A packaging machine quotation is a price for a machine. The number you will actually spend to have that machine producing sellable packs on your floor is a different number, and the gap between them is where automation projects go over budget.
None of this is anybody being dishonest. Equipment is configured to order, so much of the cost genuinely cannot be known until someone has seen your product, your building and your electrical supply. But that means the burden of asking sits with the buyer, and buyers who have not done this before do not know what to ask. Here is the list.
Getting it through the door and standing up
Start with the physical facts, because they are the least negotiable. A machine has a footprint, but the footprint is not the space it needs: add operator access, a maintenance side, film reel loading clearance and a route for the pack to leave. Ask for the working envelope, not just the outside dimensions.
Then ask what it weighs, and whether your floor takes that as a point load. A machine of several hundred kilograms on a mezzanine or an older slab is a structural question, not a packaging one. Ask how it will be moved in: doorway width, whether it splits into sections, whether a crane or a forklift is involved, and who pays for that.
Shipping terms deserve a specific question rather than an assumption. Find out whether the price is ex-works, FOB or delivered, and who is the importer of record. On imported equipment, customs duty and clearance are real money and they are rarely inside the machine price.
Services: the invoice that arrives from a third party
Machines need supply, and the supply requirement is exactly the specification the industry is least likely to publish. Across the three comparisons we have published — tray sealers, thermoformers and cup fillers — electrical load was absent from almost every vendor's public pages.
So ask, in writing, for all of it:
- Electrical. Voltage, phase, frequency, amperage and kW. Then ask your electrician whether your panel has the spare capacity, because the answer determines whether you are also buying a circuit, a transformer or a supply upgrade.
- Compressed air. Volume and working pressure. Pneumatic packaging machinery can consume more air than a small plant's compressor delivers, and a new compressor is a capital purchase with its own electrical demand.
- Gas. If you are running modified atmosphere, you need a gas supply, regulation and somewhere to keep cylinders or a bulk tank.
- Water and drainage. Some machines need cooling water; most need washdown and a drain that can take it.
- Extraction and noise. Worth checking before the machine is running next to people all day.
Frequency is the one that catches importers. A machine specified at 50Hz landing in a 60Hz country is a conversation to have at quotation, not at commissioning. Ask the vendor to confirm the configuration for your country explicitly. Where a specification lists supply per market — the Hefestus RotoCup, for instance, is published as 220V, 25A, 2000W, single phase in Europe and two phase in the USA — that ambiguity is already resolved for you.
Tooling, and why the second format costs more than you think
This is the largest hidden number in the category, and it is structural rather than sneaky. Machines that form or cut a pack shape need tooling specific to that shape. A thermoformer's forming die, a tray sealer's sealing tool, a cup filler's change parts: each is made for one geometry.
A quotation is usually for the machine plus tooling for one format. If you run four SKUs in three pack sizes, you are buying three tools, and the second and third are not free. Ask for the price of an additional tool before you commit, and ask how long a new tool takes to make, because that lead time gates your ability to launch a product.
Ask about changeover too, in minutes and in people. A line that changes format in fifteen minutes with one operator and a line that takes two hours with three are different businesses, and over a year of short runs the difference dwarfs the machine price gap.
Consumables, which never stop
The machine is bought once. Film, trays, cups, lidding and gas are bought forever, and after two or three years they typically exceed the purchase price.
Ask what the machine can run, not just what the vendor recommends. A machine locked to one film supplier's proprietary reel is a machine that has removed your ability to negotiate. Ask for the film specification as a range — material, thickness, width, reel diameter and core — and then ask two independent suppliers whether they can meet it. If they can, you have competitive tension for the life of the line.
Ask about giveaway as well. Overfilling by one percent because the machine cannot hold a tighter tolerance is an invisible tax on every pack, and on high volumes it can outweigh a labour saving.
People, and the first month
Automation does not remove the need for skill; it changes which skill. Ask who commissions the machine, whether they are the manufacturer's engineer or a local agent, how many days are included and what a day costs after that.
Ask what training comes with it, for operators and for maintenance, and whether documentation is in your team's working language. Ask what the recommended spares holding is and what that kit costs, because the alternative to holding spares is holding downtime.
Then ask the question that matters most and is asked least: when the line stops at two in the morning, who answers, from where, and inside what contracted time. A support promise with no location and no number attached is not a commitment.
Putting it in the RFQ
Send this to every vendor on the shortlist, in one document, and require written answers. What differs between the replies will tell you more than any brochure.
| Area | Ask for |
|---|---|
| Output | Rate at my pack size, with gas flush, sustained over a shift — in one stated unit |
| Footprint | Working envelope including access, weight and point load |
| Delivery | Incoterms, importer of record, rigging and route in |
| Electrical | Voltage, phase, frequency, amperage, kW, configured for my country |
| Air, gas, water | Volume and pressure for each |
| Tooling | Cost and lead time per additional format |
| Changeover | Minutes and operators between my formats |
| Consumables | Full film and container specification as a range, not a brand |
| Accuracy | Fill tolerance and expected giveaway at my target weight |
| Commissioning | Who, how many days included, day rate after |
| Training | Operator and maintenance, in which language |
| Spares | Recommended holding and its cost |
| Support | Nearest engineer, contracted response time on a stopped line |
| Lead time | Order to commissioned, and what drives slippage |
What good looks like
A vendor who answers all fourteen in writing, quickly, without deflecting to a meeting, is showing you how they will behave when your line is down. A vendor who will not put electrical load in writing before a site visit may be perfectly reasonable — or may not know. Either way, you have learned something.
Our own answer to this, for what it is worth, is to publish what we can up front. Dimensions, weights, film envelopes, tray and cup geometry and, where it is settled, power. The machine specification pages carry the numbers rather than a form. Where the honest answer is that it depends on your product, we would rather say that than print a figure that falls apart on contact with your line.
Frequently asked questions
What costs are not included in a packaging machine quotation?
Commonly: rigging and installation, electrical work to bring supply to the machine, compressed air capacity, gas supply for modified atmosphere, tooling for formats beyond the first, spares holding, commissioning days beyond those included, and training. Shipping terms and customs duty are also frequently outside the quoted figure on imported equipment.
Why do packaging machine vendors not publish power requirements?
Because most machines are configured to order and the figure varies with the configuration, so vendors prefer to establish it in conversation. The practical effect is that the specification you need in order to budget the electrical work is the one you have to ask for. Ask early and ask in writing.
How much does tooling cost for a second pack format?
It depends entirely on the machine and the geometry, which is exactly why you should ask for the figure before ordering the first machine rather than after. Any machine that forms or cuts a pack shape needs tooling specific to that shape, so each new format is a capital purchase and has its own manufacturing lead time.
What should I ask about support before buying?
Where the nearest engineer is physically located, what the contracted response time is for a stopped line, and whether that commitment is in the contract or only in the sales conversation. A support promise with no location and no response time attached is not a commitment.
Will a 50Hz machine work on a 60Hz supply?
Not safely as an assumption. Frequency, voltage and phase all need confirming for your country before shipping, not at commissioning. Ask the vendor to state the configuration for your market explicitly in the quotation.
How do I stop being locked into one film supplier?
Ask for the film specification as a range rather than a brand: material, thickness, width, reel diameter and core size. Then check that at least two independent suppliers can meet it. If they can, you keep competitive tension on a consumable you will buy for the life of the line.
Put us through the same list
Send us the fourteen questions above. We will answer them in writing, and tell you plainly which ones depend on seeing your product first.
See how that works