The lowest estimate always wins. Then comes the real bill
Occasionally a customer sends me two quotes for the same palletizing island and asks me: "In your opinion, why does one cost 30% less?". The honest answer is that you can't tell much from the price. You can tell from the missing lines. A end-of-line quote is not the price of a machine: it's the boundary of a project. And boundaries, in automation, are the exact point where…
When comparing quotes for a palletizing island, a 30% price difference may not be as significant as it seems. The list price often does not include installation, transportation, and other costs, which can add up to a third of the budget. A comprehensive quote should include details such as the type of gripper, number of input lines, and maintenance costs.
A complete quote should also specify the acceptance test, training for operators and maintenance personnel, and documentation in the user's language. The total cost of ownership, including maintenance and downtime, should be considered when evaluating quotes.
Written by urgent.news from Dev.to's report — not a translation of it. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
