Working on a custom project such as building a new control room or renovating an existing one can sometimes be an overwhelming experience. A lot of companies will say they are the best at customer service, design, engineering, and customer relationship management, so what are the questions to ask when looking into buying new console furniture for the control room? In this article, we will go over some essential questions to ask your furniture provider when purchasing control room or dispatch consoles.
1) Ask: What can they guarantee in writing that their competition can’t match?
For example, Sustema can guarantee to meet or exceed all ANSI BIFMA (Ergonomic Standards) criteria.
2) Ask: What is your warranty program?
This is an important question as to the stronger the warranty the more confidence that the company has in its product. At Sustema we believe anything that we manufacturer ourselves we back up with a lifetime warranty and state that in writing.
3) Ask: What are the questions you would ask me?
Turn it over on the company to ask the right questions and get you talking. They should be the experts to guide you. Here are a few examples a good company would you ask you if you're buying technical furniture:
Tell me about the layout of the room that the furniture will be going into?
Tell me about the current work environment and what you liked and what could be improved?
You will notice that the console below has two height-adjustable independent worksurfaces. This gives more ergonomic flexibility to your operator, were you planning for one worksurface so far or were you looking at two independent such as on the image below?
The company you select should have a very good level of detail when asking questions to make it easier for you to answer them. Visuals are a great way of doing that and painting a picture.
4) Ask: Can you please summarize what we talked about and send it to me in a word/pdf document?
The company you engage with should be detailing notes to send back to you for review. In my experience clients often add small yet crucial details 24 hours after the initial conversation.
5) Ask: After our initial discussion what are the next steps?
The purpose of this question is to talk about the terms of moving forward. For me at Sustema I would be telling the client I will move forward with an estimate and often times a drawing with absolutely no pressure or monetary payment required.
If a company successfully engages in those steps and more you will be in great hands. At the very least you will save a lot of time in selecting the next company you choose to do business with.
Mark Meschino
Account Executive at Sustema
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