This is what a buyer checks before they shortlist a machinery and equipment supplier.
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 · Written for robotics and automation suppliers selling to business buyers
What does a manufacturer check before committing to an automation project?
What a buyer needs to identify the product
These are the fields a buyer scans before deciding whether you are worth contacting. Missing one of them usually ends the visit without an email.
- 1
Application and process automated
The category the buyer is shopping in.
- 2
Payload and reach
The hard filter against the part and the cell.
- 3
Cycle time achievable
Determines whether the business case works.
- 4
Repeatability
Governs whether the process holds tolerance.
- 5
Integration scope
What you deliver and where the customer's responsibility starts.
- 6
Safety concept
Fenced, collaborative or hybrid changes the layout and the cost.
- 7
Programming and support model
Who changes the program when the product changes.
The documents buyers ask for
Not all of them belong on a public page. Naming the ones you can issue is what separates a supplier who can be audited from one who cannot.
| 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 |
Where robotics and automation sites lose the enquiry
Each of these is common, cheap to fix, and costs an enquiry that never arrives — so nobody ever reports it.
Scope boundary left vague
Automation projects fail in the gaps between suppliers. A vague scope is the strongest predictor of a project that ends in dispute.
Cycle times quoted without the actual part
Demonstration cycle times rarely survive real parts, real presentation and real variation. Buyers who have been through it once check specifically for this.
Safety concept treated as an afterthought
The safety approach determines the layout, the footprint and a large part of the cost. Presenting a robot without a cell concept understates the project substantially.
What the enquiry form should ask
A form that collects these can be answered properly the first time. A form that collects a name and a message cannot.
Enquiry form — robotics and automation
Enough to reply usefully, short enough that a buyer finishes it.
- 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.
Documents and standards named here are the ones buyers in this industry commonly ask for; requirements vary by market, customer and contract, so treat this as a starting checklist rather than a compliance list. Clearer pages can help discovery and evaluation. They do not guarantee rankings, AI citations, enquiries or revenue.
Illustrative
An enquiry from this search looks like: Part details and variation · Required cycle time and volume · Internal capability for support · Process to be automated
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