What does a manufacturer check before committing to an automation project?
They check payload and reach against the part, cycle time against the required rate, and exactly where your responsibility ends. Most automation projects fail at integration rather than at the robot, so a clear scope boundary matters more than the specification.
A production manager has been burned by an automation project that worked in a demonstration and not on their floor.
Reviewed 4 August 2026
Scope and specifications
- Application and process automated
- The category the buyer is shopping in.
- Payload and reach
- The hard filter against the part and the cell.
- Cycle time achievable
- Determines whether the business case works.
- Repeatability
- Governs whether the process holds tolerance.
- Integration scope
- What you deliver and where the customer's responsibility starts.
- Safety concept
- Fenced, collaborative or hybrid changes the layout and the cost.
- Programming and support model
- Who changes the program when the product changes.
Documents buyers may need
| Document | What it proves | Where it belongs |
|---|---|---|
| Technical specificationAsked at: shortlisting | Payload, reach, repeatability, speed and footprint | Publish it |
| Cycle time studyAsked at: before commitment — where projects fail | That the required rate is achievable with the actual part | Name it, share on request |
| Scope of supply documentAsked at: contract stage | Precisely what is included and what is not | Publish it |
| Risk assessment and safety conceptAsked at: design and commissioning | How the cell is made safe and to what standard | Publish it |
| Declaration of ConformityAsked at: before commissioning | Conformity for the completed machine or cell | Publish it |
| Factory Acceptance Test protocolAsked at: contract stage | What is proved before the cell ships | Publish it |
| Training and support termsAsked at: handover | Who can reprogram the cell and what support is available | Publish it |
Details for a useful enquiry
- Process to be automated
- The starting point.
- Part details and variation
- Variation is what defeats automation.
- Required cycle time and volume
- The basis of the business case.
- Existing equipment to integrate with
- Where most of the risk sits.
- Available floor space and services
- Constrains the cell design.
- Internal capability for support
- Decides the support model needed.
Questions suppliers ask
What makes an automation supplier trustworthy on a first project?
Precision about scope. Publishing a clear statement of what you deliver, what the customer provides, and where responsibility transfers is more reassuring than any case study. Buyers have usually experienced a project that failed in exactly that gap.
Should cycle times be published?
Publish typical cycle times with the application and part described, and offer a study on the customer's actual part. Automation is bought on rate, and a supplier who commits to measuring it before the order is trusted far more than one quoting a demonstration figure.
How should collaborative robots be presented?
Honestly about where they fit. They remove fencing in some applications and are slower in others, and the safety assessment still has to be done for the whole application. Buyers who have been oversold on them are wary, and plain treatment of the trade-offs stands out.
Check which documents and standards your buyer needs; requirements vary by market, customer and contract.
Plact Research. Plact's editorial desk for buyer-evidence research. Industry standards, documents and buyer questions are researched and drafted with Plact's AI tools, then reviewed by Praveen Kavuri before publication. Every claim cites the standard, regulation or public source it rests on.
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