Before a machine becomes a capital request, it is worth a structured gut-check. This checklist will not replace a formal evaluation — it cannot see your machine — but it will help you organize what you already know and see which direction the evidence leans. Work through each section honestly.
1. Mechanical condition
- The machine's frame, mechanics, and process are still sound.
- It still meets current production requirements (speed, throughput, quality).
- It is not approaching the end of its mechanical life.
- Operators are comfortable and productive on it.
If most of these are unchecked, the issue may be the machine itself — which points toward replace, not modernize.
2. Controls and obsolescence
- The PLC, HMI, or drives are discontinued or unsupported.
- Replacement control components are scarce, back-ordered, or secondary-market only.
- The programming software needs an obsolete computer or operating system.
- The program source is missing, or undocumented.
- The OEM has ended support for the control platform.
The more of these are checked, the stronger the obsolescence case — the classic situation modernization is built for.
3. Risk and reliability
- Recurring faults cluster around the control system, not the mechanics.
- An unplanned controls failure would stop a critical line.
- You are increasingly dependent on spare parts you cannot easily source.
- You lack current electrical drawings or program documentation.
Checks here are a measure of how much risk the status quo is quietly carrying.
4. Economics and alternatives
- A full machine replacement would be a significant capital outlay.
- A replacement would mean extended lead time and downtime.
- You need to understand modernization cost before approving replacement capital.
- Leadership is already floating "just replace it."
Checks here mean an evaluation could protect a large capital decision in either direction.
How to read your answers
- Mostly Section 1 unchecked (machine not sound): the honest direction may be REPLACE — or SELL if the asset has value elsewhere. Modernizing controls on a worn-out machine is money in the wrong place.
- Section 1 checked, Sections 2–3 heavily checked: this is the strongest MODERNIZE signal — a sound machine held back by obsolete, risky controls.
- Few checks anywhere: the answer may simply be KEEP and monitor — not every aging machine needs action now.
- Section 4 checked regardless: the capital stakes are high enough that a formal evaluation is worth it before committing either way.
A checklist is a starting point, not a verdict
This is deliberately a self-triage, not an engineering recommendation. The four outcomes — keep, modernize, sell, replace — are what a formal Modernization Assessment exists to determine, by evaluating the actual machine rather than a questionnaire. The value of running the checklist first is walking into that evaluation knowing what you are trying to find out.
Before you replace the machine, understand your options
If this checklist left you leaning one way but unsure, that is exactly what an assessment resolves. Have the actual asset evaluated — then decide, with evidence.