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Vendor evaluation methodology for labeling equipment

When evaluating labeling machinery suppliers, it’s important to follow a disciplined methodology to eliminate as much subjectivity as possible. What follows is a simple Vendor Evaluation Analysis methodology that is well-suited to labeling equipment. Broadly, the process breaks down into four phases.

1. Canvass the field. Even before you write your requirements document, you can start informally canvassing suppliers to get a rough idea of budget, timeline, and ability to meet your requirements. A simple checklist of requirements will suffice at this stage. You’re just looking for a rough guide—don’t hold them to it without furnishing a formal request for quote (RFQ).

2. Write a requirements document. While this is nearly always done for critical machines on the line (such as fillers and cappers), companies tend to mistakenly skip this step when it comes to labeling equipment. It’s impossible to perform even the simplest of Vendor Evaluation Analysis without thinking through your requirements and writing them down. This exercise forces you to really think through what you need this equipment to accomplish for you and the unique (or not so unique) constraints of this project. This document can be used when canvassing the initial universe of suppliers, and can also serve as the basis for your RFQ.

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