Are you about to purchase a new or used machine for your factory or small business? Do you know what to look for to avoid purchasing the wrong machine or aperture that isn’t going to fit your needs. Searching for a machine can be tough, time consuming, not to mention stressful. Here are few tips to follow before laying down the cash to pay.
Steps to think about before buying second-hand machinery
What are your objectives:
Most of all you have to think about the product you are going to be making and the quantities. Most machines can make XX amounts per hour while others can go into thousands per hour. In this case you have to think about your company’s objectives and goals you’d like to reach and how quickly you want to reach them.
A good idea is to foresee the future of your company as well as your target market. In some cases of course not all, it might be a better choice to purchase a machine that is above your current needs, as eventually you might want to raise the limits of your production and purchasing a new machine and selling your old one will be time consuming not to mention stressful again. Think wisely about your production goals before making a final decision.
Scrap versus overhauled
What manufacturer to go for?
The question worth million pounds! Does it even have an answer?
There are literally dozens of different brands to consider before purchasing a machine. Before selecting a brand, we should ask ourselves what can the brand do for us? Will they help me choose the machine? How easy is it to find spare parts in case something breaks down? Will they send someone to my factory to fix it for me? How long has the company been in business? What country is this company from?
All brands have trained and knowledgeable personal to help you choose the proper machine for you.
If you provide them with some details regarding the production, they should be able to find a solution for you.
Tip-Example: Know your product when purchasing. Lets say you are looking for a vegetable cutter.
Some useful information for a sales agent would be the size of the product, the desired finished size, size consistency and rate per hour. Its better to send any additional information to a sales agent to speed up the process.
Many big named brands have spare parts that you can purchase in case something breaks down. Finding them used online might be far cheaper than purchasing directly from the company, however what you have to consider, is if you will be able to fix it your self or will you need to call the company, and request the presents of their technician on site. Certain company’s will have their own technicians and some might be able to recommend a trusty tech near you.
Smaller less known brands might be cheaper but might not be able to provide you a wide range of spare parts if any at all, and most likely wont be able to provide a technician.
Knowing how long a brand has been on the market is a good way of seeing if the company is reliable and worth thinking about.
There are many European brands that are not even available in U.S.A that are just as good if not better, but again in this case we have to consider shipping freight charges and spare parts availability on the U.S market. For the more will patient, buying European brands might be more cost effective, but will take more time for the product to be delivered. Buying from Europe could also be potentially more complicated if spare parts or additional information might be requested. Communication with foreign suppliers shouldn’t be a problem as most company’s employ English speakers and large companies can provide support in multiple languages such as Spanish, German, French, Italian and Russian.
(to be continued…)
By John M.
