirements and we will confirm which documents accompany delivery before you sign — see our contact page to start that review.
