As you can see from the previous examples, claim settlements usually cannot be reached overnight. From my experience, I would say that you have to talk to factory management (not always with the senior decision maker) at least 3 or 4 times before an agreement can be reached.
I mentioned before that the key decision maker is not always present during your negotiations. It is however essential that he be present during discussions of the final agreement. If not, you may have wasted your time and may have to look for other suppliers because this one obviously does not take your company seriously enough to be your business partner.
You made the necessary meeting arrangements in advance and have come a long way to see your supplier. If he does not willingly attend the settlement meeting and attempt to reach an agreement amicably, to a problem caused by his company, it is time to look for a new supplier.
That means you need to dedicate at least 3-4 days for negotiations to give your supplier some time to review your evidence and consider a fair solution.
The whole trip will take at least a week. When one additional meeting is needed to resolve your claim, you are better off staying another day and forgetting about the extra cost if it will get the claim resolved. When there is a larger amount of money being discussed, do not expect your factory will be easily convinced to churn out the money for you. Your negotiation preparations will perhaps prove decisive of the results.