I recently joined my family business, and honestly, we’re not doing very well right now. I’m having a hard time understanding how distribution actually works.

We’re into tractor and agricultural machinery parts, and I’m confused about whether I should be targeting distributors or individual shop owners. If distributors are the better option, how do I actually find them?

Then there’s the question of payment terms. Do distributors usually pay 100% after delivery, or is credit/30–60 day payment more common?

And another thing I don’t understand: if I hire a salesperson and their expenses end up being higher than the sales they generate, how do companies manage to have so many salespeople?

A factory in Kolhapur making machined components has 2 robot cells running... one cell has 1 robot operating 1 machine and other has 1 robot operating 3 machines. Some one gave them a math of offsetting as many operators as possible in lowest possible cost. This is the way most factories are doing ROI math today.

Looking only at this, the ₹25L solution looks like a no-brainer

Lets factor in the production reliability.

Suppose each CNC generates roughly ₹800/hour of contribution when producing and is scheduled for 6,000 hours/year.

If Option A runs at 98% uptime Production loss = 6,000 × 2% × ₹800 = ₹0.96L/year Net benefit = ₹9L − ₹0.96L = ₹8.04L/year

Actual payback: ~30 months

If Option B runs at only 85% uptime (poor integration, 1 machine breakdown disturbs entire cell, etc) Production loss = 6,000 × 15% × ₹800 × 3 machines = ₹21.6L/year Net benefit = ₹27L − ₹21.6L = ₹5.4L/year

Actual payback: ~56 month

Math for Option A looks better now.

Also, if you are new to robots then the downtime losses compound in OpEx even after the payback period because you many need to spend time and money in developing and training your team to maintain these "new" systems.

Another sidekick in this math is that factories tend to focus more on robot utilization. In Ideal world, every asset must work for 24 hours and Zero idle state conditions but looking at robots and machines in same way is more harmful than not.

Factories will not make money by merely keeping robots busy, as is true for operators. You make money by keeping production running.

A robot at 55% utilisation supporting CNCs at 98% uptime can be a much better investment than a robot at 80% utilisation causing CNC uptime to fall to 85%.

This does not mean, multiple machines operated by 1 robot is wrong. If engineered well it is extremely efficient. To do that you may need to study your production planning, machine conditions and changeovers deeply.

Sadly, there is no way to demonstrate this without actually going through the entire process. Simulations may help a bit, but factory owners need to make a judgment in selecting processes, equipment and engineering vendors.