If you're launching a new product or plant and need not one machine but a whole line — filling and capping, extrusion, packaging, an assembly conveyor — this article is for you. Procuring a line differs from buying a machine the way building a house differs from buying furniture: the point isn't the single unit but how the modules mate together, who owns integration, and who takes the whole thing to rated output. Across seven years we've run projects where a line was assembled from units of several factories, and we've seen the main trap: every supplier does its own piece well, but nobody owns the seam between them. This continues the guide to importing industrial equipment from China.
"Turnkey" means different things — agree the scope
Chinese suppliers read "turnkey" more broadly or more narrowly than you do. First lock down the scope of work: what's in, what's out. Typical options:
- Equipment supply — machines are delivered; installation and start-up are yours.
- Supply + commissioning — an engineer travels, installs, sets up, trains.
- Full turnkey — layout design, equipment, installation, integration, ramp to output, training, warranty service.
The more "turnkey," the more expensive — but the fewer zones nobody owns. The key question to a line supplier: who is the general integrator? If units come from different factories, one party must be accountable for the line as a whole, not just for individual machines.
Stage 1. Specification and layout
Before any pricing, agree the spec: target throughput (units/hour), product range, the sizes and parameters of your product, available floor area and ceiling height, existing utilities (power, compressed air, water, steam), degree of automation. From the spec the supplier prepares a layout with dimensions, connection points and material flow. Check the layout against your floor plan before the contract — a classic mistake is a line that doesn't fit or won't mate with existing equipment.
Stage 2. Contract with a milestone payment schedule
A line is big money and a long cycle, so payments are tied hard to milestones. A working schedule:
- 30% deposit — starts design and manufacturing.
- 30–40% after a passed FAT — factory acceptance testing of the line.
- 20–30% after SAT and reaching rated output at your site.
- 5–10% retention until the end of the warranty start-up — leverage so service doesn't vanish after payment.
Separately write in liquidated damages and guaranteed throughput: if the line doesn't deliver the stated units/hour on your material, that's grounds for rework at the supplier's cost. For the contract base see contract with a Chinese factory, and for warranty and service the guide to warranty and spare parts for Chinese equipment.
Stage 3. FAT — accepting the line at the factory
Before shipment the line (or its key modules) is assembled at the factory and put through a Factory Acceptance Test: run on material close to yours, with throughput, reject rate, automation and the seams between units all recorded. This is the best point to catch a problem — fixing it at the factory is many times cheaper than after shipment. To run a FAT without flying out yourself, use factory inspection before the balance payment: an engineer accepts the line against an agreed protocol.
The most expensive mistake is paying in full against shipment. Once the containers are at sea, your leverage over the supplier drops to almost nothing.
Stage 4. Logistics, installation and SAT
A line is several containers, often with oversized pieces. Plan container shipping from China and the unload/install sequence (which units arrive first) in advance. At your site, get the foundation, power feed, compressed air and ventilation ready before the engineer arrives — a paid commissioning engineer idling because the plant isn't ready is expensive.
After installation comes the SAT (Site Acceptance Test): repeat testing at your site, ramp to rated output and staff training. SAT sign-off is the moment the line is officially yours and the warranty clock starts.
Hidden risks of a line project
- No-man's-land between units — the seam between two machines from different factories that nobody owns. Cured by a general integrator in the contract.
- Throughput "on paper" — quoted on ideal material. Tie the guarantee to your material.
- Downtime from an unready site — foundation, power, utilities must be ready for installation.
- Service vanishing after payment — hold retention and write in a response-time SLA.
- Start-up cost — installation, commissioning, training, first spares stock — part of the real landed cost.
Start up a turnkey line
We run the line project from spec and layout to rated output: sourcing the manufacturer and general integrator among 340+ vetted factories, drafting a contract with FAT/SAT and a milestone schedule, accepting the line at the factory, arranging multi-container logistics and supporting installation and training. You get a working line, not a pile of crates and the question "who assembles this?"
This is part of equipment sourcing together with quality control and foreign-trade consulting.
Discuss a line project: email contact@silkwaysourcing.com or message WhatsApp +380 97 883 4765 — send the spec or a product description and we'll prepare a staged project plan.
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*Sources (verified; check for current editions as of 2026): International Chamber of Commerce — Incoterms 2020; FAT/SAT practice per industry standards for industrial-equipment acceptance.*
