The case study shows how Dragon Sourcing helped one of the clients identify and recommend new competitive suppliers in three countries: Malaysia, the Philippines, and China. Our client asked us to identify and benchmark a second source for their innovative sustainable material produced from rattan, a natural vine that grows in Southeast Asian forests. They were looking for rattan raw material suppliers and rattan converters.
As soon as we got the request, we worked to analyze and define the products and requirements. We gathered samples of the products to ensure potential suppliers fully understood them. We accumulated all this data from the client and identified a list of potential suppliers in the agreed geographic areas to include in the RFI/RFQ process by incorporating an existing list of potential DS suppliers.
After looking into the vendors, we discovered 277 suppliers manufacturing a second source for their innovative, sustainable material produced from rattan. Prescreening was used to monitor and whittle down the pool of possible providers. We excluded several suppliers based on mutually agreed-upon criteria. Following the prescreening phone interview, we chose 62 suppliers and sent them an RFI-RFQ. The customer was consulted before the creation of this RFI-RFQ. The RFI-RFQ was created to manage every aspect (export expertise, appropriate technology, quality certification, etc.) that would make the vendors selected through this method the best fit for their specific requirements. Of the 62 suppliers we contacted for the RFI-RFQ, 13 were from Malaysia, 31 were from the Philippines, and 18 were from China. A total of 7 suppliers replied: 2 from China, 2 from Malaysia, and 3 from the Philippines.
We evaluated the requests for information (RFIs) from possible suppliers. We thoroughly examined the RFQ and assessed it using a scorecard in order to compare vendors and select the best one. It was found that there is a good opportunity for establishing an alternative rattan supply chain in the Philippines, where suppliers seem quite interested in the new business opportunity. Additionally, rattan prices seem competitive by nature. Malaysia’s lack of responsiveness has prevented the gathering of in-depth supplier information. The supply chain in China will heavily depend on imported rattan, especially from Indonesia. The study has found a supplier in China manufacturing rattan veneers for the automotive sector, which could be a competitor of the client. We recommend getting some samples of rattan veneers for benchmarking and technical evaluation purposes.