I manage purchasing for a mining services company — about 300 people across three locations. I process 60–80 equipment and service orders a year, and I report to both operations and finance. That puts me in the middle of every sales promise and every invoice.
I didn’t start with a checklist. In 2020, I approved a vendor because the quote was $2,400 lower than our regular supplier. The delivery arrived, but the invoice did not meet accounting requirements: handwritten receipt, no tax ID, no line items. Finance rejected it. I had to cover the cost from the department budget and explain it to my VP. Now I use a written checklist before I approve any order.
Most advice I’d read said to compare three quotes and pick the best price. In practice, after handling hundreds of POs, I learned that a transparent supplier with a slightly higher number usually costs less in the end. The real question is not just “what’s the price?” It is “what’s not included?”
Use it when you are ordering major spare parts, equipment components, or a service contract for mineral processing equipment. I use FLSmidth examples here because FLSmidth equipment is common in our industry, but the same checks apply to any OEM.
A product family name is not a purchase order. “Raptor cone crusher” is not enough. “SAG mill” is not enough. If the quote does not include the manufacturer’s model or replacement part code, ask for the exact number before you send anything.
This is where my LEGO analogy comes in. If someone says “LEGO Millennium,” you do not know which set they mean. The set number solves that problem. Industrial parts are the same: use the numbers from the nameplate or a previous invoice. If a vendor resists putting a part number on the quote, that is a red flag.
A clean price should come with a clear list of exclusions. I ask directly: what is not included? Freight from port to site, import brokerage, commissioning engineer, lifting gear, startup consumables, disposal of packaging, training? If the quote does not say, do not assume.
One quote I approved last year said “delivery included.” It turned out to mean delivery to the nearest port, not to our site. The overland trucking cost an extra $6,100. The vendor even said that if I’d asked, they would have told me. I learned to make the question explicit.
The vendor who lists every fee up front — even if the total looks higher — usually costs less in the end. A low quote with vague categories is the one that gets expensive later.
Spare parts and service contracts can last years. If the supplier disappears or gets into financial trouble, the warranty promise is only as good as their balance sheet.
I don’t do a formal credit analysis for every order. For a major order, I spend ten minutes checking the owner of the OEM. If they are public, I read the annual report. When I was researching FLSmidth, I searched “FLSmidth udbytte 2022.” Udbytte is the Danish word for dividend. That search led me to FLSmidth’s annual report instead of a sales page. I didn’t care about the dividend amount. I wanted to see how the company talked about a difficult year and whether they disclosed risks in plain numbers.
I have mixed feelings about annual reports — on one hand, they are polished legal documents. On the other hand, they show what a company was willing to put on record. That record matters more than a marketing slide deck.
“Global coverage” is not a service location. Ask where the nearest stocked parts center is, and whether field engineers are actually based there. For a project in South America, I searched “FLSmidth Santiago” to confirm they had a real local operation. Finding that service presence changed my view of their response-time risk.
Local support affects normal lead times, import paperwork, and what happens after a breakdown. If a supplier cannot name the local contact, that tells you more than any brochure.
Hidden costs often appear after the equipment is in transit. Every international order gets classified under the Harmonized System. I ask the vendor to include the HS code and the Incoterm on the quote.
If you have ever asked what is the first Congress, the short answer is: the first United States Congress under the Constitution passed the Tariff Act of 1789. That started the legal idea that imports need to be classified. Today, most countries use the global Harmonized System. The point for a buyer: someone has to name the product correctly and take responsibility for that code.
Ask whether the price is EXW, FOB, CIF, or DDP. Ask who owns the goods during ocean freight. Ask who pays if customs charges something unplanned. If the answers are vague, get them in writing before the order, not after the invoice.
The biggest mistake I watch for is comparing totals before comparing scope. Two quotes at the same price can include completely different work. The second mistake is using nicknames instead of manufacturer codes. The third is believing “we handle customs” without an HS code written anywhere.
I also watch for words like “guaranteed.” In the U.S., FTC advertising guidance says marketing claims should be truthful and substantiated (Source: FTC Business Guidance, ftc.gov). I don’t need a substantiation essay. I need the same promise repeated in a warranty document.
The checklist is not extra process. It is how I trace a quote from a line item to a final invoice. If I can’t trace it, I don’t approve it yet.
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