QUESTIONNAIRES OF EQUIPMENT SUPPLIERS

Equipment is supplied on the basis of information about the needs provided by the ultimate purchaser and user. Although the more information, within limits, the better, suppliers do require a certain minimum amount before they can make recommendations of equipment and price. Some kinds of equipment are sufficiently standardized to allow their specification by standard forms like those of Appendix B. The questionnaires of individual Suppliers sampled in Appendix C are mostly of specialized equipment that requires custom designing to a greater extent. This is a random selection and other suppliers of each type are available to provide service. Following is a listing of questionnaires contained in this Appendix C. The number appearing in italic is the page number on which the form appears. 

A manufacturer s or vendor s inquiry form is a questionnaire whose completion will give him the information on which to base a specific recommendation of equipment and a price. General information about the process in whieh the proposed equipment is expected to function, amounts and appropriate properties ol the streams involved, and the required performance arc basic. The nature of additional information vanes from case to case foi instance, being different for fillets than for pneumatic conveyors. Individual suppliers have specific inquiry forms. A representative selection is in Appendix C. 

Basic physical and thermodynamic property data are essential for the design and selection of equipment. Further, the state-of-the-art design of many kinds of equipment may require more or less extensive laboratory or pilot plant studies. Equipment manufacturers who are asked to provide performance guarantees require such information. As indicated in Appendix C, typical equipment suppliers questionnaires may require the potential purchaser to have performed such tests. 

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