How to choose the right system integrator for your robot cell

A systems integrator combines robot, tooling, peripherals and controls into a system that runs your process. The integrator owns that complete system, including its CE marking. The word "turnkey" carries no legal definition. For one provider the scope ends with the delivered cell, for another it runs from the feasibility study through to spare parts supply over ten years.

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Expensive surprises live in that gap. Anyone who picks a provider on reference lists and price alone learns only after the order which services are missing. This article names nine checkpoints for the decision.

Define the scope of supply

A complete automation project covers eight building blocks:

1. Process analysis and feasibility study
2. Cell design across mechanics, electrics and controls
3. Selection of industrial robot and peripherals
4. Safety concept including risk assessment
5. Build and programming
6. Delivery and commissioning on site
7. Documentation and training
8. Service and spare parts

Omitting some of these does not disqualify a quote by itself. It simply means you deliver those services yourself or award them separately. Get the scope in writing. Mark what is explicitly excluded. That list becomes the basis for comparing quotes later.

Peripherals are everything that makes the robot able to work: machine vision, conveyors, grippers and tooling. Quotes diverge most in exactly this area.

Settle CE responsibility

CE marking, short for Conformité Européenne, is the conformity assessment under European law. It applies to the complete installation, not to individual components. Whoever combines robot, tooling and peripherals into a controlled system creates a new machine in legal terms and becomes its manufacturer.

Linked installations invite a specific mistake: every module arrives with its own CE mark, and nobody takes responsibility for the whole. Individual markings do not replace the assessment of the complete system.

Four points therefore belong in writing:

• Who produces the risk assessment for the entire cell
• Who signs the declaration of conformity
• Who compiles and hands over the technical documentation
• How interfaces to installations you already operate are treated

If a provider avoids these points, responsibility very probably stays with you as the operator.

EU Machinery Regulation from 2027

Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 applies from 20 January 2027. It replaces Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC, and there is no transition period beyond that date for placing products on the market under the old rules. Every machine placed on the market from that day has to meet the new requirements.

For a project starting today, the classification decides. Which legal framework your installation is placed on the market under, and who verifies that, belongs in the contract.

The regulation raises the bar for documentation and cybersecurity. Software with a safety function counts explicitly as a safety component. A provider who knows the date and can describe their own role has prepared for it.

ISO 10218 in its 2025 edition

The ISO 10218 series received its first major revision since 2011 in 2025. Three changes matter for choosing a provider.

Part 2 addresses integrators. ISO 10218-2:2025 covers robot applications and robot cells. The standard sets out the requirements for whoever integrates the cell. Anyone delivering turnkey works to this part.

The former specification ISO/TS 15066 is now incorporated. The separate document for collaborative applications no longer exists on its own. Its requirements sit inside the series itself. A quote still citing the old specification as a standalone reference is working from a superseded edition.

The term "collaborative robot" is gone. The new edition no longer separates industrial robots from cobots. What counts is the application, not the product category. Part 1 introduces two risk classes instead, each with its own requirements for safety, control and integration.

In practice this means you should stop asking whether a provider "does cobots". Ask how they build the risk assessment for your application and which edition they work to.

Process knowledge over brand affiliation

A certified integrator for ABB, KUKA or FANUC brings trained programmers and direct manufacturer support. That is a real advantage. It says little about their grasp of your process.

Hard questions rarely sit with the robot arm. They sit with part tolerances, changing batches, gripping principles and cycle time under real manufacturing conditions. Hold the provider to your workpiece. Anyone who talks about wear, positioning accuracy and reject rates takes you further than a brand logo does.

Vendor-neutral providers hold a structural advantage here. They pick the kinematics to suit the requirement rather than the portfolio. How much that matters depends on how unusual your application is.

Verifiable evidence

Verifiable evidence is a claim you can check independently of the provider. Four of them carry more weight than any reference list:

• A reference project with a similar process, not merely a similar industry
• A conversation with the maintenance team at an existing customer
• A proof of concept using your own parts before the main award
• Documented figures for uptime achieved in live operation

Of these four, the proof of concept works as the strongest filter. When a provider has to grip or recognise your real workpieces and demonstrates that up front, the central technical uncertainty is resolved before the investment. Providers who offer this step carry part of the project risk themselves.

Engineering depth

A robot cell is a mechanical, electrical and software system at the same time. System integration means holding those three together, and six disciplines contribute to it:

• Mechanical design of fixtures and grippers
• Electrical planning and control cabinet build
• Controls and robot programming
• Safety technology and safeguarding
• Machine vision, where the application needs it
• Connection to higher-level systems

Whatever discipline is missing in house gets bought in. The interface then becomes the weak point. What matters is who coordinates when something fails. A single point of contact who stays accountable for subcontracted parts as well outweighs a lower price with divided responsibility.

Acceptance: FAT and SAT

Two acceptance stages give an automation project its structure. The Factory Acceptance Test, or FAT, is the inspection at the provider's site before delivery. Under controlled conditions it establishes whether the cell meets the agreed specifications. You or a representative should attend.

The Site Acceptance Test, or SAT, follows installation at your site. It examines the installation under real operating conditions and forms the basis for final acceptance.

Both tests only work with measurable criteria. Five points belong in writing beforehand:

• Which cycle time counts as met, measured over what period
• Which reject rate is acceptable
• Which parts are used for testing, limit samples included
• Which uptime over which running time counts as demonstrated
• What follows if a criterion is missed

A provider who proposes measurable acceptance criteria themselves expects to meet them.

Usability and service

After handover your team works with the installation, not the integrator. How easily a new product can be set up decides how flexible the cell really is. Four points belong on the checklist:

• Whether your maintenance team changes programs without help
• Whether error messages appear in plain language
• How long a changeover takes, and who measured it
• How many people the included training covers

Ask to see the operator interface before you order, ideally operated by someone from your own team.

Six commitments count for the operating phase that follows:

• Availability in case of a fault, with stated hours
• Typical time until an on-site visit
• How spare parts stock is split between you and the provider
• Committed duration of spare parts supply for the components installed
• Whether remote support is possible and how it is secured
• Price and content of a maintenance contract

Spare parts weigh especially heavily on custom-built equipment. A purpose-designed fixture appears in no catalogue.

Making quotes comparable

Two quotes with a clear price gap almost always describe different services. Nine positions establish comparability before you set the numbers side by side:

Only once filled in does this table say anything about price. The gap often shrinks as soon as missing services are added. Which items drive the price of a turnkey cell is broken down in How much does a turnkey robotics solution cost?.

Six steps cover the points named above:

1. Define the scope before you approach providers
2. Address three to five providers with the same enquiry
3. Require a proof of concept using your own parts
4. Check one reference project with a similar process
5. Fix CE responsibility, acceptance criteria and service in writing
6. Negotiate price only after that

How commissioning runs afterwards is described in How does the commissioning of a turnkey robotic solution work?. Where the investment case is uncertain, Rent robots instead of buying them builds experience with less capital tied up.

Frequently asked questions

What separates a systems integrator from a robot manufacturer?

Robot manufacturers build the robot itself. A systems integrator combines robot, tooling, peripherals and controls into an installation that runs your process, and owns that complete system including its CE marking. Manufacturers sell a component with its own documentation. Integrators deliver a machine in legal terms, which is why the risk assessment and the declaration of conformity sit with them.

Do I need a certified integrator for a specific brand?

An official partnership brings trained programmers and direct manufacturer support, which shortens escalation paths when the robot controller itself causes trouble. Vendor-neutral providers pick the kinematics freely to suit the requirement rather than the portfolio. In both cases process knowledge decides, so test any provider against your own workpiece before the certification logo influences your choice.

Who carries CE responsibility for a robot cell?

Whoever combines the individual components into a controlled complete system. In a turnkey project that is the systems integrator. Where the work is awarded in parts, for example when you supply the robot and buy in only the programming, responsibility passes to you as the operator. Individual CE marks on the components never cover the installation as a whole.

What changes with the EU Machinery Regulation from 2027?

Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 applies from 20 January 2027 and replaces Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC. It tightens requirements for documentation and cybersecurity and treats software with a safety function as a safety component. No transition period runs beyond that date, so a cell placed on the market on 21 January 2027 falls under the new rules even if the project started years earlier.

What does the 2025 revision of ISO 10218 mean for my project?

The former technical specification ISO/TS 15066 is incorporated into the series, and the term collaborative robot is gone. The application is assessed rather than the product category, so the same robot can carry very different requirements depending on how people work around it. ISO 10218-2 sets out the requirements for the integrator of your cell, while Part 1 introduces two risk classes on the robot side.

Sources

• ISO 10218-1:2025 and ISO 10218-2:2025, Robotics, Safety requirements, International Organization for Standardization
• Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 on machinery, Official Journal of the European Union
• TÜV SÜD, EU Machinery Regulation 2023/1230 at a glance