Most integrator selection decisions get made on two things: the quoted price and how the sales call felt. Both are poor predictors of whether the system will run at rate two years from now.

The problem is that the differences between integrators are largely invisible at quote stage. Two proposals for the same work cell can differ by a wide margin and still both be honest, because they include different scope, assume different acceptance criteria, and put the risk in different places. The gaps do not show up until installation, or until the first time you need a spare part for a controller nobody stocks anymore.

This guide is a set of questions that surface those differences early. It is written to be useful regardless of who you end up hiring.

First, decide whether you need an integrator at all

An integrator designs and builds automation that does not exist as a catalog product. If your application is a standard, high volume operation that established equipment makers already serve well, such as conventional case packing or standard palletizing at common formats, a catalog machine from an OEM will usually be cheaper, faster to deliver, and easier to support. You are buying a proven product instead of paying for engineering.

You need an integrator when the requirement is specific enough that no standard machine fits: unusual part geometry, a process nobody sells equipment for, a retrofit that has to work around existing line constraints, or regulated production with validation requirements.

If you are not sure which category you are in, get one quote from each and compare. An integrator worth working with will tell you when a catalog machine is the better answer.

Can they actually do your application?

Integrators specialize, even the ones whose websites imply they do everything. A shop with deep welding experience is not automatically competent at high speed part handling, and vice versa. The relevant question is not whether they do robotics. It is whether they have done your specific process.

Ask: How many systems have you built that do this specific operation, and can I talk to those customers?

A good answer is a number and a willingness to connect you. A weak answer redirects to general robot experience or to a related but materially different application. “We have done a lot of pick and place” is not an answer to a question about high speed sortation with vision guidance.

Call the references, and ask them the question that actually matters: what went wrong, and how did the integrator handle it? Every project has problems. You are evaluating the response, not the absence of problems.

Ask: Do you design and build in house, or do you subcontract?

Some firms that present as integrators are primarily project managers who broker the engineering and fabrication out. That is not automatically disqualifying, but it changes your risk profile. When something needs to be fixed during commissioning, in house teams change it that day. Brokered work goes back through a supplier chain.

Ask specifically who does the mechanical design, the controls programming, the fabrication, and the end of arm tooling (EOAT). If the answer to any of those is a third party, ask how change orders and warranty work flow through that relationship.

Ask: Who designs the end of arm tooling?

EOAT is where a surprising number of projects fail. The robot is a commodity; the gripper or tooling that touches your part is bespoke, and it determines whether the cell actually works. An integrator who treats tooling as an afterthought to be handed to a toolmaker without engineering direction is telling you something about how the project will go.

Safety and standards: the question almost nobody asks

This is the section where you can most easily separate current practitioners from firms coasting on old work.

Ask: Are you designing to ANSI/A3 R15.06-2025, or to the 2012 edition?

The American national standard for industrial robot safety was revised in 2025. ANSI/A3 R15.06-2025 replaced ANSI/RIA R15.06-2012, which had been the governing document for over a decade. The standard now harmonizes with ISO 10218-1:2025 and ISO 10218-2:2025, and it grew from 162 pages to 374.

Two things make this a useful question. First, it is current, so a firm that has not engaged with the revision will not have a crisp answer. Second, note the designation change: the standard is now ANSI/A3, not ANSI/RIA. The Association for Advancing Automation (A3) absorbed the Robotic Industries Association in a 2021 merger. An integrator, or a competitor’s buyer guide, still writing “RIA R15.06” is working from stale reference material.

You do not need to have read 374 pages to use this. You need to hear a specific answer about which edition governs your build and what changed for your application.

Ask: Who performs the risk assessment, who signs it, and is it included in the quote?

A robot safety risk assessment is a formal deliverable, not a line in a manual. Establish whether the integrator produces it, whether a named qualified person signs it, and whether you receive the documentation. Then establish whether it is inside the quoted price or billed separately.

Ask: Is safeguarding hardware in scope, and who validates it?

Light curtains, interlocks, emergency stops, fencing, and safety controllers all cost money and all have to be validated as a system. Quotes vary widely on how much of this they include. Two proposals that look far apart on price sometimes converge once you normalize for who is buying and validating the safeguarding.

Are they authorized by the robot manufacturer?

This is the credential that matters most, and it is more specific than a general industry certification.

Every major robot maker runs an authorized or preferred integrator program. FANUC America has operated its Authorized System Integrator (ASI) program since 1996. ABB, KUKA, Yaskawa, and Universal Robots all run comparable partner programs. The details differ, but the substance is the same: the manufacturer has vetted the integrator on that specific platform.

Ask: Are you an authorized integrator for the robot brand you are proposing, and at what level?

Why this matters more than it sounds:

Factory support escalation. When a problem exceeds the integrator’s expertise, an authorized partner escalates directly into the manufacturer’s engineering and service organization. An unauthorized shop calls the general support line like anyone else. During a line down event, that difference is measured in days.

Training that is verifiable. In authorized programs, the integrator’s engineers are trained and certified by the manufacturer on that platform, not self taught on a previous job.

Parts priority and roadmap access. Authorized partners typically get better parts availability and earlier visibility into product changes and end of life timing, which matters for a machine you expect to run for a decade.

Program tiers. These programs are usually tiered, with higher tiers reflecting annual volume with that manufacturer, depth of trained staff, continuing education, and breadth of proven applications. Ask which tier, and ask what it required. A top tier partner is doing meaningful, continuous volume on that platform rather than one system a year.

Verify it independently. Manufacturers publish searchable directories of their authorized integrators. FANUC’s is filterable by industry, application, and distance from your location, which lets you do something useful: confirm that the integrator is listed and that the applications they are listed under match the work you are quoting. If a firm claims deep assembly experience but is listed only for machine tending, ask about the gap.

Check the manufacturer’s directory rather than the integrator’s own website. Authorization status can lapse, and marketing pages do not always keep up.

One honest caveat. Authorization tells you the integrator is competent on that platform. It does not tell you they have done your process. An authorized partner building your application for the first time is still building it for the first time. Pair this question with the track record questions above rather than treating it as a substitute.

And a related question: are you brand agnostic or committed to one platform?

An integrator with deep expertise in one brand will usually propose that brand, which is often the right answer because depth beats breadth on support and programming. But you should know which you are getting. If you already run a standardized fleet, an integrator matched to your existing platform reduces spare parts inventory, simplifies maintenance training, and keeps your technicians on familiar controls. If you have no installed base, ask the integrator to justify the platform on the merits of your application.

What is actually in the quote

Ask: What is explicitly excluded?

This single question surfaces more cost surprises than any other. Common exclusions that buyers assume are included: electrical hookup to the plant, compressed air, foundation or structural work, part specific tooling beyond the first size, spare parts, operator training beyond a fixed number of hours, freight, rigging, and installation labor.

Ask for exclusions in writing. Then compare quotes only after adding the excluded items back into each one.

Ask: How are engineering change orders priced, and what triggers one?

Requirements change. What matters is whether change orders are priced at a pre agreed rate or negotiated under pressure once you are committed and the schedule is at risk. Ask for the rate up front. Ask what counts as a change versus what is covered under the original scope.

Ask: What is the payment milestone schedule?

A typical structure is a deposit at order, a payment at design approval, and further payments tied to build milestones and acceptance. What you are looking for is whether meaningful money is held until the system demonstrably works. If the schedule front loads payment so that little is at risk by the time you are proving rate, your leverage during commissioning is limited.

For a worked example of how these variables move a real number, our breakdown of closure lining machine cost walks through the same logic on a specific machine type.

Schedule, capacity, and who actually works on your project

Ask: What is your current backlog, and where does my project rank?

Capacity is the most common cause of schedule slip. A shop that is full will still take your order. Ask directly how many projects are in the shop, how yours compares in size, and what happens to your delivery date if a larger customer’s project runs long.

Ask: Who is the named project engineer, and what else are they assigned to?

The engineer in the sales meeting is frequently not the engineer who builds your system. Get a name and a level of commitment. Ask how many concurrent projects that person carries. Ask what happens if they leave mid project.

Acceptance: the terms that decide whether you can say no

This is where projects go wrong quietly, because most buyers do not define acceptance until it is time to accept.

Ask: What are the written acceptance criteria, with numbers?

Acceptance should be a measurable test, not an opinion. That means a stated rate, over a stated duration, on stated parts, at a stated quality level. “Runs to the customer’s satisfaction” is not an acceptance criterion; it is a future argument.

Insist on numbers for throughput, uptime, and reject or scrap rate, and insist on the part mix being specified. A cell that hits rate on your best part and fails on your hardest part has not met the requirement.

Ask: What is the difference between the factory test and the site test, and what carries over?

Factory acceptance testing (FAT) happens at the integrator’s shop before shipment. Site acceptance testing (SAT) happens on your floor with your parts, your operators, and your upstream and downstream equipment. Systems routinely pass FAT and struggle at SAT, because the shop environment is not your plant.

Establish which test triggers which payment, and what the remedy is if the system passes FAT and then misses at SAT.

Ask: What happens if it does not hit rate?

Get the answer before you sign. A clear remedy, whether that is a defined correction period, retained payment, or a rate guarantee with a schedule, tells you the integrator has been through this honestly before.

After the sale

Ask: Is the controls platform open, and do I own the code?

Some integrators build on proprietary control schemes or lock the program so only they can modify it. That can be defensible for complex motion, but it determines whether you can make small changes yourself or must call the original builder for every adjustment. Establish who owns the program, whether you receive commented source, and what the licensing situation is.

Standardizing on a controls platform your maintenance team already knows is worth real money over the machine’s life.

Ask: What is your response commitment, and can you support remotely?

Ask for a stated response time, whether phone support is included or billable, and whether the system supports secure remote access for troubleshooting. Remote diagnosis often resolves problems in an hour that would otherwise take days to get a technician on site.

Ask: What is the spare parts and obsolescence plan?

Ask which components are long lead, what is recommended for an on site spares kit, and what the plan is when a controller or drive goes end of life in seven years. An integrator who has supported installed equipment for a decade answers this immediately. One who has not will improvise.

Red flags

A quote with no written exclusions list
Reluctance to provide references in your specific application
Acceptance criteria described in adjectives instead of numbers
No clear answer on who signs the risk assessment
A claimed certification you cannot find in the issuing body’s public directory
A payment schedule with little money at risk after commissioning begins
Unwillingness to name the project engineer
A proposal that matches your specification exactly without questioning anything in it. Good integrators push back on requirements during quoting, because that is when changes are free.

The checklist

Bring this to the vendor meeting.

Capability

☐ Number of systems built doing this specific operation
☐ References in this application, called and asked what went wrong
☐ What is designed and built in house versus subcontracted
☐ Who engineers the end of arm tooling

Manufacturer authorization

☐ Authorized or preferred integrator for the robot brand being proposed
☐ Which program tier, and what that tier required
☐ Listed in the manufacturer’s public directory, verified independently
☐ Applications they are listed under match the work being quoted
☐ Whether their engineers are factory trained on this platform
☐ Brand agnostic or single platform, and whether that matches your installed base

Safety and standards

☐ Designing to ANSI/A3 R15.06-2025 or the superseded 2012 edition
☐ Who performs and signs the risk assessment
☐ Whether the risk assessment is included in the quoted price
☐ Safeguarding hardware in or out of scope, and who validates

Commercial

☐ Written list of exclusions
☐ Change order rate agreed in advance
☐ What triggers a change order versus original scope
☐ Payment milestone schedule, and how much is held until acceptance

Schedule

☐ Current backlog and relative project priority
☐ Named project engineer and their concurrent load
☐ What happens to the date if a larger project runs long

Acceptance

☐ Written criteria with rate, duration, part mix, and quality numbers
☐ FAT versus SAT scope and which triggers payment
☐ Stated remedy if the system misses rate

Support

☐ Controls platform, code ownership, and licensing
☐ Stated response time; support included or billable
☐ Remote access capability
☐ Spares kit recommendation and obsolescence plan

FAQ

How do I choose a robot integrator? Evaluate on application specific track record, safety and standards practice, what the quote actually includes and excludes, capacity against your schedule, written acceptance criteria with numbers, and post installation support. Price alone is misleading because competing quotes frequently contain different scope. Normalize the quotes by adding excluded items back into each before comparing.

What questions should I ask a robot integrator before signing? The highest value questions are: how many systems have you built doing this exact operation; what is explicitly excluded from this quote; are you designing to ANSI/A3 R15.06-2025 or the 2012 edition; who signs the risk assessment; what are the written acceptance criteria with numbers; and what happens if the system does not hit rate.

What is the current robot safety standard in the United States? ANSI/A3 R15.06-2025 is the current American national standard for industrial robot and robot system safety. It replaced ANSI/RIA R15.06-2012 and harmonizes with ISO 10218-1:2025 and ISO 10218-2:2025. The designation changed from ANSI/RIA to ANSI/A3 because the Association for Advancing Automation absorbed the Robotic Industries Association in 2021.

Should a robot integrator be certified by the robot manufacturer? Yes, this is one of the more meaningful credentials to check. Every major robot maker runs an authorized or preferred integrator program. FANUC America has run its Authorized System Integrator (ASI) program since 1996, and ABB, KUKA, Yaskawa, and Universal Robots operate comparable programs. Authorization means the manufacturer has vetted the integrator on that specific platform, the integrator’s engineers are factory trained, and support requests escalate directly into the manufacturer’s engineering organization instead of the general support queue. These programs are typically tiered, so ask which tier and what it required. Verify the status in the manufacturer’s public directory rather than the integrator’s website, and confirm that the applications they are listed under match the work you are quoting. Authorization does not by itself mean they have built your specific application, so pair it with track record questions.

Should the integrator match the robot brand we already run? Usually yes, if you have an installed base. Standardizing on one platform reduces spare parts inventory, simplifies maintenance training, and keeps your technicians on controls they already know. Ask whether the integrator is brand agnostic or committed to one manufacturer. A single platform specialist will propose their platform, which is frequently the right answer because depth beats breadth on support and programming, but you should know which you are getting. If you have no installed base, ask them to justify the platform choice on the merits of your application.

What is the difference between FAT and SAT? Factory acceptance testing happens at the integrator’s facility before shipment. Site acceptance testing happens at your plant with your parts, operators, and adjacent equipment. Systems can pass FAT and still struggle at SAT because the shop environment does not reproduce plant conditions. Define both tests, and define which one releases which payment.

Should I hire an integrator or buy a standard machine? Buy standard equipment when your application is a common, high volume operation that established equipment makers already serve. You get a proven machine at lower cost with faster delivery. Hire an integrator when no catalog machine fits: unusual part geometry, a novel process, a constrained retrofit, or regulated production with validation requirements.

Big Sky Engineering is a FANUC Authorized System Integrator. We design and build custom robot work cells, automated assembly equipment, and inspection systems from our facility in Verona, Wisconsin. You can see examples of completed systems or read about our standard machine safety features. If you want to put the questions above to us directly, request a quote.

How to Choose a Robot Integrator: Questions to Ask Before You Sign