It is not easy to find a qualified or satisfied supplier, let alone go abroad - China. There are hundreds of thousands of suppliers, almost all kinds of products manufacturers in China, How can we find a satisfactory one?
Now, we have Internet, which make us easy to find the information of many kinds of suppliers, For example, we can find supplier information from Google search, Alibaba International Station, Made in China Platform and many other channels, the key thing is how to determine which one is the most qualified supplier from tens of thousands of suppliers, with good quality, good delivery and good price?
Normally, purchasers will assess whether a supplier is qualified from the following aspects.
- Does the supplier have ISO management system? ISO 9002 or others?
- Does this supplier have the right equipment for your product?
- Did the supplier do the same or similar product before?
- Does the supplier have export experience before? To which country?
- Does the supplier have quality control department? How many QA and QC?
- Is this supplier's measuring instrument calibrating regularly?
- What is the production capacity of this supplier?
etc.
There is nothing wrong with that, it's absolutely right. But what I'm talking about is looking for small and medium-sized suppliers or manufacturers in China, Or for suppliers and manufacturers with low technology or cheap goods. It's hard to find a suitable supplier if you evaluate and look for it exactly according to the above criterion, even if you can find it, probably their price has no advantage, the price will not be much cheaper in other foreign countries, In addition, if the goods you have intention to purchase have a small quantity but more variety, the supplier may not be interested in you.
In addition to referring to the points mentioned above, I would like to give you some suggestions for finding small and medium-sized suppliers in China, especially in the field of mechanical processing, such as machining, sheet metal processing, welding structural parts, etc.
1. Look at the boss：
See if the boss is modest, gentle and polite, if yes, it means that the boss either well educated or has experience of working overseas or in a multinational company. These experiences show (not absolute) that the boss is likely to be more honest, used to doing things according to rules and contracts, know how to do business with foreign companies. This is very important
2. Look at the questions:
If the supplier asks more questions during the quotation process, at least two things can be explained; 1. This supplier know the products very well, the more you understand, the more critical questions you can ask. 2. Means that the enterprise is very cautious in doing business, afraid of making mistakes, this is very important. I always think that the more questions supplier ask, the less trouble we have later; A supplier who promises everything, asks nothing, says everything is okay, you must be careful. It only means that they don't understand the products, or that they quote according to their quality requirements and understanding, that's the scariest part. It's very likely that it will bring you endless troubles. For example, when making a mechanical part or component, the supplier will asks if the material for the machining part can be substituted by the same domestic material. Can the length dimensional tolerances for welded steel structures be reduced a little? And so on.
3. Look at the price:
It's important not to pick the cheapest offer (I'm sure most purchases will not), especially in China. Everyone knows that the competition in China is fierce. In order to survive, everybody makes a price stop and competes for a price, so we should be very careful. We know the material prices and labor costs for every manufacturer are similar, simple mechanical parts, such as sheet metal parts, welded steel structural, machining parts, the price difference will not be great. If a supplier quotes exceptionally low, it means that the quotation is wrong (Missing process or misunderstandings) or Jerry built. For example, 304 stainless steel materials, nickel content is normally 8% to 11%, then some manufacturers to sue cheaper one with nickel content to 6-7%, we know that nickel is the most important factor in determining the price of stainless steel, in addition, the required steel plate by drawing is 10mm thick, but some supplier in order to reduce the cost, they use 9.5mm thick instead of 10, it is very normal in China.
4. Look at experience:
Does the supplier have experience in exporting similar products? or has they done similar products for foreign companies before? How many years or how many times? Did they do it only once, or continuously for many years? It is very important, if only did once that means the quality of products poorer or other problems. If they keep doing it all the time or doing for many years that means the product quality is no problem or the quality of product has been improving, cooperation in other aspect is also very enjoyable.
5. Look at QC:
Because this is too important, we should emphasize it here. Although many small enterprises in China do not have quality departments, even does not have QC, but there are still some small enterprises have quality control departments, this should be noted. Even if there are 1-2 QC personnel, this is the most basic.
6. Look at the reputation：
The Tian Eye Inspection (https://www.tianyancha.com) can be used to find out whether there have been any cases in China in the past, especially due to breach of contract, quality problems, delivery problems become the defendant's lawsuit.
7. Look at the region: (Notice that there is no geographical discrimination here).
In China, because of its vast territory and different levels of economic development, some places opened up early，in where private economy was active and developed, for example, Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Shandong were the earliest open areas. Where there are many small companies are doing export business, or are OEM manufacturers, they are familiar with foreign product quality requirements and know the ways in doing business with foreign companies, people are easy going, it is recommended to try to choose supplier from these areas.
Sorry, because I am a mechanical engineer, so the examples are related mechanical process, such as welding steel structural, precision machining, sheet metal processing and so on. China's suppliers still have a relatively large advantage in mechanical process area, low cost, good quality, a variety of supporting facilities (materials, various processing support, etc.), and fast delivery and so on!
Good luck!
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