Selection Process

Life cycle costing is important because a realistic overall cost of the control system may be many times the initial purchase price, so readers want it to last as many years as possible. Concomitant to the concept of reliability is the necessary area of good checkout capabilities as well as maintenance, and of course service. There are so many different features and variations of the product and the services offered that's it's very difficult to compare them equally. One approach that the readers should try is to make some sort of spread sheet to compare similar categories of capabilities. Vendor Evaluation Meetings occur prior to vendor selection, and allow the readers to present their needs and problems to each vendor. The vendors may use this time to demonstrate the capabilities and limitations of his product, system and services. The readers should be prepared to ask detailed questions concerning their control problems, and operational goals.