Architectural Ironmongery Sourcing from Emerging Countries – A Case Study

Dragon Sourcing is a top procurement agency that helps businesses source raw materials and finished goods from emerging as well as well-established markets globally. The following case study shows how Dragon Sourcing found quality sourcing services for architectural ironmongery from the emerging markets – China, India and Vietnam. The main deliverables of this case study included the following:  

  • Supplier Database. 
  • Scorecard. 
  • RFI/RFQ Report. 
  • Supplier Profile. 
  • Recommended Suppliers 

In the first step of the case study, a comprehensive spending analysis was conducted. It was based on the requirement(s) of the client to find a list of potential suppliers that can fulfil these requirements. Dragon Sourcing looked through the key conditions that the client insisted upon, including supplier qualification, Scope of work, location, the technology used, project scale, et cetera. 

We thoroughly discussed with the client about specific pre-screening selection criteria. Once the pre-screening criteria were established, Dragon Sourcing conducted a supply market analysis of all the potential suppliers in mainland China, India and Vietnam. This was done by leveraging B2B websites, DS databank, and other publicly available sources. 

Based on the analysis of information from various sources, Dragon sourcing identified a total of 16 suppliers that submitted both RFI and RFQ, and 1 supplier submitted the RFQ only. The phone pre-screening was carried out on specific criteria that were provided by the client. The criteria included 5 disqualifying factors, which can be easily checked on the phone with the suppliers. These were as follows:

  • Are they manufacturers or importers? 
  • Do they have ISO certification? 
  • Do they have export experience to the UK? 
  • Do they have product testing report certificates? 
  • Do they have more than a hundred employees?  

Next, we worked closely with the client to develop the RFI-RFQ templates for the 12 products that the client wanted to source. All the RFIs had some common key questions and some category-specific questions. Once the RFI-RFQ templates were agreed upon, they were distributed to all the identified suppliers. The distribution of the templates was done through Dragon Sourcing’s own GSP sourcing platform. 

Once the RFI/RFQ responses were received, Dragon Sourcing used the algorithm of our GSP platform (in consultation with the client) to profile and rank the suppliers on their attractiveness. The ranked suppliers were then further analysed to create a shortlist of suppliers for further auditing and sampling. Dragon Sourcing analysed the shortlisted suppliers further to identify and recommend 8 suppliers (5 from China, 2 from India and 1 from Vietnam) for which the client needed to undertake a formal qualification process.  

We provided a comprehensive analysis of supplier recommendations and drafted a profile for each identified supplier. The various charts and documents were then handed over to the client after 7 weeks. The search for the best suppliers from the emerging markets ended with Dragon Sourcing working with the client to carry out further auditing of the recommended suppliers, sample development, collection and shipment management. The final testing was done by the client. 

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