Sourcing Solar Panels in Foshan, China
I've always wanted to visit a factory in China, and never had an excuse to actually do it, until yesterday. I need about $15,000 worth of solar panels (at Panama prices) for www.cocovivo.com, and since I'm in China right now anyway, I thought I might as well buy direct.
I had been told before that doing any such business in China involved playing golf and getting drunk with your suppliers. While that sounds like an interesting cultural experience, it's really not my thing, and I also had my doubts on the effectiveness of this approach to begin with.Here is how I see it: You're either straightforward and honest, or you're not. If you're not, you deserve to end up dealing with counterparts who aren't, either. You then engage in a competition of sleaziness, of misleading others to think there is more business to come, more money to be made later on, etc, while they respond in kind. I have neither the time nor the lack of ethics for that. So rather than trying to squeeze favors out of people by making friends, I think it's better to gain respect and trust by being honest, straightforward, and real, and not wasting their time and money on trust exercises.
So I decided to test that theory, ignore the advice from the "how-to-do-business-in-china" book, and was my usual, no-BS, get-it-done, self - friendly, but firm and solid.
But first of all, getting to the place was an interesting lesson. Looking back, I can now see my mistake, but it's not immediately obvious. Here is the address: Sontasun (Foshan) New Material Co., Ltd.Datang Industrial park,Sanshui district,
Foshan city,Guangdong Province,CHINA. Looking at this, I thought the place was,well, in the city of Foshan. But after many previous experiences with this kind of thing, I thought it would be safe to look at a google map and find the place. And indeed, there is place near Foshan called "Sanshui". It's about 38km away, well in range for a taxi. Except - that's not where it was either. It ended up being another 50km further way, and actually closer to Guangzhou than Foshan. And there were more duck raising ponds and rice fields than anything resembling a city. Could I have known? Yes, apparently all foreigners go through the experience that "city" is a mistranslation and it should actually say "district" or "area". Ok, so I did finally get there. I was greeted by my email contact, and another woman who was apparently an engineer. They then introduced me to the factory owner. Everyone was really friendly in a very normal, down-to-earth way and came across as genuine and wanting to help. The engineer asked me how many appliances my house had and how much power I needed. To skip past this, I asked for a piece of paper and drew a diagram of my power setup, including numbers wherever appropriate. The boss (who spoke no english) nodded in approving ways, they apparently realized that I knew what I was talking about. As a result, they started talking about solar panels instead of the refrigerators I can power with them, and the price they were asking for the panels dropped immediately. They then gave me a tour of the factory. It was a rather small setup; big shop, but few people. It looked like they had good equipment and knew how to use it. The solar panels looked fine. They come with cables and connectors, so easy and convenient to use. The basic process is making strips of cells, then testing them, then putting them on a panel, laminating the whole thing in a big machine, putting a frame around them, then testing the final product. Most equipment was testing gear. You can see the final testing setup in the picture. I carefully eased into asking them to show me how they test the panels and pointing at a random panel leaning against the wall. They were eager and happy to show me, and even let me take this picture (they were funny about it on their factory floor). I watched the test results of the panel show up on the PC screen, it all made sense. Then I decided to push it further and asked if I can send someone to observe the testing and packing of my panels. But of course, no problem!, they said. And if I want, they'll print out each test result and give it to me, for each panel. Overall, I was very impressed by the transparency. I don't know much about solar panel manufacturing, but my impression of the people was that they are solid, down to earth, and real. Very much in line of what I've seen in Guangzhou among those people who run reau businesses and get things done. Of course, in a few months I might find out that all of what I just wrote is wrong, or I might not. Such is life in China.
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