When talking to customers, we always try to convince them to test the device they are interested in. We believe that before making an investment decision, the effectiveness of the solution should always be verified, especially when we are not dealing with a product that directly boosts a company’s productivity (like an additional injection molding machine, for example), but rather with a device that indirectly “unlocks” productivity and minimizes production costs.
During our visits to various companies, we often encounter competitors’ machines that, for some reason, are not being used and are left gathering dust in a corner. When we ask why the machine is not being used, we usually hear that it did not perform as expected in practice—whether in terms of effectiveness, ease of use, or reliability. This naturally raises the question of how the purchase decision was made and why the final users of the product were not actively involved in the decision-making process, or at least in giving their opinion on the solution.
Marketing departments can be very creative, writing things in brochures designed to catch the attention of a specific target group. It often turns out that a loudly promoted feature is something entirely trivial and obvious, or worse, that the so-called “automatic” XYZ device still requires frequent operator intervention during the process.
From our 7 years of experience, we’ve learned that purchase decisions made solely based on price, without considering the actual needs of the company, often result in the purchased machine being set aside and unused because it is either a) ineffective or b) impractical from the operator’s perspective. Such a purchase is a waste of money and, even worse, spoils the market, because the chance of buying another device with similar features is usually lost.
That’s why, as a manufacturer, we urge you to test, compare, and verify what you read and hear from salespeople. Remember, the most expensive machines are those that aren’t used; such an investment will never pay off. Verifying the effectiveness of a solution in your production environment will allow you to truly assess the machine’s performance, ease of use, and overall design.