Sourcing
From the idea to the supplier.
Finding a supplier is the easy part. Knowing who you are dealing with is the work. We identify, qualify and coordinate the manufacturers behind your product — and stay close while it gets made.
The order of operations matters more than the supplier
Sourcing goes wrong in predictable places, and almost never at the stage people expect. The factory is rarely the problem. The specification given to the factory usually is.
A specification that is complete, testable and written the way a Chinese factory reads specifications removes most of the risk before a single quote arrives. Everything downstream — price, samples, quality, delivery — is cheaper to fix at that stage than at any later one.
What we actually do
- Write or rewrite the specification so it can be quoted against and tested against.
- Identify candidate manufacturers — and separate real factories from trading companies.
- Qualify them: licence, capability, capacity, references, and a visit where it counts.
- Run the sample loop until the sample is the product, not an approximation of it.
- Coordinate production, quality control and shipping, in the right time zone.
We are not a broker taking a margin on your order. Our interest is that the supplier is right, not that a particular supplier is chosen.
Where it happens. Both matter.
Questions we get on this.
What comes first — finding a supplier or writing the specification?
The specification. The order of operations matters more than the supplier: a precise brief filters candidates by itself, while a vague one produces quotes that cannot be compared with each other.
Is a minimum order quantity negotiable?
Partly. A MOQ usually comes from a material purchase lot, a machine setup, or the factory's judgement about whether you are serious. Only the first two are physics; the third moves when the relationship does.
What is a golden sample, and do we need one?
A physical reference both sides sign off on and both keep, against which production is measured. Skipping it does not save time — it moves the argument to after the container has arrived.
Do you buy on our behalf?
We find, qualify and coordinate the manufacturers behind your product, with presence on the ground. What that covers on a given project is worth settling in the first conversation rather than assuming.
Send us the product, the volume and the constraint you cannot move. That is enough to start.