Requirements checklist
What to ask for when choosing software for special purpose machine builders.
A checklist built from how special purpose machine builders work, to print or save as a PDF and bring to any supplier meeting.
What the software should cover
Tick each one that matters to your business.
- Requirement sheets and quotations
- Machine record with drawing revisions
- Parts list and bought-out tracking
- Fabrication and machining jobs
- Assembly, wiring and PLC stages
- Trial run and acceptance log
- Milestone billing
Roles that need their own access
Who logs in, and what each person may see or change.
- For the owner and project head
- For design engineers
- For fitters and electricians
- For purchase and stores
- For the commissioning engineer
Reports to ask for
Ask to see each one with your own sample data.
- Machines on the floor by stage, with the promised dispatch date
- Bought-out items overdue, by supplier and machine number
- Quoted block cost against actual cost for each finished machine
- Trial faults open and closed, by machine family and station
- Instalments due, invoiced and received, by order
- Frames and plates sent to outside shops and still awaited, by vendor
- Spares sold, by delivered machine and part
Systems it may need to connect to
Note which ones you already run.
- Accounting export
- Drawing file attachments
- Supplier purchase order PDF
Questions for any vendor
Put these to every supplier you are comparing.
- Can a new machine start from an old machine’s parts list?
- Does it replace our CAD software?
- How are payment milestones set?
- Can we track parts sent to an outside machine shop?
- What happens when the customer rejects a feature during acceptance?
- Can service engineers see what we delivered?
- What does a builder need to give us to begin?
- How is the cost decided?
Where the work usually breaks today
Circle the ones you recognise. They set the order of the project.
- The parts list drifts from the design
- Bought-out items have no single list
- Trial faults are told, not recorded
- Milestone payments follow the wrong date
- Spares for a delivered machine are guesswork
Prefer to talk it through? See the special purpose machine builders page.