Most custom machinery projects lose their first two weeks before any engineering starts. Not to technical problems — to email. The buyer sends a short request, the supplier replies with questions, the buyer forwards them internally, and a fortnight disappears before anyone can even scope the work.
Almost all of that is avoidable. The difference between a request that gets an accurate quote in 48 hours and one that takes three weeks usually comes down to five or six pieces of information.
Start with the problem, not the solution
The single most useful thing you can write is what the machine needs to achieve — not what you think it should look like.
"We need a six-station rotary indexer with pneumatic actuation" tells a supplier what you've already decided. "We need to assemble four components and leak-test them at 40 units per minute, in a 2m × 3m footprint" tells them what you actually need — and leaves room for an engineer to propose something faster, cheaper, or more reliable than what you had in mind.
Specify the solution only where it's genuinely fixed: an existing line you must integrate with, a control platform your maintenance team already supports, a component your parent company mandates. Everything else is better left open.
The six things every RFQ should contain
1. The application. What the machine does, to what, and in what environment. Include the product it handles — dimensions, weight, material, and any variants. If it handles more than one product size, say so now rather than in week six.
2. Target throughput. Units per minute or hour, plus the shift pattern you're planning. Cycle time drives almost every mechanical decision, and it's the number most often left out.
3. Available utilities and space. Compressed air pressure and flow, electrical supply and voltage, floor space, ceiling height, and access for installation. A machine that can't get through your door is a design failure that happens at the quoting stage.
4. Must-use components. Preferred brands, existing PLC platforms, standard components your maintenance team stocks. Standardizing on what you already support is often worth more than a marginally better alternative.
5. Standards and compliance. Which standards apply — CE, UL, food-grade, washdown rating. These change material selection, guarding design, and documentation, and retrofitting compliance is expensive.
6. Timeline and constraints. When you need it running, and why. A date tied to a product launch is treated differently from a date tied to a preference.
A supplier who asks good questions after reading your RFQ is a good sign. A supplier who quotes immediately without any questions probably hasn't understood the project.
What to deliberately leave open
It's tempting to over-specify to feel in control, but some constraints cost you far more than they're worth.
Tight tolerances you don't need. Every tolerance band you tighten multiplies machining cost. Specify precision where function demands it, and let the supplier open it up everywhere else — the same logic behind our seven DFM rules for cutting machining cost.
Specific components with long lead times. If you name a part with a twelve-week lead time when a two-week functional equivalent exists, you've added ten weeks to your project for nothing. Tell the supplier the function; let them find the fastest path.
Detailed mechanism design. If you've sketched a mechanism, share it as context — but frame it as a starting point. Suppliers who build machines every week often know a simpler route.
How to read the quotes you get back
Once quotes arrive, compare more than the number at the bottom.
Scope clarity. Does the quote list what's included and — just as importantly — what isn't? Installation, commissioning, training, spare parts, and documentation are the usual gaps.
Deliverables. Will you receive native CAD files, PLC source code, and electrical schematics? Or just the machine? Ownership of those files determines whether you can maintain and modify the machine yourself later.
Assumptions. A good quote states its assumptions explicitly. Those assumptions are where the scope changes will come from.
Milestones. A fixed price with milestone billing tied to deliverables gives you visibility and gives the supplier cash flow. Both sides benefit.
The lowest quote is frequently the one that has understood the least. Total cost of a machine is the quote plus the rework plus the delay — judge on all three.
A simple test before you send
Read your RFQ and ask: could someone who has never spoken to us produce a sensible quote from this?
If the answer is no, add what's missing. Five minutes of detail at this stage routinely saves two weeks of back-and-forth later — and produces a quote you can actually rely on.
