Robot supplier RFQ template: turn a task into comparable offers

Define what the supplier is actually quoting

Start the request for quotation with a purchase boundary: component supply, a configured robot package, or an integrated application. Name the process owner and the person who can answer technical questions. Record the site, desired decision date, target installation window and whether those dates are fixed or provisional. Ask suppliers to distinguish available equipment from equipment that must be built or configured. A quotation that assumes your team will supply the fixture answers a different question from one that includes fixture design.

Use a requirements register with an identifier, requirement, evidence, responsible party and supplier response. Accept responses such as included, excluded, conditional and alternative proposed, followed by an explanation. ICC's commercial-contract guidance makes clear that Incoterms do not specify the goods or payment arrangements. Your RFQ therefore needs its own technical scope and commercial schedule. Treat the suggested register here as an editorial purchasing tool, not a standard form that determines anyone's contractual rights.

参考资料： Incoterms and Commercial Contracts

Describe the parts, including awkward cases

Attach a controlled part list with drawing revisions, material, surface condition and presentation method. Identify the normal part and the cases that could drive the design: an oily surface, an off-centre load, a flexible package or a component arriving inconsistently oriented. State what is measured and what remains an estimate. Supply representative samples through an agreed process, and record whether they can be marked, damaged or retained during evaluation. A photograph alone rarely explains how reliably a part can be presented or released.

Ask for a proposed tool and load assessment alongside the arm selection. Universal Robots' payload guidance explicitly includes gripper and workpiece mass and discusses centre-of-gravity offset. Do not reduce the RFQ to a request for an arm matching the workpiece mass. As an editorial example, a hypothetical buyer handling a light but wide tray would include its dimensions, grip locations and orientation changes, then ask the supplier to explain how the complete moving assembly fits the selected robot's documented limits.

参考资料： Maximum Payload: UR10e user manual

Specify useful output rather than an attractive motion

Describe the task from an available input to an accepted output. Include part replenishment, machine readiness, inspection, rejected parts, normal changeovers and operator interventions. Ask the supplier to identify which portions of the sequence their cycle estimate covers. If the estimate stops when the robot places the part, but your process still requires a separate inspection, the number does not describe completed production. Request the conditions behind each estimate, including tooling, part presentation and the proposed operating configuration.

In a hypothetical machine-tending RFQ, the useful requirement might be to unload a finished component, present it for the existing quality check and load the next blank. The buyer would separately identify who owns the machine interface and who confirms a successful clamp state. Request a timing breakdown and a list of unresolved dependencies. The manufacturer's payload documentation is relevant to motion assumptions; the remaining process questions are your own acceptance framework, and must be confirmed using the actual application.

参考资料： Maximum Payload: UR10e user manual

Give integration and safety deliverables an owner

Include a responsibility schedule for tooling, mounting, utilities, machine interfaces, protective measures, documentation and training. Universal Robots assigns application risk assessment to the integrator and describes safety as dependent on the completed application. Ask a qualified integrator to define the required assessment and validation work for your proposed arrangement. Do not ask bidders to promise unrestricted collaboration simply because the arm is marketed as a cobot.

Make handovers explicit. If your electrician provides power, identify the information the integrator must supply and the point at which installation can be inspected. If the machine builder must approve an interface, identify that dependency before the quotation is final. Request an explanation of how proposed layout changes will be reviewed. A useful response names the deliverable and its author, rather than saying that safety is included. Purchasing staff can coordinate this schedule while qualified personnel retain responsibility for physical design and commissioning decisions.

参考资料： Risk Assessment: UR10e user manual

Include a response schedule suppliers can complete

Keep the response schedule short enough to use in a clarification meeting. Require the bidder to return your requirement identifiers, their proposed solution and the document that supports each answer. Where a supplier proposes a substitute, ask them to identify the changed assumption and its effect on acceptance. This prevents an alternative controller or gripper from disappearing inside a generic package description. Include a field for buyer-supplied items so those obligations remain visible during comparison.

The following table is an original RFQ skeleton. Expand its rows to match your process, and attach drawings separately rather than putting every detail into one cell. Use a revision identifier on the schedule and ask the supplier to quote against that revision. When a technical answer changes, update the common specification or record a bidder-specific exception before comparing totals.

参考资料： Maximum Payload: UR10e user manual · Incoterms and Commercial Contracts

Agree the evidence before agreeing the demonstration

Separate supplier testing before shipment from acceptance at your site. Ask what can be demonstrated with your parts, what must wait for the actual machine, and what evidence will accompany the equipment. Define who selects the samples and observes the test. Record the quality criteria, permitted interventions and treatment of interrupted runs. A successful demonstration should answer a purchasing requirement; a video of unrelated parts moving continuously does not establish your own acceptance result.

For a hypothetical tray-loading application, request a run covering normal replenishment and an agreed changeover, with accepted outputs counted by your quality method. The integrator should design any recovery demonstrations within the approved commissioning arrangements. Define how failures are logged and retested, including the scope of regression checks after a modification. Keep the list of open issues attached to the acceptance record so a partial demonstration cannot be mistaken for completion of every contracted function.

参考资料： Risk Assessment: UR10e user manual

Ask for delivery and payment assumptions explicitly

Request a quote currency, validity period, milestone schedule and itemised inclusions. Ask the supplier to identify packaging, transport, destination handling, unloading and commissioning travel separately, even when some are bundled into the total. Specify the receiving point precisely. ICC recommends identifying the chosen delivery rule, named place and edition; have a competent shipping adviser confirm that the proposed arrangement suits the route. Avoid treating a familiar abbreviation as a complete explanation of the transaction.

Ask which evidence supports each proposed payment milestone, who authorises changes and how unresolved acceptance items will be handled under the agreed contract. These are negotiation questions, not an instruction to withhold a payment already due. Request the applicable warranty document and support scope with the offer. Where taxes or import procedures remain uncertain, mark them as unresolved and obtain advice for the actual transaction rather than filling the comparison sheet with assumed exemptions.

参考资料： Incoterms and Commercial Contracts

Close assumptions before choosing the offer

Compare offers against the same required outcome, then hold a clarification review for every unresolved responsibility. Classify differences as a genuine alternative design, a missing item or an unproven assumption. A supplier who identifies a difficult part honestly may provide more useful evidence than one who marks every requirement compliant without explanation. Record the reasoning for accepting an alternative, including any additional work your team must undertake.

Issue a final clarification schedule before award. It should link the selected configuration, drawings, acceptance plan and commercial proposal by revision. Ask the supplier to confirm that this is the basis of supply. Keep unanswered questions visible as decision blockers when they affect suitability, delivery or safe integration. The final purchasing pack should let someone who missed the sales conversations understand what is being bought, what remains the buyer's responsibility and what evidence will demonstrate completion.

参考资料： Incoterms and Commercial Contracts · Risk Assessment: UR10e user manual

检查清单

• State whether the purchase is an arm, package or integrated application.
• Attach controlled part data and identify uncertain measurements.
• Define accepted output and the full operating sequence.
• Assign integration, interface and assessment deliverables.
• Require a response against every requirement identifier.
• Agree test evidence and treatment of unresolved items.
• Confirm delivery responsibilities and the final quotation revision.

常见问题