The UR5e quote grew a second operator

One starts with boxed kits already arranged. The other starts with kits in shipping cases.

There is the first mismatch. The cheaper number may still be a useful option, but it buys a smaller job. Get the preparation cost beside it before ranking anything.

Agreed common boundary: open shipping case to filled carton. Both revising scope.

Who opens and puts away the empty shipping cases? Not being fussy for sport; those little tasks are exactly how an apparently spare operator ends up unable to leave

Does that boundary include all boxed-kit variants, with their actual shipping-case arrangements? A shared sentence will not make the comparison fair if one supplier prices only the easiest variant.

Chloe, operator handles empty cases. Julia, three variants, all drawings and packing samples supplied.

I wouldn't insist both suppliers solve preparation the same way. One manual step might be sensible at your volume. I mean cost it honestly, not declare manual work a failure before comparing it.

What volume and changeover frequency are they pricing? That decides whether elaborate preparation equipment earns its keep.

Short orders, two kit changes most shifts. Nobody gets a full shift of one variant.

Then Emma's point is strong. Compare complete labour and elapsed order time, but don't make identical equipment a condition. You might otherwise spend more to avoid a small task people already handle well.

Rebecca, would you count refresher training separately from the initial handover? We often discover the second shift only had somebody explain the buttons during a quiet moment.

Felix, yes, but first get both shifts into the initial scope; refresher cover and training future starters can then be separate named items rather than an implied lifetime service

Revised scopes include both shifts. Supplier one offers manual preparation; supplier two proposes equipment for it.

Have you timed manual preparation of those three variants over a complete order? That gives you a cheap baseline before deciding what the proposed equipment needs to improve.

And try the awkward shipping case, not just the newly opened top row. We teach lovely loading exercises from neatly presented parts, then wonder why the real bench has nowhere for the cardboard

Baseline booked with our packer. Thanks, Julia. Guarding and application assessment costs are still provisional in both offers.

Keep those provisional lines visible. You can compare what you know without quietly treating the missing amounts as zero. Also useful to ask what information each supplier needs to firm them up.

Did either supplier explain its outstanding assumptions? I'd want those before choosing even a provisional favourite.