A production line is only as reliable as the utilities behind it. When engineers quote a custom line, they usually focus on the machines, conveyors and control system, then discover late that the plant cannot supply stable power, compressed air, cooling water or exhaust where the equipment needs it. That mismatch is one of the most common causes of delayed commissioning on automated production line solutions. The checklist below is what we ask buyers to confirm before we start layout work.
Confirm the electrical supply before anything else
Record the supply voltage, phase count and frequency at the panel that will feed the line, not the nameplate of the plant transformer. Our equipment is built for 220 V single phase or 380 V three phase at 50 Hz; where the plant differs, we build to the measured value. Note the available capacity in amps per feeder, and whether the panel has room for the line breaker, or whether an electrician must add one. Heating equipment such as a hot-press bonding machine draws its load continuously, so an undersized feeder shows up as nuisance tripping during the acceptance run rather than at the contract stage.
Air quality matters as much as air pressure
Pneumatic cylinders, vacuum generators and valves need dry, clean air at a steady pressure. A compressor that reaches the required pressure at the receiver but loses it through a long, narrow branch line will cause cylinder travel faults and unstable vacuum pickup. Ask your maintenance team for the measured pressure at the point of use under full plant load, and check that the line carries a filter and a water trap before it reaches the equipment. Where the plant air is oily or humid, we recommend a dedicated dryer for the equipment branch instead of adding a filter at the machine, because the contamination then still travels the whole pipe run.
Cooling water and process water
Vacuum chambers, hot platens and laser sources all need heat removed. Confirm whether the plant supplies chilled water or a cooling tower loop, and at what supply temperature and flow rate at the machine location. A tower loop that is fine in spring can run several degrees warmer in summer, and process tolerances shift with it. For equipment that touches a product surface, confirm the water quality as well; scale inside a heat exchanger is a maintenance problem that buyers often assign to the machine supplier. Where plant water is hard, we ask the customer to supply treated water and keep a spare set of seals and gaskets on site for routine servicing.
Exhaust, ventilation and the fumes you have not listed yet
Wet etching, bonding with adhesives, cleaning with solvents and any heated process release vapour that must be extracted. Identify each point that needs extraction, the volume the equipment discharges, and where the duct will terminate. On lines that include cleaning stages, hot water and steam cleaning release heat and moisture into the room, and a workshop without adequate ventilation becomes humid and slippery; our PowerDe cleaning equipment range is offered for that kind of maintenance work, and we specify the room ventilation alongside it. Confirm with your EHS team which vapours may enter a shared duct before the duct layout is drawn.
Floor loading, levelness and service access
Heavy frames, vacuum chambers and presses transfer both static weight and dynamic load into the slab. Give us the floor load rating for the intended area, and tell us whether the floor is a raised access floor, since that changes how the machine base is anchored. A floor that is out of level over a long line shows up as belt tracking faults and misalignment between stations, so we ask for a level survey before shipment. Leave clearance on the side where doors, drawers and the operator stand, not only along the conveyor axis, and keep aisle width compatible with the forklift already in the building.
Environment, control network and consumables
For semiconductor and thin-film work, state the target cleanliness class, temperature and humidity band for the room, and whether the line sits in a cleanroom or a controlled corner of a general workshop. Equipment that carries CCD alignment and recipe control needs a stable network connection to the plant MES or historian; confirm the protocol your IT team supports and who assigns the address before commissioning. Finally, list the consumables the line will use and who stocks them, from gaskets and filters to bonding film. For processes still in development, our engineering services cover equipment definition, hardware testing and line integration together, so utility requirements are fixed while the process is being proven instead of after.
Before you send the enquiry
Send us the measured supply data, the pressure at point of use, the cooling water conditions, the list of extraction points and the floor rating for the intended area. Those five records turn a rough layout into one that can be built and accepted on schedule. Share them in your enquiry, and we will mark any utility we cannot meet with our standard design so you know what to change on your side.
