the quicker cap demo started with a different tray

And let the actual operator do it. Close pockets can look wonderfully orderly while being miserable to fill and empty with the gloves people really wear

Dinesh, empty trays only. Jamie, sample requested. Felix, our operator has already asked about getting fingers between the caps, so she's definitely part of that check.

Include replacement trays and the cleaning requirement in the comparison, because a special tray becomes part of the maintained tooling rather than disposable packaging

Liam, would you also price the number of trays in circulation rather than compare the unit price alone?

Yes, including the time to empty and return them, since one tray beside the robot rarely describes the whole supply loop

Hana, give both suppliers the same start and finish conditions for the repeat; they can propose different tooling, but neither gets free preparation outside the stopwatch

Jamie, I wouldn't reduce it all to the stopwatch either. A slower but easier reload could be the arrangement the operator can actually sustain.

Agreed. Same scope for timing, plus the operator's experience; I wasn't suggesting we ignore the work because the arm looks fast

Sample tray arrived. Operator found the close pockets awkward for the smaller caps. We're asking about a revised pitch, with any effect on tray count and handling included. No candidate ranking yet.

Has the supplier agreed to compare that revision with the intended cap mix, rather than only the size that fitted comfortably in its original tray?

And keep her comments with the revised request, Hana. Otherwise somebody may improve the drawing by putting the cramped pitch straight back to recover its lovely capacity number.