Frequently Asked Questions
What is Procurement?
Procurement is the acquisition of manufactured goods from an outside external source. Sourcing, purchasing and much more are part of a procurement strategy. It is best if the procured goods are cost effective, of good quality, and come within a timely manner. A good procurement strategy also includes shipping and logistics details.
What is Supply Chain Management?
Supply Chain Management is the active management of materials as they move from supplier to manufacturer to wholesaler to retailer to customer. SCM covers the entire life of any particular product and therefore requires thorough overview. The focus of Supply Chain Management is to maximise customer value while achieving a competitive advantage over other companies that make similar products.
What is Quality Control / Quality Assurance?
Quality Control is a process that considers all factors involved in manufacturing a product. This includes aspects such as vendor capabilities, management, and reliability. Thorough and routine inspection is a part of quality control that guarantees customer satisfaction. Quality Assurance is the guarantee to uphold a level of quality in a manufactured product by performing excellent quality control. Preventing mistakes and defects in products, while all around avoiding any problems, gives customers a strong sense of quality assurance.
What are the benefits of using ET2C as surely you simply add layers of cost?
This would be the common perception. But at ET2C, whatever solution is best suited to your needs, we are geared to drive through efficiencies and cost savings with our upstream capability. This reduces your need for additional resource in-house and provides you with immediate access to your suppliers. Give us a trye!
Where is ET2C located?
Although our main sourcing hubs are where our largest head count is (China, Vietnam & India), we always look to have local respresentation near our clients. Communication is 80% of what we do and making sure we understand your needs allows us to deliver the right solution for you!
As I am only a small business, would you still be interested in my business?
Given we have a range of solutions, we are well set up (and in fact have a good track record) of helping young growth companies with their sourcing needs. Where we have provided scaleable production in the past it has been transformative for our clients.
What makes ET2C different from other Sourcing companies?
Our people are a key part of the service we deliver to our clients. We are soley focused on our client’s needs and look to deliver value in everything we do. Also, we have integrity and are accountable for what we do which is so important when doing business overseas.
You have two main areas of product expertise that are very different?
We do have two main product divisions that are Industrial Products and Consumer Goods. This is mainly historical but it has allowed us to continually learn from each other. On top of the ISO 9001 accreditation that we have, certain specific processes that we implement on the industrial side are also of value when developing consumer goods and vice versa.
What does Sustainability and Ethics mean to ET2C?
These are both incredibly important to us as an organisation. We have our own code of conduct that we also expect all our suppliers to sign up to. In addition, we are always looking for ways to be more sustainable against the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals both on a product level but also in how we operate and behave. We are FSC Certified as part of this focus as well.
ET2C is a comprehensive global sourcing company that is committed to providing businesses with access to low-cost country manufacturing territories (China, India and Vietnam). We offer multi-industry sourcing services to startups, medium to large retailers and wholesalers that are seeking quality-assured products and sourcing strategies from Asia.