New or used? Choice of machines.
When implementing new projects in the field of woodworking while expanding or reorganising production, a company has the choice to choose the best from different possibilities. An option to make your investment as economical as possible involves the question of new or used. The latter may generally be chosen considering the more reasonable purchase price. The purchase price for used machines is only around 10-50% of the original price and thus presents a significant source of savings. The price depends on the age, condition as well as supply and demand for this kind of equipment.
When buying used equipment, it is important to check how different it is from the modern technology of similar latest equipment. This point should not be overlooked because a differentiated view of each type of machine is very important. If you take a CNC processing center as an example, a 15-20 year center usually has a much lower performance than a comparable new one. The NC control unit and the computers are much slower than those in modern ones and are more susceptible to breakdown. The new ones are not only much faster and more efficient, but are equipped with a variety of features which are missing from the old systems.
Other machines have not experienced such a development in recent years, such as sawmills, presses, equipment for carpentry and plough systems. The saw frame has hardly changed in the past 30 years, for example, and old equipment rightfully still maintains its place in modern production plants. The same applies to chippers, presses and many other conventional systems. In this case, it is advisable to reduce expenditure on the new investment by buying a used machine.
When buying used equipment, it is important not only to look at the year of manufacture, but also to evaluate the condition and degree of wear and to consider the regularity of the maintenance as a criterion. For example, when it comes to the purchase of a large pellet or sawmill plant, it maybe appropriate to equip a used system with a new control unit in some cases. The costs are in the range of about 3-5% of the price of the new plant and then the plant can be operated successfully for another 10-15 years. It is also possible to supplement the used production line with 1-2 new machines in order to bring these to the latest state of the art.
