Five Questions to Ask Before Qualifying a New Switchgear Manufacturer

Qualifying a new switchgear manufacturer is a different exercise from comparing datasheets, and most of the risk in a new vendor relationship shows up in the questions a brochure was never going to answer.

First: what independent body issued the type-test certificate, and does its scope actually cover the rating being ordered, rather than a similar but different model? Second: what is the manufacturer's routine test procedure for every unit, not just the type-tested sample?

Third: how is material traceability maintained from raw busbar and sheet steel through to the finished assembly, so a defect can be traced to its source rather than treated as an isolated incident? Fourth: what does the manufacturer's on-time delivery record look like against contractual dates, not against internally revised ones?

Fifth, and most often skipped: has anyone from the buying organization, or an independent inspector acting for them, actually walked the factory floor? A facility that photographs well in a sales deck and a facility that will hold tolerance under production pressure are not always the same thing, and there is no substitute for seeing it directly.