Payment Methods for Equipment Purchase in Iraq: Milestones You Can Test
19 October 2026 · 5 min read
Quick answer
Six milestones hold a machine order together: a deposit against a named production slot, a factory mould trial at the contracted 15 to 25 s cycle, pre-shipment documents that agree with each other, a counted crate on arrival, commissioning that includes an unaided mould change, and a retention released after a 28-day re-check. Write every one as an acceptance criterion rather than a date, and keep one model string, one weight and one package count across all papers.
Payment methods for equipment purchase in Iraq get discussed as a choice between a bank transfer and a letter of credit. That choice matters less than the schedule the money follows. A machine order is a chain of physical events: a mould runs, a crate is packed, a container is opened, an operator changes a mould. Tie each payment to one of those events and the buyer pays for something that exists. Tie it to a date and the buyer pays for a promise. The six milestones below can each be settled on a shop floor or against a paper.
What can you verify at each payment milestone?
A milestone is only a milestone if someone can say yes or no to it without arguing. Production on schedule fails that test. A continuous run of cycles at the cycle time stated in the order, with the pieces measured and photographed, passes it. Five of the six milestones below rest on an object: a machine in a bay, a crate with a number, a block on a pallet, an operator at the panel. The sixth rests on an order acknowledgement.
Write the schedule as acceptance criteria, one line per milestone, and keep dates out of the payment clause. A clause that names a date gives the buyer nothing to inspect on the morning the money leaves.
Milestone one: the deposit buys a production slot
The deposit is the only payment with no object behind it, so make it the smallest line on the schedule and the most documented. It buys a slot in the build programme. The order acknowledgement carries the model, the mould, the pallet size and an order number, and that number should appear on the factory build list. Ask for a photograph of the line, with the date visible.
Weight and installed capacity separate one machine from another. A QST1800 is 34 t at 104 kW; a QST8-15 is 14 t at 44.9 kW. If the acknowledgement, the invoice and the nameplate do not carry the same model string, the deposit is buying an unnamed machine and every later milestone inherits the ambiguity.
How do you run a factory mould trial that proves something?
Milestone two is the trial itself. Run the machine on the block you actually sell, at the cycle written in the order. On a QST1200 the moulding cycle is 15 to 25 s, vibration runs at 3,800 to 4,500 times per minute and rated pressure is 31.5 MPa. Time a sequence of consecutive cycles and compare the average with the contract figure, not with the best single cycle.
Then measure the product. A 390 x 190 x 190 mm hollow block comes 5, 10 or 12 pieces per mould depending on the press, and each piece should be checked for length, width, height, corner squareness and face texture. A torn edge or a rounded corner is a mould or vibration problem that travels with the machine to your yard.
If you cannot travel, fix the camera and the clock: one wide shot of the machine, the stacker and a wall clock, then a close shot of the caliper on three pieces from one pallet. Ask for raw footage of full cycles, not a clip of the good part.
Milestones three and four: documents that agree, then a counted crate
The pre-shipment set has four items: packing list, commercial invoice, certificate of origin and the transport document. The packing list states the number of packages, the gross and net weight of each and what sits inside each crate; the invoice states the model string plus the mould and pallet specification, word for word as in the order acknowledgement. Weight is a check, not a formality: a QST1500 press weighs 20 t and a QST1800 weighs 34 t, so a gross weight far from machine weight plus crates means the wrong model or a missing component.
Those four papers describe one shipment. When they disagree on the model, the package count or the weight, the bank sees a discrepancy and stops the payment, and the same discrepancy stops release at the port. The machine is fine in both cases. One string, one weight, one count: fix the model string at order stage and use it unchanged on every document, including the nameplate.
Open the crates with the packing list in hand and count packages before signing the delivery receipt. Photograph the seal, the crate numbering and any crushed panel. Loose items go missing first: moulds, pallet sets, bolt kits, panel keys. A pallet is a dimensioned part, 1,350 x 880 x 25 mm on a QST1200 and 1,400 x 1,400 x 30 mm on a QST1800, so a wrong one shows on day one.
Milestone five: commissioning and a mould change by the operator
Commissioning is not the sentence the machine runs. It is three things: a first trial moulding pass on your aggregate and cement, a pallet of blocks holding a consistent height across the stack, and an operator who changes the mould and sets the machine with the engineer's hands off the panel. Make the third one a condition, watch the changeover and have it repeated twice.
Record the settings that produced a good block: cycle, vibration time, pressure, mix. On a hydraulic press the rated pressure is 31.5 MPa and the main cylinder bore runs from 450 mm to 720 mm, so the same gauge reading is not the same force on two machines. Tape the numbers to the panel for the next shift.
Milestone six: the retention after 7 and 28 days
Hang the last line of the schedule on the blocks, not on the calendar. Re-check at 7 days and again at 28 days: height and length drift, corners lost in handling, cracking at the arris, and whether the machine still holds the contracted cycle after a week of shifts. Green blocks look correct on day one. The ones that fail do it later, in the yard, in front of the customer.
Does a letter of credit help when the documents do not match?
No. A letter of credit moves the risk from the buyer's account to the document set. The bank pays against documents, not against a machine, so a credit over a set that cannot be made consistent fails at the counter, and the buyer has paid charges for a payment that never happened.
A credit earns its cost when the order is large, the supplier is new and the document set is simple: one model, one invoice, one packing list, one certificate of origin. It cannot describe a mould trial. Keep the trial as a separate milestone with a signed acceptance note, and let the credit cover dispatch against documents.
Send the block sizes you sell, the pallet size your line will use, the shift pattern and the power supply at your site. The schedule gets written against those four items: which mould runs at the trial, which weights appear on the packing list, which cycle the commissioning check uses. A schedule built that way is a description of the machine, and both sides can check it without a meeting.
Frequently asked questions
What payment milestones should a block machine contract contain?
Six: a deposit against a named production slot, a factory mould trial at the contracted cycle, pre-shipment documents that agree with each other, a counted crate on arrival, commissioning that includes an unaided mould change, and a retention released after a 28-day re-check. Each line should carry an acceptance criterion the buyer can confirm without argument, with delivery dates kept in a separate clause.
How do I verify a factory mould trial by video?
Fix the camera and put a clock in frame. Ask for one wide shot showing the machine, the stacker and the wall clock, then a close shot of a caliper on three pieces taken from the same pallet. Require the raw footage of consecutive cycles so the average cycle can be timed against the contract figure, here 15 to 25 s, instead of a clip of the best block.
Why does a document mismatch stop payment and collection?
The bank reads documents, not machines. If the invoice names one model and the packing list another, or the package count differs from the bill of lading, the set has a discrepancy and the payment stops. The same mismatch holds the cargo at the port until it is corrected, and a correction after sailing takes time that no clause can recover.
Does a letter of credit remove the risk of paying for a machine?
It moves the risk, it does not remove it. The bank pays on a consistent document set, so the credit protects you against a supplier who ships nothing that matches the papers, and not against a machine that fails its trial. Keep the mould trial and the commissioning as separate milestones with signed acceptance notes, and use the credit for dispatch against documents.
When should the retention payment be released?
After the 28-day re-check, not after handover. Measure height and length drift on blocks from the commissioning pallet, look for corners lost in handling and cracks at the arris, and confirm the machine still holds the contracted cycle after a week of shifts. Release when those checks pass and the spare parts, moulds and manuals listed in the order have arrived on site.
Want an engineering opinion on your project?
Tell us what you want to produce and which raw materials you have, and we will recommend the right machine.