There is more than meets the eye to buying right

I heard some quotes today from a supplier based on Asia for laminate that were much higher the going rate. I don’t know what they are thinking – but they are talking to the wrong guy. We have too many smart buyers here to just say yes to something that is so far out of market balance.

It did cause me to reflect that the average dealer may think differently. Without the direct experience they have a guy show up to their business and say hey I am from China I will save you money. And the average dealer says, ok I am getting a quote from a factory in China – it must be a good price because it is about 15% less than some of the main brands. There is nothing wrong with that notion except that the knowledge of the total market helps us maintain the edge when it comes to buying right and making sure we get the right stuff at the right price.

There is also a MASSIVE difference in the the quality of the factories in China or for that matter any other country.

I was touring a bamboo factory with Ryan as a prospective supplier in China. When consumers, dealers, architects and designers think of bamboo we automatically think: BAMBOO = EARTH FRIENDLY. That is not always the case.

Well during this tour Ryan and I kept looking at each other in near amazement when we saw how dirty it was overall or other little tell tale signs of a substandard operation.

Cleanliness always gives you a sense of an operation. Making flooring and milling bamboo in particular is a messy job, but there is a difference in ongoing production related debris and the place being just plain dirty. That on it’s own wouldn’t cause us to veto the plant.

The worker conditions were not ideal. The lighting was bad which can lead to unsafe conditions. We didn’t even bother checking out the dormitories, but I can only imagine the worker’s living conditions. That on it’s own wouldn’t cause us to veto the plant, after all if we become a large customer and make certain requirements related to work conditions we are in a position to improve that.

We went by a large vat of steaming bamboo. It was the “naturalization” process where they boil the bamboo with chlorine to get rid of insects and lighten the tone of the floor. Am I a fan of Chlorine? Not in really, but that is standard practice at this time. The thing that caught Ryan and I cold was the fact that they simply drain the vat upon completion into the local creek. For those keeping score at home, Chlorine into the creek is not Earth Friendly. This is a VETO reason. The factory was out.

We also saw the carbonization process that includes some iodine which ultimately was drained into the same creek as well. This would also be a VETO reason.

When we asked them why they are draining into the creek rather than treating it or disposing it properly they were flat out perplexed. Nobody ever asked them that before. They had no idea that there were alternative methods that were better for their own community. They would choose the right if they had the knowledge and resources.

There were a number of other factors that caused us to decide to pass on them rather than to try and effect the situation. There comes a point where it is simply too much for us to fix.

The thing that really blows my mind and I think I can speak for Ryan here too; we see countless factories just like this one with cartons from every big name flooring retailer in North America and many from Europe too that sell bamboo flooring. (I won’t name names at this moment.) We see their clearly label cartons in the type of factory that doesn’t pass our most basic smell test.

When we ask the factory when the last time that the buyer of that big brand carton was here – most of the time, not all of the time, but most of the time they say, “Oh um, they have never been here.”

Anyway I am rambling now, but my point here is that when Ryan and I or whomever for our company goes out into the world to buy we do it differently. There are WORLD class factories in China and many other parts in the world. The key is to make sure you balance the price we are willing to pay with the total package.

We don’t just have some guy show up at our office and we get a quote and then we say sounds good. To the best of our ability we make sure we know how the products impact the world and if we feel comfortable putting our name on it. Are we perfect? Not by a long shot, but we aspire to be.

We didn’t just “Go Green” in 2007 like everybody and their brother. Talk about hopping on the bandwagon! We’ve been practicing this process of buying for years and years in countries from all over the world. We do it because we have to be able sleep at night plus it is the right thing to do.

Anyway – that is enough of my ramble.