Save a Penny, Lose a Dollar
Recently, we purchased new windows for our house to replace the original windows that were inefficient and outdated. I requested three window companies to present their proposal for replacing them. Each company sent a representative to measure the windows, explain their product and services and provide a quotation. As expected, we had an economical option, a middle of the road option and a high-quality option.
We immediately rejected the low-end, economical option, because it was not worth the hassle to replace old windows with cheap ones if we need to replace them again in five years. We ended up going with the high-quality option, even though it was the highest bid. We chose to go with quality and peace of mind, as well as resale value in the future. Now that we have the best windows on the market, we will not have to worry about them for several years. Even if we do have an issue, they have a top-notch service team for post-sale support.
Just like my windows, when making capital equipment purchases, think about the entire return on investment (ROI). What will this investment get me in five or ten years? If the economical option is chosen, you will have more breakdowns, poorer service and will have to buy new equipment much sooner. Not only that, if the extruder cannot properly cook your products, you will lose customers.
Initially, you think buying the most economical equipment is being prudent, however, if your machine breaks down and it takes two weeks to fix, how much money did you end up losing? I’ll wait for you to finish your calculations…
In summary, my advice is that if you are expanding, replacing equipment or just starting out in extrusion or feed milling, think about quality and peace of mind and what that can mean years down the road. Don’t make the costly mistake of saving a penny and end up losing a dollar.
