Making a Smart Equipment Purchase

Making a Smart Equipment Purchase

Purchasing manufacturing equipment can be quite a challenge,although there are suppliers in the industry whose sole responsibility is tomake that purchase easier. INSIDER recently talked with some equipment suppliers tolearn what benefits are associated with owning equipment and what issues areinvolved in purchasing.

Generally speaking, who are your customers and why do they come to you?

Andy Greenberg, vice president, Union Standard Equipment: Ourcustomers are companies that are looking to do one of the following: To purchaseequipment at a fraction of new cost, looking for immediate delivery, or lookingfor the worlds largest selection. Our orders can vary from one to multiplemachines, including integrated lines and, in some cases, complete plants.

Prakash Hingorani, manager of business development NorthAmerica, Universal Capsules: We have a very broad spectrum of customers. We have customers in pharmaceutical and nutraceuticalmanufacturing. They come to us because they look at Universal Capsules as aone-stop shop for solid delivery systems, adding value across the customersvalue chain. We do entire solutions beginning from the empty gelatin capsules tocapsule fillers, and packaging equipment (blister packs and carton machines) topackaging fillers.

Josh Seow, sales representative, Tradimex Equipment &Supply Inc.: Our customers are contract manufacturerscompaniesthat have their own product line and manufacture their products. Customers buyfrom Tradimex because we have good equipment at an affordable price. We offer the longest warranty for any automatic capsule fillerin the industry, and provide training at the customers facility when theypurchase new equipment. We also stock all replacement parts for the equipmentlines we carry and can ship out these parts overnight so the customer canminimize his down time. Friendly sales reps and technicians are available on ourtoll-free number to answer difficult questions or to simply order a part.

What are some reasons manufacturers would choose to purchase their ownequipment?

Greenberg: The advantage, of course,would be to control your operation. Clearly, in many instances when you have tocontract your work out, you lose control, and in many cases, jobs dont getdone on time. We do some contract packaging ourselves. We started doing thisabout a year ago because we figured we have space, over 26,000 machines sittingidly, and we have the mechanics and electricians to set up and service themachines. So it seemed like a winner. But at the same time, for those items thatwe dont contract package, we offer a list of manufacturers that we wouldrecommend for doing both contract manufacturing and packaging. We offer that asa service to our customers.

Hingorani: There is tremendous valuefor a contract packager or manufacturer to bring manufacturing in-house. Withthe changing industrywith the bioterrorism law and the new GMPs [goodmanufacturing practices] going into place in the herbal industrythemanufacturer will need a higher degree of control and tracking on all thevariables, from the raw materials to the end product. You can achieve that interms of quality and cost effectiveness when you have the production in-house,eliminating the need to monitor external sources.

Seow: In the long run, a companythat can efficiently run its own products can save lots of money. Scheduling isa big part of it, in addition to basically having the control to decide whatproducts to run and how much.

What are some common concerns manufacturers bring to you in making equipmentpurchases?

Greenberg: In terms of purchasingequipment, theyre most concerned about the quality, ensuring the equipment issuitable for the product they want to manufacture, and receiving the order in atimely manner. We ask our customers to provide us with samples. Our engineersevaluate the samples, so we can guarantee the machine will operate on theirparticular product as promised. We also set the machines up to run their products.

Hingorani: The biggestdifferentiating factor for our company has been service. What todaysmanufacturers are seeing is an organization which is highly customer-driven andcustomer-focused, in terms of understanding the customers true requirements.Customers also want equipment that is truly cost effective, and a company thatprovides the technical expertise to support that equipment.

Seow: Price is usually the first.Parts and service is the next and a very big part of how Tradimex stayscompetitive. We dont just sell equipmentwe are here when you need us.