1. Does the supplier build and ship hardware themselves?
A demonstration line is only as reliable as the shop floor behind it. Ask directly which machines your supplier manufactures in-house, which parts come from outside, and who is accountable when an integration fault turns out to be a component fault. Request a plant visit or a video walkthrough of the assembly area, and ask for photos of equipment at the build stage rather than finished marketing shots.
Signs that point the wrong way: no answer on which processes are outsourced, drawings sent by a trading name, or a factory address that no one from your team can actually visit.
2. Has the supplier delivered a comparable system before?
Ask for past projects in the same process family: same materials, same cycle logic, same level of automation. Then go one level deeper than the project title. Who specified the process, how long did commissioning take, and what was the last change made on site? A supplier who has repeated the same job twice can usually describe the failure modes without prompting.
A useful follow-up is a reference contact who runs the line today, not the person who signed the purchase order.
3. Are mechanical, control and test engineering under one roof?
Demonstration factories fail most often at the seams: structure, electrical design, PLC and HMI logic, sensors and actuators, and the test plan each belong to someone different. Ask who writes the control program, who owns the sensor selection, and who signs the factory acceptance test. If these are three companies, then you are the integration layer whether you planned for it or not.
PowerDe groups these capabilities in its engineering services: a product R&D accelerator for feasibility and route planning, product development covering structure, electrical and control, hardware testing, manufacturing automation, and an integrated engineering team that plugs into your own staff when your internal resources run short.
4. What exactly will you receive, and when?
Insist on a named deliverables list tied to milestones, not progress reports. A workable list for an automation project of this type looks like this:
- Requirement analysis document and technical proposal
- 3D structural drawings and 2D machining drawings
- Electrical schematics, PLC and HMI programs
- BOM list, prototype equipment, and test reports
- Assembly process documents and factory inspection standards
- Mass-production import plan and on-site commissioning support
Tie payment to documents and acceptance stages. A supplier who agrees to this is signalling confidence in their own scope.
5. Who runs the line six months later?
Ask for the spare-parts list with lead times, the remote support channel, on-site response commitments, and training materials your operators can actually read. Then test the claim: send a fault description and time the reply. Support quality shows up in response speed long before there is a real breakdown.
A demonstration line is often the starting point for a larger deployment, so ask what happens to your documentation and source files if you move the next phase to another supplier. That answer tells you a lot about the relationship you are entering.
A short red-flag list for buyers
- A quote arrives before anyone has asked about your process parameters
- No test plan, or a test plan that fits on one page
- Timeline written as one date with no staged acceptance points
- The sales contact is the only person you can reach
- Product claims that cannot be traced back to a machine you can see
How PowerDe fits this kind of project
PowerDe is a Shenzhen-based equipment manufacturer whose range runs from cleaning equipment through semiconductor process equipment and thin-film solar equipment to automated production line solutions. Its engineering services are meant for projects where product idea, prototype validation and production delivery have to be linked by one team, with delivery ending in documents, drawings, programs, prototypes, test reports and a production import plan.
Before you commit budget, send your process description through the solutions page and ask for an engineering review of scope, feasibility and risk first. The quality of that review is the fastest way to judge whether the rest of the project would be handled the same way.
