Reading a Gantry Shear Quotation Line by Line
A quotation is read twice: once for the price and once for the specification. The second reading decides whether the first one was about the right machine. This article is the second reading — a walk through a commercial-range quotation in the order its lines should appear, what each line should contain, and the three lines whose absence changes the machine you receive. The reference machine is the Q91-400.
Line One: The Model and Class
The first line names the machine, and it should carry more than a model number. The quoted class, its rated force, and the published boundary rows — continuous and occasional plate figures. For the 400 that is 40 mm continuous and 55 mm occasional, at 35 to 55 tons per day. If the quotation’s boundary rows differ from the published figures, the difference must be explained as a configuration choice or questioned as a brochure number — and the class guide has the published figures to check against.
Line Two: The Material List It Was Quoted Against
The second line is the one buyers skip and the one that decides everything: your material list restated. The three heaviest pieces from a normal month, the plate thickness that shows up weekly, the duty declaration. Every subsequent line follows this one, and a quotation without it is a price list rather than a specification. If the restated list does not match your inquiry, the machine being quoted is not the machine you asked about.
Line Three: The Configuration Decisions
The third block is where your machine is actually decided: blade length, tank length, motor rating, power package, voltage and frequency. Each should appear with the reason chosen against your site — a shorter tank for a tight footprint, a lower kW for a generator site, 50 Hz for your supply. These are decisions, not options, and a quotation that lists them without reasons has made them without your site facts.
Line Four: The Blade Specification
Steel grade, hardness range, reversible-edge count, and the expected life at your declared duty and material. At this class the blade is a decade-long cost line, and the specification should be as precise as the frame. A quotation that names no blade specification has priced a generic blade, and the wear budget that follows it will be variable rather than planned.
Line Five: The Site Package
Foundation drawings, electrical scope, transport data — the lines your contractors build from. The electrical scope should name voltage, frequency, spare kilowatts and the starting method; the foundation data should carry anchorage matched to the declared duty; the transport data should let you confirm the route into your yard with numbers. A quotation missing these lines is a price sheet, and the installation timeline it implies is fiction.
Line Six: The Commercial Terms
The price line, finally — quoted against the configuration above, so a later change is a change order rather than a renegotiation. Around it: delivery terms (EXW, FOB or CIF to your port), payment structure, lead time confirmed in writing against the configuration, warranty scope, and the commissioning support included or quotable. None of this is negotiation material until lines one through five are complete — the specification is the purchase, and the price is what the specification costs.
Line Seven: The Spares and Wear Schedule
Expected wear-part life at your duty, replacement procedures, what ships with the machine, and the resupply channel. This is the line whose absence changes the machine’s second half: without it, every wear part is a search rather than a plan, and every stop is unplanned. At commercial duty the spares schedule is the difference between a maintenance program and a repair history.
The Three Lines Whose Absence Matters Most
If a quotation arrives incomplete, three absences matter more than the rest. The material list (line two) — because without it nothing else is about your operation. The duty basis — because the build follows it and it cannot be retrofitted. And the spares schedule (line seven) — because it is the only line that describes the machine’s second decade. A quotation with those three can be completed in a conversation; a quotation without them is a price looking for a specification.
The Quotation Map
The seven lines form a map, and the map works in both directions — as a reading order for a quotation that arrives and as a writing order for the specification you send. Read in order, each line answers a question: what machine, against what material, configured how, with what blades, on what site, on what terms, and supported how. A quotation that answers all seven is a document your contractors can build from and your operation can run for a decade.
The map also exposes the order’s logic. The material list comes second because everything after it follows; the duty basis sits inside it because the build follows; the configuration comes third because it is decided against your site; the blade specification is its own line because it is a decade-long cost line; the site package is what your contractors need; the commercial terms come last because the specification is the purchase; and the spares schedule closes the document because it describes the machine’s second decade.
Reading Two Quotations
When two quotations arrive, map both onto the seven lines and compare section by section. A quotation missing a line has not withheld it — it has not done the work, and the missing line is where the machine’s fit lives. The price comparison happens last, between two complete documents, and it is usually the smallest difference on the page.
Send your material list, duty declaration and site facts with the inquiry. The written quotation comes back within two business days with all seven lines complete — and if your numbers point at a different class, the recommendation will say so, in writing, either way.
The Line Order, Explained
The seven lines have an order, and the order is the argument. The material list comes second because every subsequent line follows it — the class, the configuration, the blade specification and the spares schedule are all derived from what arrives at your yard. The duty basis sits inside it because the build follows the declaration. The configuration comes third because it is decided against your site rather than against a catalog. The blade specification stands alone because it is a decade-long cost line. The site package is what your contractors need. The commercial terms come last because the specification is the purchase. And the spares schedule closes the document because it describes the machine’s second decade.
A quotation that arrives in a different order — price first, specification later — is a document organized for a sale rather than for a build. The red-flag guide covers the patterns that should slow you down, and the contents guide maps the four sections the seven lines group into.
The Lines as a Standard
The seven lines are a standard that outlives any single quotation. The material list, the duty basis, the boundary rows and configuration, the blade specification, the site package, the commercial terms and the spares schedule — a document that answers all seven is one your contractors can build from and your operation can run for a decade, whoever wrote it.
Hold every supplier to the same seven, and the comparison stops being a negotiation and becomes a mapping exercise. The red-flag guide covers what missing lines look like, and the contents guide maps what complete looks like.
Buyer FAQ
Which line should I read first?
The material list. If your feed is not in the document, nothing else in it is about your operation — and the rest of the reading is a formality.
What if the boundary rows differ from the published figures?
Ask. The difference is either a configuration choice, which should be stated, or a brochure number, which should be corrected — the published range is the reference.
Why is the blade specification a separate line?
Because it is a decade-long cost line, and it follows your material rather than the model. A generic blade specification turns the wear budget into a variable rather than a plan.
Can I negotiate before the specification is complete?
You can, and buyers who do negotiate the price of a machine nobody has specified. Complete lines one through five first; the commercial conversation is shorter and cheaper afterwards.
What is the single most common omission?
The spares and wear schedule. It is the last line on this list and the first one missing from cheap quotations — and its absence surfaces as a repair history rather than as a saving. Map both quotations onto the seven lines and compare section by section — a missing line is not a scoring difference, it is a specification conversation that has not happened, and it is closable in one email. Map every quotation onto the seven lines and the comparison becomes a mapping exercise rather than a negotiation — a missing line is a specification conversation that has not happened, and it is closable in one email.