A buyer lands on Capabilities. She is not shopping for a machine. She has a problem: a part, a material, a tolerance, a volume, a date. What she finds is a list of equipment, tonnages and process names, arranged the way the plant thinks about itself.
She scrolls, searches for something that looks like her job, and leaves not quite sure whether you've done this before. She will not write to ask. She moves on to a supplier whose page made it easier.
The obvious view is that a capabilities page should list equipment. Buyers already assume you have equipment. What they're really asking is quieter: have you solved a problem like mine, and can I see myself in the work? A list of machines is a catalogue. Proof is a part you've actually made.
We used to think more detail was the answer. Sometimes it is. But a long equipment list can hide the very thing a buyer came to find. The useful page is scannable, and it leads with the work, not the tools.
Three suggestions
1. Lead with the problems you solve, then the equipment
Open each capability with the job it does for a customer, then name the process and the machines. "We hold tight tolerances on stainless housings for food-equipment OEMs" helps a buyer place herself. "CNC milling, 4- and 5-axis" is what you tell her next, once she has a reason to care.
Do this next week: Rewrite the first line of your three main capabilities so each one starts with a problem, a part type or an industry, and only then mentions the equipment.
2. Make materials, tolerances, sizes, volumes and lead times scannable
These are the facts a buyer uses to stay or leave. If they're buried in a paragraph, or missing, she has to guess. A simple set of lines, or a short table, is enough. You don't need to publish every limit you have. You need the ranges that help a stranger decide "this might be us."
Do this next week: For each main capability, add five plain facts: materials, tolerances, sizes, volumes and typical lead times. Put them where they can be read on a phone, without opening a PDF.
3. Add one "we've made parts like this" example per capability
One example is more useful than a claim about decades of experience. A short description of a part, the industry, and what made the job demanding is enough. A photo helps when you have permission. You don't need a full case study. You need evidence that this is not the first time.
Do this next week: Pick one real job for each main capability. Write four or five lines on what it was, who it was for (named only with permission), and what you had to get right. Put that example under the capability it belongs to.
How you'll know it worked
Show the page to someone in purchasing, or to anyone who buys parts and doesn't already know you. If they can point to a line and say "that's us," the page is starting to prove something. If they only remember a machine list, it isn't.
A question for your peers
If a new buyer landed on your capabilities page this morning, could they find a part like theirs, or would they only find a list of what you own?