Recently, Dragon Sourcing connected one of our clients with highly reputable suppliers of stainless-steel dispenser bottles in China. Our client had specific requirements they wanted us to follow—namely, we must find reputable and experienced vendors from mainland China. We immediately got to work by analyzing the task at hand and conducting a supply-market analysis. We consulted various sources for this process, including B2B websites, resources within our organization, newsletters, and more. After compiling a list of 230 potential suppliers, we narrowed it down further by conducting telephone interviews and asking questions such as: Are you a manufacturer or trader? Do you have an export license? Do you have quality certifications like ISO 9001 and ISO 14001? Do you have an export license? Are you able to export to Europe? Are your products BPA-free? Do you have a BSCI or SA8000 certificate? This allowed us to reduce the number of suppliers to 17 (of these 7 vendors fulfilled all the criteria except having the ISO 14001 quality certificate).
Following that, the client approved our creation of an RFI/RFQ, which we then sent to the 17 chosen vendors. In total, 11 companies responded back to our RFI/RFQ, and we were able to score them using criteria that were established in consultation with the client. In the scorecard, we gave weight to company background (30%), production capabilities (25%), quality control management and certifications (25%), and social responsibilities (20%).
After evaluating various suppliers based on our detailed assessment criteria, we narrowed down the top three candidates whose skills aligned perfectly with our client’s specific needs. Upon completing our portion of the project, we provided our customers with all relevant documentation, ensuring transparency regarding the methodology used and enabling them to make a well-informed selection of the ideal vendor. With a streamlined approach, we successfully satisfied another client.