This question comes before the price

There is a question that can be answered in a single sentence — and that decides what your costs look like in year three, not in year one.

It is: are you the manufacturer, or a dealer?

Both answers are legitimate. A trading house can ship faster, start smaller and bundle several brands. A works can change, test and re-run. But you should know which of the two answers you are getting — because it determines who supplies a part later, who changes a series, and who stands behind a deviation.

Two quotations, one datasheet

Two quotations can look identical: the same power rating, the same IP class, a similar price. The difference does not show up on the datasheet. It shows up on the first unit that comes back from your rental fleet.

That is why buying a unit always buys the answer to a second question as well: who tested it, and with what? That question can only be answered where the testing happened.

Three stations only a works can show

In our works, every unit of the P25 and P36 series passes three stations before it is packed:

  • Assembly stations — building the unit.
  • IQC test bench — every single unit, not by sampling.
  • Burn-in racks — continuous run on the finished product.

A ten-point protocol belongs to this; its values come from our own works test sheet. What that means in detail is set out in Three stations, ten checkpoints.

The difference is not the test bench. The difference is the phrase in front of it: *every single unit, not by sampling*. A sample is a statement about a batch. A test on every unit is a statement about the exact unit that reaches you.

What to look at during the visit

A factory visit often takes half a day. Five things can be settled in that time:

  • Who tests. Is there a person with a protocol at the test station — or a sampling instruction?
  • What is running. Burn-in racks with units in continuous operation say more than any presentation.
  • What travels along. Is there a test record that belongs to the individual unit, not just to the batch?
  • What the sample looks like. With battery storage a sample is the only meaningful test — what matters is whether it matches series condition, and that you test it with your own equipment.
  • How reorders fit. Settle beforehand how the minimum order quantity is defined and whether a reorder matches the first delivery.

Where the parts come from in year three

Spare parts decide the cost in years three to five, not in year one. Ask about the channel, not just about availability: who holds the part, for how long, and through whom does it reach you.

What a factory visit does not prove

A visit is a snapshot. It shows how work is done on one day — not whether every delivery turns out the same. It does not replace documents. And on its own it does not prove that the series you receive later comes from the same production.

That is why two things belong to the visit: the documents for the shipment, and a sample you have tested yourself.

The documents that belong with it

With dangerous goods it is not the product description that decides, but the document. For our units this includes the dangerous goods classification UN 3480, class 9 for sea transport in packing group II under the IMDG Code — and, for the CE mark, the exact scope: in our case the EMC Directive, including the areas that are explicitly not covered.

The complete, document-backed figures are set out in Transport & packaging: verifiable details.

The one question

If you can ask only one question, ask this: who builds the unit — and where can I see that?

Our answer: the P25 and P36 series is manufactured in our own works. Every unit passes three stations and a ten-point protocol there before it is packed.

*Note: the checkpoints described above are our own works process. The same checklist applies to any other supplier — you have to obtain the answers there.*