Manufacturing Insurance
Perth, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane & Canberra

Manufacturing submissions should describe what is made and how it is produced. Cutting, welding, chemical processing, assembly and packaging can present very different exposures even within the same industry. Explain the materials used, the equipment involved and the role of heat, dust, pressure or flammable substances where relevant. Identify processes performed at your premises and those outsourced to another manufacturer. Include prototypes, custom jobs and products sold under your brand but made elsewhere. The insurer needs the actual production picture rather than a broad label such as industrial business or general fabrication.

Map the machines and services that determine whether production can continue. A modestly valued control component may stop a much larger line if a replacement is difficult to source. Describe critical spares, specialist technicians, imported parts and the time needed to install and commission equipment. Stock can include raw materials, work in progress and finished goods with different values and storage needs. Explain seasonal accumulation and goods held at outside warehouses. Those details help separate property values from the trading consequences of an interruption and support questions about machinery breakdown, supplier dependencies and the limits of the proposed cover.

Product specifications, test records and batch identification can help explain what was supplied if a defect is alleged. Keep approvals for design changes and clarify whether the customer or manufacturer controlled the relevant specification. Products liability, professional design work and the cost of replacing the defective item itself may receive different treatment. Ask how the wording addresses damage caused by a product, recall expenses and work undertaken to rectify your own goods. None of those should be assumed to follow automatically from the presence of a public and products liability section in a business package.

Review supply agreements for warranties, performance commitments, delivery penalties and indemnities. A contract may make the manufacturer responsible for losses that the insurance does not accept. Explain exports and the countries in which products are ultimately used, especially where goods enter a wider assembly or distribution chain. Keep purchase records and valuations for major plant, including installation and freight assumptions. Maintenance and hot-work procedures should reflect the actual production environment. They can assist the risk discussion, but a procedure on paper is not a substitute for accurate disclosure of how the plant operates and how equipment is maintained.

After a machinery incident, preserve useful information about the operating conditions, maintenance history and work underway. Record affected stock separately from damage to the machine and avoid losing identification details when parts are removed. Check repair and assessment arrangements under the policy while addressing immediate safety and loss-prevention needs. If a customer alleges a product problem, retain the complaint, batch information and relevant samples where appropriate. A consistent record can help distinguish a single installation issue from a wider manufacturing concern, without assuming the cause or promising that the insurer will meet the resulting costs.

Renewal should capture new processes, larger contracts, changes in product use and equipment that has become difficult to replace. Review whether declared values reflect current replacement assumptions and whether the selected interruption period fits the likely recovery process. A restart may require testing, customer approval and rebuilding stock after physical repairs are complete. Discuss those stages when considering interruption cover. Also review the concentration of work with a small number of customers or suppliers. Some commercial dependencies may remain outside the available wording, making it useful to identify them explicitly and consider practical alternatives alongside the insurance arrangements.