The 6-Step Procurement Checklist I Use for Ashcroft Pressure Instruments, Laser Sensors, and Thermal Cameras

When this checklist saves money

I'm a procurement manager at a 340-person food-processing plant, and I've managed a roughly $1.1M annual maintenance-instrument budget for six years. This checklist is for people who approve purchases of pressure gauges, transmitters, laser sensors, and thermal cameras. It is not a brand ranking. It's a way to keep the true cost from hiding in the fine print.

I use the same six steps when I'm buying an Ashcroft pressure transmitter, an Ashcroft compound pressure gauge, an ifm efector laser sensor, or a thermal camera for the electrical crew. The steps are: define installed cost, set the performance class, challenge the detection tool, buy the delivery certainty you need, collect documentation, and track the result. Run them in order and you'll usually find that the cheapest solution is the one that works without callbacks.

The six steps I actually use

1. Define the installed cost before you compare unit prices

Every instrument request leads to a price comparison. The unit price is only the beginning. I add four line items to my spreadsheet: the component itself, the adapter/mounting/cable needed to install it, labor hours to install and commission it, and the cost of a failure in the first year.

Here is a real example from last year. An Ashcroft pressure transmitter was quoted at $340. A second pressure transmitter was $294. The cheaper unit looked attractive until I asked about the process connection adapter. It wasn't included. Adding the adapter and freight made the cheaper unit $371. The Ashcroft quote included the adapter and the calibration certificate from the distributor. The higher sticker price had a lower installed cost.

Now when I hear 'this one is way less,' I ask what's missing, not what's included.

2. Choose the performance class, then choose the brand name

Conventional wisdom says to buy the most accurate instrument you can. My experience with pressure controls says that's not always true. If a system only sees positive pressure up to 100 psi, adding vacuum capability or a wider range often means the instrument is less precise in the part of the scale where it actually works.

For a process that has both vacuum and positive pressure, an Ashcroft compound pressure gauge is the type I spec because it reads below zero and above zero on one dial. If the process doesn't need vacuum, don't pay for that feature. And check the normal operating point. ASME B40.100, the standard we use for gauge selection, starts with the pressure range, media, and accuracy requirements rather than a favorite vendor.

3. If you're adding a laser sensor or thermal camera, start with the detection target

Non-contact tools get a lot of attention because they feel high-tech. That doesn't mean they're automatically worth the space in the budget.

An ifm efector laser sensor is a good example. It measures distance or position without touching the target, which is useful on hot, moving, or hard-to-reach parts. But the useful range depends on surface reflectivity, spot size, and update speed. If you haven't defined those, any price quote is just a number.

Thermal cameras have the same problem. When one of the maintenance supervisors asked me 'what is FLIR thermal camera imaging good for?' my answer was 'context.' A FLIR thermal camera is an infrared imaging tool that maps heat patterns across a surface. An infrared thermometer gives one spot. A thermal camera shows the whole panel, motor, or steam line.

The catch is that thermal camera price is a huge range. Public list prices from Teledyne FLIR (flir.com, checked January 2025) run from a few hundred dollars for a pocket model to tens of thousands for radiometric research units. Prices change, so verify current rates before you set the budget. More importantly, match the model to the thermal pattern you're trying to see. Buying extra resolution is wasted money; buying too little is a false inspection.

4. Put the delivery date on the RFQ and decide whether certainty is worth a premium

I used to let shipping cost dominate my decision. Then in March 2024, we lost a pump seal and cracked the diaphragm on the pressure transmitter during the same night shift. We could operate on bypass for five days. One distributor said they could 'probably' ship in four days, maybe five. The other offered a guaranteed delivery in three days from a stocked Ashcroft pressure transmitter, but the price was $50 higher. I paid it.

That extra $50 was not for speed. It was for certainty. Missing the fifth day would have meant a full process stop, lost production, and a second crew callout. The cost of being wrong was several thousand dollars. I only learned this lesson after I ignored lead times once and paid for an overnight flight on an instrument that should have been ordered weeks earlier.

This doesn't mean you always need rush delivery. If a replacement is for stock and there's no fixed deadline, standard freight is fine. But the moment a deadline appears in the work order, ask a direct question: 'Is that a committed date or a target date?' Then price the difference.

5. Make documentation part of the purchase order

In 2022, I accepted a pressure switch without its calibration certificate and then spent the next morning tracking down the cert before an auditor arrived. Now I treat paperwork as part of the instrument.

For any pressure device, we write into the PO: model number must match quote, calibration certificate must include the serial number, and any required approval or material cert must be delivered with the goods. If a vendor says 'this is equivalent' to an Ashcroft pressure transmitter without putting the exact interchangeability in writing, I treat that as a red flag. The cost of a missing document is usually greater than the money you saved choosing a supplier who didn't ask about it.

6. Track the real cost after installation

Every instrument purchase should end with a record. I log date, machine, model number, serial number, PO total, actual install labor, and whether we had any issue in the first year. After six years of tracking, I can tell you that most budget overruns in my plant came from late decisions, not expensive components.

The data also made me change my procurement policy. Standard procurement advice says get at least three quotes. For commodity items, I agree. For process-critical instruments, I've found that two quotes plus one documented relationship with a supplier is often more reliable. The cheapest quote is only useful if the bidder actually understands the installation. I'd rather pay a small premium to someone who has seen the system than chase the lowest price with a supplier who hasn't.

Mistakes I still see when money gets tight

If you skip the steps above, these are the errors that usually follow:

• Comparing prices before specs are fixed. A pressure transmitter with a 4-20 mA output and one with digital bus output are different products, even if they mount the same way.
• Forgetting how the instrument will be accessed. A laser sensor's bracket, a thermal camera's field of view, a compound gauge's dial position—all affect the labor cost and the usability.
• Buying based on the last emergency instead of the next regular order. Rush premiums are not the problem; failing to leave lead time in the schedule is.

The real bottom line: for critical instruments, the cheapest purchase order is not the one with the lowest price. It's the one that arrives on time, with the right specs, and never has to be bought twice. Run this list at quote time, then run it again when the quote arrives. The second pass is where the hidden costs show up.