Evaluating a robotics integrator: the questions procurement should ask
Most automation sales conversations are structured around the equipment: capacity, speed, footprint. Those numbers matter, but they don't tell you what your relationship with the vendor looks like eighteen months after installation, when something breaks or your process changes. Here's what we'd suggest asking any integrator, including us.
"What happens if this piece of equipment isn't the best fit for us?"
If the answer defends the equipment rather than engaging with your actual application, that's informative. A vendor tied to a single product line has a structural incentive to make your requirements fit their catalog, not the other way around.
"Who do I call at 2 a.m. if a line goes down?"
Get a specific answer — a name, a team, a response-time commitment — not "our support line." If the manufacturer is overseas, ask what the actual escalation path looks like in your time zone, and how many hours it typically takes to get an engineer, not a ticket number.
"Can you source parts for equipment you didn't sell us?"
This question separates integrators from trading companies. An integrator with real manufacturer relationships can usually help with an aging system from another vendor. A pure reseller generally can't, because their value is tied to moving their own inventory.
"Who is actually accountable if this is a multi-vendor project?"
Facility-wide automation projects usually involve equipment from more than one manufacturer. Ask, in writing, who owns the outcome if the storage system and the mobile robots don't coordinate cleanly. "We'll all work together" is not an accountable answer — a single point of contact with contractual responsibility is.
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