China Buyer Journey: Turning a Project Into One Comparable Cross-Border RFQ

• Building a plant overseas: a new production base in Southeast Asia, Central Asia, Africa or the Middle East, where equipment, civil works, utilities and local permitting all move together.
• Whole-line upgrade: expanding or automating an existing factory, where the difficulty is interfacing with installed equipment, allowable downtime and the capacity transition.
• Cross-border purchase of European or US equipment: specifications and acceptance criteria are clear, but delivery terms, installation and commissioning responsibility and the spare-parts strategy are routinely underestimated.

All three share the same profile: installed value typically above US$250,000, several suppliers involved, and any gap in scope turning into an extra invoice at start-up.

1. 01
   1. Define the project

   Capacity target, product mix, site conditions, host-country regulation, timeline and decision owner — all written down.

2. 02
   2. Independent cost baseline

   Build your own CapEx and operating-cost range before reading the first quotation, not after.

3. 03
   3. Structured RFQ

   One supply scope, battery-limit split, exclusions, Incoterms, acceptance criteria and document list for every bidder.

4. 04
   4. Capability research

   Manufacturers, EPC contractors and operators assessed by people against the documented scope, track record and export experience.

5. 05
   5. Aligned comparison

   Normalise quotations onto one basis, surface exclusions, then run TCO and return calculations on the shortlist.

6. 06
   6. Financing readiness

   Check that the file is complete before speaking to banks, leasing companies or export credit agencies.

Every stage is human-reviewed. There is no automatic matching: no buyer is introduced to any supplier without approval by David or the authorised team.

The scopes below are planning scenarios built from generic engineering parameters. They are not client cases, not quotations and not commitments on performance, price or lead time. Their purpose is to show what a properly defined scope looks like.

1. 01
   Example A — Food processing plant in Southeast Asia

   Capacity stated in finished tonnes per hour, worked backwards into pre-treatment, processing, packing and days of chilled buffer. The RFQ is split into four packages — process line, packing line, utilities, civil works — and the same utilities and battery-limit note goes to every bidder, so one pipe run is never priced twice or by nobody.

2. 02
   Example B — Feed mill line in Central Asia

   Defined by tonnes per hour, number of formulations and pelleting requirement. The decisive clauses are raw-material moisture and hardness assumptions, dust and explosion-protection class, local voltage and power quality, and how far spares are localised. Every bidder must return energy consumption and a capacity curve on the same raw-material assumption.

3. 03
   Example C — Cold store and distribution centre in Africa

   Refrigeration load defined by temperature zones, daily intake tonnage and product entry temperature rather than pallet count. The RFQ requires a heat-load calculation per zone, the refrigerant strategy, local code compliance and the stated measurement conditions for the pull-down test.

• Incoterms and the responsibility boundary: what FOB, CIF and DAP mean for installation and risk transfer.
• Payment milestones tied to FAT and SAT, and what happens when a test is not passed.
• Installation and commissioning: engineer-days, visas, accommodation and site safety training — and who pays for them.
• Documents and certification: CE, ISO, food-contact materials, import and environmental permits in the destination country.
• Spares and service: the first two years' spares package, wear-part list, response times and remote support.
• Language and drawings: document language, unit system and when as-built drawings are delivered.

• We do not manufacture equipment and do not act as an EPC contractor.
• We do not run a supplier directory and do not sell rankings or listings.
• We do not lend, broker finance or make credit decisions.
• We do not guarantee suppliers, prices, lead times, acceptance results or commercial outcomes.
• Formal project review and supplier research generally start around US$250,000 of installed value; below that, the planning tools remain free to use.