Dragon Sourcing, a strategic sourcing company, recently assisted one of our clients in finding potential vendors for procuring high-quality goods at competitive rates. The client was in need of various hardware items, including patch fittings, mortise locks, profile cylinders, handles, hinges, panic hardware, and accessories, and wanted to explore sourcing options in China and India. To begin the sourcing process, we worked closely with the client to define and understand the specific product requirements, such as specifications, volumes, materials, and production technology requirements.
Next, we conducted a comprehensive supply analysis to identify potential suppliers in China and India. We compiled a long list of potential vendors that met the client’s requirements. This process ensured that we had a wide pool of 219 suppliers to consider for further evaluation. To further narrow down the list, we conducted telephone pre-screening with the selected suppliers. Based on agreed-upon simple criteria such as capability to manufacture the products and minimum company size, we shortlisted 70 suppliers who showed interest in participating in the sourcing process. We also administered non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) with these pre-selected suppliers to protect the client’s confidential information. Only 53 suppliers agreed to sign the NDA, and 17 failed to do so.
With the shortlist of suppliers in hand, we then developed a request for information/request for quotation (RFI/RFQ) document. This document included key supplier qualification criteria such as financial stability, technology capabilities, manufacturing expertise, and social responsibility. We also developed a balanced scorecard in collaboration with the client’s management team to rank the responses from the suppliers. Once the client had approved the RFI/RFQ document, we started the administration procedure. We also followed up with telephone calls to ensure a high response rate and collected the necessary quotations from the suppliers. We analyzed the responses using the balanced scorecard and recommended the suppliers that the client needed to further qualify through factory audits. This comprehensive sourcing approach allowed us to identify 11 potential vendors who could provide high-quality goods at competitive rates, meeting the client’s procurement needs.