Warranty, service and spare parts: what to check in a contract for warehouse equipment
Before signing a contract for the supply of warehouse equipment, check five groups of conditions: warranty period, scheduled maintenance, service terms, supply of spare parts, and payment procedure for work.
These items determine how much a business will spend on the equipment after purchase and how long the equipment will be idle in the event of a malfunction. Therefore, two offers with a close price should be compared precisely by the full cost of operation over the planned life of the equipment.
Warranty conditions
The warranty should include a specific starting point, duration, and a list of events it covers. For warehouse equipment, check:
reference date - delivery, installation or commissioning;
term in months and limitations on engine hours;
list of components and works included in the warranty;
procedure for submitting a request and documenting a malfunction;
conditions for scheduled maintenance.
An example shows why it is important to carefully study the terms of the warranty. If the warranty is valid for six months or 600 hours, whichever comes first, a machine with 80 hours of operation per month will reach 480 hours of operation in half a year. At 120 hours per month, the 600 hour limit will be exhausted in just 5 months.
How to record maintenance and service dates
Scheduled maintenance is tied to a calendar, actual hours worked, or both. The contract separately specifies the list of works, consumables, and the party that keeps track of the hours worked.
Read more about the organization of the service in the material on warehouse equipment maintenance .
For the service, separate the three lines:
response to the application;
diagnostics;
returning the machine to work.
Each of these has a different impact on operating costs. If a forklift makes 18 pallet moves per hour, an eight-hour downtime translates into 144 missed moves. Then add in overtime, hiring replacements, or shifting operations to other warehouse equipment .
Also, specify in the contract how downtime is measured: from the moment the request is registered until the machine is back up and running. This will allow you to maintain a single database for checking actual service time and calculating costs for each incident.
What to note about spare parts
The parts contract section should document delivery times and procedures. For critical parts, check local stock availability, lead times for items ordered, price approval, and warranty on the installed component. Also, document the cost of on-site service, diagnostics, and parts delivery.
Be sure to determine the procedure for working with traction batteries: compatibility, diagnostics, replacement and charging equipment. The choice of technology also affects the service model.
The difference can be clearly seen in the material on lead-acid and lithium-ion batteries .
How to compare two money offers
Compare the total cost of ownership: purchase + scheduled maintenance + consumables + repairs + spare parts + downtime costs .
For example, offer A is cheaper by UAH 50,000, but over two years it involves two additional downtimes of 16 hours each, and one hour of downtime costs the business UAH 2,000. The additional costs are 32 × 2,000 = UAH 64,000 — the initial price advantage is offset by operating costs.
Scheduled maintenance can be carried out by your own technical service or outsourced to a service contractor. TOP Logistics Solutions works with warranty and post-warranty maintenance of warehouse equipment. In the contract with the service company, fix the frequency of maintenance, response and diagnostic times, the procedure for ordering spare parts and the list of works that are paid for separately.