The Fairino FR5 quote looked manageable for our packing tray loading cell with a packaged connector kit in a low-volume product packing room, with 216 planned.
Now presentation fixtures, guarding and training are going into the estimate.
I need to compare complete proposals, but some costs are still unknown.
The total keeps wriggling away.
Check who provides carton presentation in each proposal. If that responsibility differs, the headline totals may be pricing different portions of your cell.
I've found carton presentation included in one offer and assigned to us in the other. Once I account for our share, the apparent price difference reduces substantially.
@MayaBaker0475 Make a shared scope table: who supplies each item, quoted cost, and any unknown allowance. Add your internal work, then compare totals for that same scope.
@JasperChan1073 My separate cell budget grew when we included internal work for recipe preparation and acceptance attendance. Those commitments mattered even though they weren't supplier invoice items.
I've checked our internal allowance and found both recipe preparation and acceptance attendance missing. Including them gives us a more complete view of the staff commitment.
I've settled on comparing a shared scope, including our work and visible unknowns. Any spending decision depends on filling the material gaps; the original arm totals aren't enough.
@MayaBaker0475 Using a common scope explains what the totals represent, while keeping material unknowns as conditions prevents the estimate from implying a settled commitment.