Our FR10 packing quote looked manageable until I asked about fixtures, guarding and training. Now the two suppliers' totals cover different jobs. One has a lovely low number and a long list of things for us to arrange.
I need to put this in front of my colleague, who already thinks I've got carried away with the robot. Fair enough. But I don't want to pad every unknown with a wild guess either. How do I show the real comparison and the bits nobody can price yet?
Which missing item could change the rest of the design? I'd start there. On ours it was carton presentation, and everything downstream was being priced against a tray we hadn't actually agreed to use.
Presentation fixture here too. One supplier assumes a tray we make, the other includes a feeder. So they're not even starting from the same pile of boxes.
Then compare those as complete options. Who makes and replenishes your tray, and how much of the shift does that take? The feeder may cost more while moving work out of somebody's day.
Our packing operator would refill the tray. I counted the tray cost, sort of, but not her time. This spreadsheet is going to make me apologise to several people.
Operator and toolroom have both seen them now. The tray idea needs space for a second full tray, which our layout forgot. They also want somewhere to put the empty one.
Victor's asking about the bit before the robot job. Our cost sheet started at presented carton, which conveniently skipped somebody spending half an hour presenting the cartons.
We added preparation and clearing to the timing notes on our training cell. The robot cycle barely changed, but the staff estimate did. Could you observe one normal packing run before choosing assumptions?
What does a normal run look like now, Theo? Short batches and frequent changes would make me ask different questions from a long run of the same carton.
Short batches, several carton sizes. Operator walked me through a changeover and I had missed the insert stock checks completely. We've got actual preparation steps on the sheet now.
Toolroom is estimating those. The feeder supplier is also spelling out which size changes are included. I still have blank prices, but at least each blank has a question and a person attached.
That's something your colleague can help chase. I'd show priced totals separately from the outstanding items, so the cheaper subtotal doesn't win just because more of its job is missing.
One has now. Other still says included without saying who or what. I've sent the same handover requirements to both, and my colleague is reviewing the staff assumptions with me.
Good to have them involved. When the remaining answers arrive, I'd be interested which option still looks cheaper after somebody has to fill, change and look after it.