The tooling invoice nobody budgets for

A machine without holders, cutters, workholding and metrology is not production-ready.

The decision behind the headline

A machine without holders, cutters, workholding and metrology is not production-ready. The useful question is how the issue changes total installed cost, uptime, process capability or risk.

Build a written comparison

List facts, unknowns, quotations, inspection results and assumptions. Price uncertainty rather than pretending it does not exist.

Confirm before purchase

Use manuals, serial data, service records, supplier confirmation and independent inspection. Preserve the evidence with the purchase file.