OEM & private label
Putting your name on the machine makes you the manufacturer. Most suppliers do not mention this.
Under EU machinery law, the company that places a machine on the market under its own name takes on the manufacturer's obligations — including the technical file. That is the part of a private-label programme that gets discovered late, usually after the first unit is sold.
What we mean by OEM
Not "we put a sticker on it". Three things have to be true for a private-label programme to survive its first service call:
- The machine is built to your specification — power, head, cable length, colour, labelling, manual language.
- The technical file is complete and handed over — drawings, component lists, risk assessment, test records, declaration. Without it your name is on a machine you cannot legally support.
- Spares have a stated lead time — because the distributor, not the factory, is the one answering the phone.
We supply all three. The factory supplies the machine.
How it runs
Four stages, each with a deliverable.
Nothing starts until the requirement is written down. Nearly every failed private-label programme began with a sample unit ordered before anyone defined the application.
Requirement
Application, power, access, duty cycle, destination market, expected annual volume. A written brief, one page.
Selection
Two or three factories matched to the brief, each with its strengths stated. You choose; we do not pretend there is only one option.
Brand & file
Housing, decals, manual, packaging. Technical file and declaration of conformity prepared for the entity on the badge.
Fleet support
Spares list with lead times, training material, escalation path to the factory engineer — named, not "the after-sales team".
Quotation structure
One price for an OEM deal hides where the money goes.
We quote in layers, so you can see what the hardware costs and what the service around it costs. It also makes it obvious which parts scale with volume and which do not.
| Layer | What it covers | Scales with volume |
|---|---|---|
| L1 · Equipment | Machine, head, chiller, standard accessories | Yes |
| L2 · Badge & customisation | Housing colour, decals, manual language, packaging | Partly |
| L3 · Technical file & conformity | Drawings, component list, risk assessment, test records, declaration | No — one-off per model |
| L4 · Spares & consumables | Windows, nozzles, optics, seals; initial stocking quantity | Yes |
| L5 · Service & training | Parameter training, maintenance routine, escalation path | No |
| L6 · Export execution | Classification, licence where applicable, declaration parameters, documentation | No — per shipment |
A quotation that collapses these six into one number cannot be compared with another supplier's, and cannot be defended to your own finance team.
What we will not take on
Three structures we decline, because they fail for reasons that have nothing to do with the machine:
- "Find me a factory and I will handle the rest." That works exactly once. The second order goes direct.
- Pure resale of a controlled unit. A dual-use licence is issued per end user and per shipment; a distributor holding stock to resell does not fit the licence structure, and shipping anyway is the fastest way to lose a container.
- Private label with no technical file. Your name on the machine and no documentation behind it is a liability transfer, not a product.
What a first programme looks like
A typical start is one model, one power, a small first batch, and a spares kit sized to it. The badge and the manual are the easy part; the first programme is really a test of whether the escalation path works when a head fails in the field.
If that holds, the range expands. If it does not, better to find out on three units than thirty.
Start with the brief, not the brochure.
Send the application, the power range and the market you sell into. We will come back with two or three configurations and the compliance position for each.
Discuss a private-label programme