“Should we retrofit or buy new?” deserves better than instinct — in both directions. The framework we walk customers through:
The four questions
1. Is the mechanics worth keeping? The retrofit case stands entirely on this. Frames, gearboxes, rolls and ways with life left are the asset; controls are the consumable around it. A mechanical survey (backlash, alignment, wear patterns) is step one — retrofitting controls onto tired iron polishes a headstone.
2. Where does obsolescence actually bite? Tier the machine: controls extinct (S5-era, dead drives, unobtainable panels) — the classic retrofit trigger; controls aging but supported — a planned retrofit horizon; mechanics obsolete (can’t hold tolerance, product changed) — no control retrofit fixes that, replacement territory.
3. What does downtime cost, honestly? New machines look expensive until the retrofit’s downtime is priced: a staged control retrofit (our S5 and press-line patterns) costs planned stops measured in shifts; a new machine costs removal, foundations, installation and a learning curve — often more production loss than the retrofit, hidden in the project schedule.
4. What does the process gain? Replacement buys new capability (speed, tolerance, features); retrofit buys reliability, diagnostics, energy savings and spares availability at a fraction of the price — typically 20–40 % of new-machine cost in our practice. If capability is the need, retrofit is the wrong tool however cheap.
The hybrids matter: retrofit-plus-mechanical-refurbishment as a mid-path, or retrofit the fleet’s best two machines and retire the third as the spares donor.
FAQ
Typical retrofit scope boundaries? Drives, PLC, HMI, safety circuit and cabling — with sensors and actuators surveyed case by case; wiring older than the operators usually joins the scope.
How long does the decision study take? Days, not months: mechanical survey, obsolescence inventory, downtime model — we present it as one page with numbers.
Zone Otomasyon gives retrofit-or-replace answers with the numbers attached — including when the answer is “replace”. Decision surveys.