Worked scenario
Whose tool is it, and who pays when it wears out
Customer-owned tooling on your floor is an asset with unclear obligations, and the ambiguity surfaces when the tool wears or the customer leaves.
3 min read
A customer pays for a tool. It lives at the manufacturer, is maintained by the manufacturer, and produces only that customer's parts.
The questions nobody asks early
Who pays for refurbishment. What happens if the customer moves the work. Whether the manufacturer can scrap a tool that has not run for three years. All are easy to agree at the start and contentious later.
Usage predicts the argument
Tools wear on a schedule. Tracking usage means the refurbishment conversation happens before a tool fails mid-order, which is the point at which nobody is reasonable.
What changes
- Tooling register recording ownership and funding
- Maintenance responsibility stated per tool
- Usage tracked so end-of-life is predictable
- Return or disposal terms agreed before they are needed
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