When two integrators quote the same cell and the numbers differ substantially, the gap is rarely margin. It is almost always scope — and specifically the parts of scope that are easy to leave unstated.
Who owns the interfaces?
Services to the cell, foundations, extraction, compressed air, network drops, integration into the upstream and downstream conveyor. Each of these has to be done by somebody. A quotation that excludes them all is not cheaper; it is less complete.
What does the safety scope include?
Risk assessment, guarding, safety-rated controls, validation and the CE or equivalent documentation pack represent real engineering hours. Confirm they are in the price rather than assuming.
How many part variants are covered?
Tooling for one part is not tooling for a family. Establish exactly which variants are in scope, and what a future variant costs to add.
What happens at FAT and SAT?
Ask what acceptance criteria apply, whose parts are used, how many, and what the remedy is if the cell misses cycle time or first-pass yield. A quotation with defined acceptance criteria is a quotation you can hold someone to.
What is the support model afterwards?
- Warranty duration and what it actually covers
- Response time to a stopped line, in writing
- Spares list, lead times and recommended holdings
- Training scope — how many people, on what, for how long
- Documentation: drawings, source code, and who owns them
The cheapest quotation is the one whose exclusions you discover last.
None of this means the lower number is wrong. It means you need the two quotations normalised to the same scope before the comparison tells you anything.
