There’s a whole lot more to sourcing from China than clothes, phone accessories and cheap electronics! Hornet has sourced a whole range of industrial goods from China including:
- Metal and plastic moulded parts –
from trolley wheels to bottle lids, pipes to drier stands - Shop fittings
- Furniture – from window blinds to tiles to outdoor modular kitchens
- Tractors and agricultural motorbikes
- Parts for coffee machines, garage doors and security alarms
- Mining equipment
- Lighting and LED supplies
- Custom security products
Why source from China?
Sourcing from Chi
na can help manufacturers and other B2B businesses reduce the cost base and remain competitive.
For specialist equipment and machinery, low volumes or even single unit orders can be surprisingly cost-effective.
Sourcing from China can also give you more control over your supply, since are no longer dependent on local wholesalers whose stocks may be taken by competitors.
Special considerations for Industrial Goods
While the basic process of sourcing and importing remains the same across all categories, there are some areas where industrial goods require more attention:
Quality control
Quality control is even more important than for consumer goods, with limited tolerance of variation. Spare parts need to fit properly and easily. Many items are subject to legal quality standards. Fortunately, most clients interested in importing industrial goods from China are used to working with technical specifications and committed to the concept of sampling to confirm quality. So although the requirements are tighter, the communication is often better too.
Intellectual property
Issues may arise since many businesses are concerned that their original design may be copied and then produced for competitors. This makes audit, inspection and selection of a factory more important. Contractual terms also need to be examined closely. It’s worth noting that using a sourcing agency like Hornet not only gives you eyes on the ground to help spot any infringement, it also makes you part of a bigger buying group and potentially more important to the factory. So they have two practical incentives to respect your IP in addition to the legal terms of the contract!
Regular and repeat orders
An ongoing requirement for the same quantity of the same goods is far more common with industrial goods than with consumer items. This has all sorts of benefits: – repeat orders are often delivered more quickly, with less management effort needed; or there may be cost savings from a bigger production run with some of the product warehoused in China until it is needed.
So if your company uses machinery, parts or components which are expensive, hard to source or often unavailable, why not talk to Hornet about sourcing from China?